By: Kanto
Kai Okanta
Mauritius Telecom Chief
Executive Officer Veemal Gungadin has highlighted the role of artificial
intelligence in continuous improvement, delivering a keynote address at the
Africa Kaizen Annual Conference (AKAC) 2026, held in Mauritius for the first
time.
The conference took place on
October 26 and 27 at The Ravenala Attitude Hotel in Balaclava, bringing
together around 200 delegates from more than 20 countries under the theme
“Sustainable Kaizen for a Competitive and Prosperous Africa.”
Co-organised by the National
Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NPCC) and the Ministry of Industry,
SME and Cooperatives, the conference focused on continuous improvement and its
contribution to Africa’s competitiveness and prosperity.
Gungadin delivered a keynote
titled “Human-Led, AI-Powered: Reimagining KAIZEN for the AI Age”, in which he
emphasised that AI has already changed how people work and that continuous
improvement must keep pace with these changes.
At Mauritius Telecom, he
explained, people identify problems, data helps establish their causes, AI
enables faster action, and people ensure that improvements last.
He shared examples from the
company’s data centre, IPTV service and call centre, where a Voice AI agent now
helps serve customers.
“The real opportunity is not
what AI can do, but what our people can now do with it,” Mauritius Telecom
said, highlighting the importance of combining human expertise with AI capabilities.
The
company also expressed its support for the conference, which brought together
African and international partners to exchange ideas on continuous improvement
