Unstoppable Africa 2025: Africa’s AI ambitions, digital future go global

Major projects and initiatives that are set to position Africa at the heart of global innovation, notably the expansion of the continent’s AI infrastructure, were announced on Monday at Unstoppable Africa 2025 in New York as CEOs convened to discuss Africa’s place in the global economy.

This marks a significant step in enabling the continent’s stakeholders to develop local AI solutions designed to address some of Africa’s most pressing challenges.

Zimbabwean billionaire, Founder and Executive Chairman of Econet Global and Cassava Technologies, Strive Masiyiwa, announced that steps are underway to establish Africa’s first network of AI factories. Powered by NVIDIA GPUs, the facilities will be completed by the end of 2026, setting the stage for homegrown innovation and accelerating Africa’s participation in the global AI economy.

Another announcement came from Meta, presented by Kojo Boakye, Vice President, Public Policy Director for Africa, Middle East & Turkey. The company signalled upcoming investment opportunities in Africa’s digital ecosystem, highlighting its confidence in the continent’s growing tech and AI potential.

These initiatives reflect a shift toward locally led solutions and long-term planning, with a focus on robust systems, adoption of advanced technologies, and capital investment to drive regional integration and global competitiveness.

The second day of Unstoppable Africa 2025, flagship event of the Global Africa Business Initiative (GABI), united business leaders, African heads of state, global investors, and international institutions to accelerate the continent’s economic transformation. New commitments in infrastructure, advanced technologies and investment highlighted growing confidence in Africa’s private sector.

In the financial services sector, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) in collaboration with African Pension and Social Security Institutions launched the ’Africa Savings for Growth’ initiative to explore ways to channel African institutional savings into longer-term investments that support inclusive growth. The continent-wide initiative builds on AFC’s 2025 analysis identifying at least $1.17 trillion in institutional assets across Africa, much of it still allocated to short-term, low-yield instruments.

The Global Africa Business Initiative launched two new GABI Action Pathways focused on digital transformation and healthcare aiming to connect businesses, governments, and innovators working in sectors critical to Africa’s competitiveness and resilience.

The Healthcare Action Pathway aims to improve access to medical services through digital tools, build stronger regional supply chains, attract investment, and support the growth of Africa’s healthcare workforce. The Digital Transformation Action Pathway focuses on upgrading government services, expanding internet access and digital infrastructure, training people for future jobs, helping small businesses with tech and funding, and promoting responsible use of AI and data.

Discussions on Day Two focused on new partnerships, Africa’s digital growth, and the continent’s thriving sports and creative industries, including music and fashion.

The forum concluded by highlighting Ava DuVernay, acclaimed director, screenwriter, producer, and founder of ARRAY; 15 year-old Ellyanne Wanjiku Chlystun-Githae, Climate & Health Champion at Seeds for Leadership; Mpumelelo Tevin Mhlongo, Paralympic champion and triple world record holder; Marcus Samuelsson, chef, restaurateur, and author; and international singer-songwriter, Tiwa Savage, who also performed at the end of the event. Their inspiring contributions echoed the forum’s central message of empowerment, innovation, and sustainable progress across the continent.

Closing the forum, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed said, “When people say Africa is resilient, they’ve got a different definition to resilience than we have. Africa’s resilience is about how we build on what we have and how we strengthen our markets, our economies and our democracies and I believe that the values and principles that we all hold are important. Unstoppable Africa is a space to remind ourselves that this is who we are, it is our narrative, on our terms that we go forth.”

Unstoppable Africa is the leading African business forum held outside the continent. Hosted by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union, the event took place just ahead of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. Unstoppable Africa aims to accelerate the continent’s economic transformation and empower Africa to take a leading role in shaping the markets of the future.