By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
Smart Africa has outlined
how it is translating Africa’s continental artificial intelligence ambitions
into practical programmes and delivery, with its Director of Digital
Infrastructure, Skills and Empowerment, Thelma Quaye, highlighting ongoing
initiatives at the Pan African AI Summit 2026 in Accra.
Speaking on Day 2 of the
summit, Quaye presented Smart Africa’s approach to advancing artificial
intelligence within the framework of Africa’s Single Digital Market, which
brings together 42 Member States and more than 1.1 billion people.
She highlighted some of the
barriers facing the continent, including the relatively low level of
intra-Africa trade, which stands at 18% compared with 69% in Europe, as well as
limited digital skills, with only 8% of people having foundational digital skills.
In response to these
challenges, Smart Africa is advancing the Africa AI Council, structured around
six pillars: Compute, Data, Market, Governance, Talent and Investments.
Two key deliverables are
already being developed under the initiative. These include a Pan-African GPU
Access Framework aimed at pooling existing compute capacity across the
continent and an Africa AI Fund structuring roadmap.
The fund roadmap forms part
of an $18.7 billion blended finance architecture designed to support
infrastructure, innovation, research and talent development across Africa’s AI
ecosystem.
Smart Africa also
highlighted progress through the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA), which has
trained more than 13,000 people across 42 countries, including more than 500 AI
professionals.
The initiative has also
contributed to the development of more than 18 continental blueprints and
supported 91 scholars at Master’s level, with women accounting for 40% of those
supported.
Ghana, which is hosting the
Pan African AI Summit 2026, was also presented as an example of two-way
continental partnership. The country has led the development of the E-Payments
and Data Governance blueprints and chairs the African Network of Cybersecurity
Authorities (ANCA) through its Cyber Security Authority.
