AI Innovation Clusters Will Address Africa’s Youth Unemployment’

Research and Engagement Manager, Abbie Phatty-Jobe, and Lead Researcher, Comfort Wadzi, both from Caribou Digital, speak about the organisation’s recent report on AI innovation clusters and the need for African governments to leverage AI for digital transformation. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:

As a digital transformation specialist, how are you leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to promote the future of work?

As a digital transformation specialist, my research works are basically focused on the transformative potential of AI in creating new job categories and redefining the skills that are required for the future workforce. So my work explores how AI can unlock these opportunities for economic empowerment, particularly for the youth in Africa. Our current research work aims to inform different stakeholders such as policy makers and educational institutions in Africa by way of providing insights for creating enabling environments and for highlighting the skills and development strategies that are required to prepare the workforce for an AI driven world. The research work also aims to inform investors in Africa on the importance of digital infrastructure and how to supportlocally driven startups that leverage AI to solve solutions. 

What is your take on digital agriculture and how can AI help to achieve digital agriculture in Africa?

Well, I think the first thing to say is that digital agriculture, powered by AI in itself, is still very much in its nascent state in Africa, particularly at the smallholder farmer level. Despite the huge potential that it has to revolutionise the African agricultural landscape, making it more efficient, more sustainable and inclusive, it’s still very much early at this point. But there are some solid use cases where AI is beginning to play a crucial role. Some of these include optimising farm management, among others. So there are lots of different tools that use satellite imagery, drones, Internet of Things (IoTs) and sensors to monitor soil health, predict weather patterns and identify pest and diseases. These can ultimately help farmers in optimising the water, fertilizer, pesticides that they’re using, to improve their overall crop production. There are also enhancements in terms of financial inclusion. So we are now seeing more alternative credit scoring models that are driven and powered by AI, which allow farmers to access financial services where they don’t have credit historiesand wouldn’t have been able to in the past. AI models are becoming more accurate in predicting climate risks and providing early warnings for extreme events like floods and extreme rainfall, essentially.

There is dearth of digital skills talent in Africa. How can African countries leverage AI to expand its tech talent pool and what kind of digital learning programme will you recommend to bridge the divide?

There are excellent opportunities for young people to gain digital skills and there are several diverse providers that exist that are making this possible on theAfrican continent. What we have found, especially in terms of grassroots AI communities, is that young people are leveraging the free fully available AI skills. So there are lots of free resources that are usingArtificial Intelligence and Data Science for up-skilling. So that is the first, and the second thing is that we’re seeing a lot of young people creating opportunities for informal AI academies. So I think there’s an excellent opportunity here for donors, funders in the private sector, especially global multinational corporations in the tech sector to crowd around the initiatives that young people are already putting together to accelerate and expand the impact.

Caribou Digital has released its latest research report, titled ‘The Role of AI Innovation Clusters in Fostering Youth Employment in Africa: Opportunities, Challenges, and Implications’. What is AI innovation clusters all about? 

So basically we have kind of used existing theories to ground the definitions that we use for the report. Essentially, these AI innovation clusters are like geographic concentrations of interconnected institutions. So AI innovation clusters are likeuniversities, tech hubs, and businesses that fuel innovation and economic growth in specific fields. So they foster collaboration, facilitate knowledge sharing, and attract investment, creating the ecosystem where innovation can thrive. So what we found through the report is that grassroots communities in Africa have emerged as this kind of nucleus that is connecting all these different components of the AI innovation clusters. So like I said, it has lots of different actors that are working together within the clusters to create this innovation bubble that allows growth and economic development to occur. 

How can Africa leverage AI innovation clusters to tackle its staggering youth unemployment challenges?

So we see innovation clusters as an opportunity for tackling youth unemployment by fostering these ecosystems that combine various different sectors.
They bring together the governments, academia,private sector, and grassroots organisations to provide young people with relevant skills, with mentorship, access to AI-powered tools as well. So we’re seeing initiatives from some examples, like the Makerere University in Uganda’s AI Health Lab, and also partnerships in Kenya, where the collaboration between the government and Microsoft illustrates how AI clusters can create jobs in fields like data annotation, AI-powered agriculture, healthcare solutions, while also nurturing startups. To ensure this kind of scalability, governments can invest in infrastructure such as data centres and promote industry, academic collaborations to align training with market demands. They also enable young people to address local challenges, creating a sustainable job loop and fostering economic growth. 

What inspired Caribou Digital to delve into the research and what are some of the key findings and recommendations from the research report?

So Caribou Digital basically works with governments, with foundations, and with businesses to support programmes that enable growth in the digital sphere. And with the MasterCard Foundation, they have a goal of enabling 30 million young people to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
So this is the alignment between Caribou Digitalcommitment to advancing inclusive digital economies and the MasterCard Foundation’s mission to enable so many young people to get to work. The alignment and commitment inspired Caribou Digital to go into the research and to understand what needs to be in place in order for Africa to take advantage of the AI revolutionand to be strong participants in it. 

One of the things that we found from the study that isincredibly encouraging across the African continent, including Nigeria, is the government choosing to partner with professionals and experts and academicians who are at the core of AI and advancing the technology and using the insights to pass policy and regulation. So this marriage or this interplay that exist between experts and government in forging and creating policies that are friendly and in creating an enabling environment for policy, while also putting in place the ethical rail guards and safety mechanisms, underscore the important and powerful role of government in the AI revolution. 

What are the key lessons for African government from the research report?

In the African context and even globally, the big role that the government can play is by creating an enabling environment for innovation and employment creation to thrive. So, passing regulations and legislations that are data-based and also based on the benefits of AI, as well as considering the risks that are associated with AI, are some of the key lessons. Again, there is need for investment in digital infrastructure, and governmentshould see itself as a key stakeholder or agency that brings together, all of the different actors within an ecosystem.

Based on the report, what will be your advice for African governments in the area of robust policy frameworks that will promote digital innovation and transformation across Africa?

African governments should just observe the evolution of policy making across the continent right now, and especially the role of multi-country or pan-African agencies like the African Union, to see how beneficialit has been. I think there’s no need to reinvent the wheel because a lot of the same issues that are being faced at an individual level on the continent are already being addressed by pan-African bodies. So pan-Africanagencies collaborating with government agencies to create policy is one really important avenue that we can make sure that we have policy that is cutting edge and that fosters innovation across the continent and is also relevant for the times. 

One thing that I feel very strongly about is making sure that policies also target sectoral opportunities. AI solutions can really help address pressing local challenges and also create employment in a sustainable way.

Women, especially those in rural areas, face steep hurdles in accessing careers in AI. How can this be addressed to bridge existing gender gap in Africa?

This is really a very important question and it’s something that’s very close to my heart, naturally. I think women are grossly underrepresented in STEM education within the digital space, which is an acronym for Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics. We find this across board, and there are a number of reasons for this. Part of it is just socio-cultural reasons. So the perception is that STEM skills are for men, and they’re too difficult for women on the skills development side. And then when it comes to the actual job creation, what you get is what is perceived to be a highly male-dominated space and it is reinforced at that. When young women don’t see other young women in those roles, they don’t see an opportunity for themselves. We were very fortunate and really deliberate in making sure that we spoke with young women who are involved in leveraging AI skills. So, there are some really incredible gender-forward mechanisms that are being put in place by donors and other agencies, such as providing scholarships for women, and providing community and networking space for women that are interested in acquiring digital skills. All of these are pathways or initiatives that we can put in place to make it much easier for women to participate within AI and data science, as well as the digital economy in general. 

Digital transformation thrives on established resilient digital infrastructure, which Africa lacks. With the drawback in digital infrastructure, do you see growth in Africa’s digital transformation initiative? 
Infrastructure of all kinds is a necessary precondition for AI ecosystems to thrive. Within the African context, basic digital infrastructure like electricity and access to connectivity, as well as digital infrastructure, are really important for digital transformation. Although Africa is challenged in the provision of some of the critical infrastructure, but the continent has ways of bridging existing infrastructural gaps. Educational institutions, accelerators and hubs across the continent are providing access to electricity, and access to computing power. Large multinational corporations like Amazon and others are providing some funding to bridge the gap. So there are opportunities on the African continent to leapfrog and countries like Nigeria, Rwanda, and Kenya are at the forefront of the digital revolution in general in terms of their innovation clusters and innovation hubs.

How will you address the general perception in Africa that AI technology will take away jobs from humans, and create additional unemployment?

It’s so important to demystify what can be abstract concepts for the average person.
The truth is that there is always a good and bad side of any new technology. 
AI will definitely do away with obsolete technologies, but it will create new jobs with digital technology. So there is need for upskilling to ensure that everybody has basic or intermediate digital skills. With digital skills, there will be job opportunities for all.

Can you shed more light on Caribou Digital and its operations, and when are we expecting another report? 

So Caribou Digital is a global consultant that embraces the modern way of working. We have established our presence in many countries of the world, and we have representation on every continent. We work with businesses as well as governments, and what we do is to apply deep tech expertise that different people from various fields bring to the work. We support organisations that we work with in areas of strategy design, funding and programme management, including impact measurement, and actionable research. 

Essentially what we are doing is working towards building inclusive and sustainable digital economies driven by secure livelihoods, innovative business models, and climate action.
We’re supporting, for example, the particular programme that has been able to publish our latest report, based on the good partnership that we’ve had with MasterCard Foundation, which is now eight years running. 

Caribou Digital is a growing agency and we are working with different agencies in delivering impact.Now that we have kind of scratched the surface of what innovation clusters are all about, we are planning to do another report that will focus on specific countries andhow the innovation clusters that are coming up within those countries, can scale within those countries.