Global AI Summit in Rwanda Sets the Stage for Africa’s Bold $2.9 Trillion AI Revolution

Rwanda has officially opened the Global AI Summit on Africa, a historic gathering bringing together global leaders, innovators, and policymakers to define Africa’s role in the future of artificial intelligence. Hosted in Kigali from April 3 to 4, 2025, the summit is being held at the Kigali Convention Center and is organized by Rwanda’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) and the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, in partnership with the World Economic Forum.

The theme of the Global AI Summit, “AI and Africa’s Demographic Dividend: Reimagining Economic Opportunities for Africa’s Workforce,” reflects an urgent need to explore how Africa can harness artificial intelligence to transform its economies, equip its young population with future-proof skills, and assert its voice in the global AI narrative.

More than 1,000 participants from over 95 countries are attending the summit, including heads of state, policymakers, business leaders, investors, and academics. Over 100 AI enterprises are also present, making this the largest AI-focused event ever held on the continent.

Kagame’s Vision: Connectivity, Skills, and Continental Unity

In his keynote address, President Paul Kagame set the tone for the two-day event with a powerful call to action. He stressed that Africa cannot afford to be left behind in the global AI race. Kagame argued that the continent’s strength lies in its people, particularly its large and growing youth population, and that with the right investments in digital infrastructure, skills development, and policy harmonization, Africa can become a serious player in the global AI economy.

Three Priorities for Africa’s AI Integration

Kagame emphasized three core priorities for Africa to achieve meaningful AI integration:

1. Improving digital infrastructure, including high-speed internet and reliable electricity
2. Developing a skilled workforce prepared for AI-era opportunities
3. Deepening continental integration to align policies and governance frameworks around AI

He called for a unified vision and stronger collaboration among African states to ensure AI serves as a driver of equality, opportunity, and prosperity.

Africa AI Council Launched to Guide the Continent’s AI Agenda

A key milestone of the Global AI Summit is the official launch of the Africa AI Council. This new multistakeholder body is tasked with guiding the continent’s AI agenda through inclusive governance, ethical standards, and strategic investments. The Council aims to align African countries around common challenges and opportunities, ensure equitable access to AI technologies, promote homegrown innovation, and protect data sovereignty.

The Council’s creation comes at a critical time, with artificial intelligence projected to contribute up to $2.9 trillion to Africa’s economy by 2030. It is also estimated that AI could lift 11 million people out of poverty and create half a million jobs every year if deployed responsibly and inclusively.

Cassava’s AI Factory Tackles Africa’s Compute Divide

The Kigali summit is also witnessing another breakthrough: the unveiling of Africa’s first AI factory. Spearheaded by Cassava Technologies in partnership with Nvidia, the initiative will see supercomputing infrastructure deployed across Cassava’s data centers in South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria.

Empowering Developers Across Africa

This move addresses one of the continent’s biggest bottlenecks – access to compute power – currently available to only 5 percent of African AI developers.

The AI factory is expected to enable local researchers, startups, and developers to build and train models using local data, in local languages, and for local problems. This is a significant step toward democratizing AI across Africa and ensuring solutions are designed with contextual relevance.

Africa’s AI Agenda: Built on Seven Pillars

Sessions at the Global AI Summit are structured around seven critical pillars: people and talent, infrastructure, data, AI models, AI applications, entrepreneurship, and governance. These areas reflect the complex ecosystem required to make AI work for Africa’s people and economies.

Youth in Focus: Building the Next Generation of AI Leaders

One of the standout features of the Global AI Summit is its focus on youth. Backed by the Mastercard Foundation, the youth-led track highlights how young Africans are already shaping the AI landscape through innovation, research, and entrepreneurship.

With over 60 percent of Africa’s population under the age of 25, empowering the continent’s youth with AI knowledge and tools is seen as both a necessity and an opportunity.

A Continental Call to Action from Kigali

The summit also features high-level conversations on AI in agriculture, healthcare, digital governance, and the intersection of AI with other frontier technologies like quantum computing and robotics. Throughout, the message remains consistent: Africa’s AI future must be inclusive, secure, and built with the continent’s realities and strengths at its core.

As the Global AI Summit continues, Kigali has become the epicenter of conversations about not only how AI will transform Africa but how Africa can transform AI. Rwanda’s leadership in hosting the event and championing continental coordination reflects its broader ambition to position itself as a hub for digital innovation and forward-thinking technology policy.

With the Africa AI Council now launched, the AI factory project in motion, and a shared continental vision emerging from Kigali, the summit marks a significant step toward an African AI strategy rooted in collaboration, equity, and ambition. For Africa, the AI moment is no longer on the horizon – it has arrived, and Kigali is the beginning of a new chapter.