Ai Kenya held the 3rd edition of their industry breakfast recently concluded on the 29th of January bringing industry leaders from different domains in one room. The biggest conversation and the theme of the day being “AI POWERED OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY FOR TEAMS AND SYSTEMS“.
120+ industry professionals including CEO’s, Entrepreneurs, COO’s, CTO’s, government representatives convened at Movenpick Residencies Nairobi to talk about AI operational efficiency. This in turn signals a big shift witnessed from just talk in board rooms to actionable insights being witnessed in day to day operations by companies.
Community and Agentic AI
Ai Kenya is a community of seasoned professionals and people trying to get into the Artificial Intelligence space and it has been positioned just right. By bringing in tech and non-tech stakeholders from different sectors to dialogue this in turn should help provide solutions to local and regional issues through AI. CEO and Founder of Ai Kenya Alfred Ongere started of with a piece from McKinsey in an announcement where out of 60,000 staff, 20,000 are AI agents. An “agent” isn’t just a tool you ask questions; it’s a system that can execute tasks.
“So now work is moving and work is advancing to levels of efficiency where organizations are now encouraging their employees to treat AI agents as teammates and not just tools” Ongere said. “So without focused effort, these gaps will define who benefits from AI in decades to come” he added.
Several Keynote speakers took it on stage with the first being James Ayugi, CEO Webmasters Kenya and Founder Ecitizen. “We have digitized inefficiency,” stated James. He argued that AI has forced a transition from process-driven to intelligence-driven operations, removing manual constraints like human fatigue and allowing personnel to focus exclusively on judgment and accountability.
Samsung at the forefront of On-Device AI
Samsung East Africa were the headlining collaborators and delivering their Keynote was the Product Manager Ryan Mule. In his presentation he emphasized how Samsung are the forefront of Artificial Intelligence adoption with Galaxy Ai. With features like Knox security system that runs on device, companies are guaranteed of data security as well as being able to limit what staff can or cannot do with the suite of Galaxy devices from the Tablets to the Smartphones.
With Gemini built into the devices, you can schedule events like tech expos or even football matches to your calendar hands-free. “The phones are able to understand the primary ask, the primary goal, the sub goal and do it for you. So that’s the direction we’re going in, from smartphone to an AI phone” Mule said.
Data Engineering at the Forefront
Bernard Momanyi, Founder Sanifu AI and Sommet Kipchilat, CTO Quanta 360 shared amazing keynotes with emphasis on data engineering and data pipelines being at the core of increasing efficiency while being the backbone of AI. From Quanta 360 being in the insurance sector and Sanifu helping large corporates with huge operational workflows like data entry and validation.
What is the future of Enterprise AI
Sitting among 100+ C-suite leaders in the industry is an honor but a lot of work in the pipeline needs to be done. Even with other keynotes from companies like Sama and Brighter Monday, the talking point was continued action and not just releasing funds for both hardware and software. Sitting down, understanding operational need, equipping personnel with necessary skills and full integration is what is needed for adaptability and growth.
