Embedded

How AI Can Unlock Opportunities For Africa’s Informal Economy

Featuring Maxwell Gomera, Executive Director of UNDP Africa Sustainable Finance Hub & UNDP South Africa Resident Representative. In this sixth and final episode of a special series of the Embedded podcast, host Zain Verjee speaks with Maxwell Gomera about how artificial intelligence can reshape international development across Africa. From his early work developing bio-economic models for elephant conservation to his current role leading UNDP's sustainable finance initiatives, Maxwell shares his vision for using AI to solve longstanding development challenges. The conversation explores how AI can unlock financial access for the informal sector, create jobs for Africa's growing youth population, and help communities address problems that have persisted for generations. Recorded at the Global AI Summit on Africa in partnership with The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, this episode examines how data sovereignty and locally-relevant AI solutions can create a more equitable path forward for the continent. Key Highlights * 🐘 Maxwell's journey from building mathematical models for elephant conservation to leading UNDP Africa's sustainable finance initiatives * 💰 Using AI to unlock credit for small businesses in township economies through alternative data and risk assessment * 🏬 How the informal sector employs 60% of South Africa's population yet remains financially excluded from traditional banking systems * 📊 Building AI datasets that enable financial institutions to better assess creditworthiness of individuals in informal economies * 🌐 UNDP's exploration of how pension funds can be mobilized to support African startups and innovation * 👩‍💻 Creating technological jobs across the spectrum - from coding to technical maintenance of data centers * 🧠 The importance of empowering Africans to shape AI development on the continent rather than remaining bystanders * 🍳 Addressing persistent challenges like cooking energy access that traditional technology has failed to solve About Our Guest Maxwell Gomera serves as the UNDP Resident Representative for South Africa and Director for the UNDP Africa Sustainable Finance Hub. With over 20 years of experience as a resource economist specializing in nature conservation and agricultural development, he has made significant contributions to economic development initiatives, including being part of the team that developed the 'Global Green New Deal' following the 2008 financial crisis. In his work at UNDP, Maxwell focuses on how AI can serve as a practical tool for Africa's financial transformation, particularly in using alternative credit data to unlock financing for small businesses traditionally labeled as "too risky" by conventional banking systems. Rather than seeing AI merely as climate technology, he positions it as essential for economic justice and shared prosperity, enabling Africa to transition from resource extraction to becoming creators of sustainable solutions tailored to local realities. About UNDP Africa Sustainable Finance Hub The UNDP Africa Sustainable Finance Hub supports countries' efforts to build sustainable finance architectures that advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Key achievements include $750 billion aligned and leveraged for the SDGs in 2022-2024, almost US$30 billion of thematic bonds issued with UNDP's support, and over 100 countries supported in sustainable finance initiatives. The Hub's services include Public Finance for the SDGs, Private Finance for the SDGs, Integrated National Financing, and the SDG Finance Academy, which builds capacity for sustainable finance globally.

Nigeria’s Strategy For The AI Age

Featuring Dr. 'Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Federal Republic of Nigeria In this fifth episode of a special series of the Embedded podcast, host Zain Verjee speaks with Dr. 'Bosun Tijani about Nigeria's approach to artificial intelligence and digital transformation. With his unique background as both a successful tech entrepreneur and government minister, he shares his vision for leveraging AI to drive productivity across key sectors while creating jobs for Nigeria's youthful population. The conversation explores the importance of data sovereignty, the need for African nations to build their own AI capabilities, and how collaborative infrastructure can support continental innovation without compromising national interests. Recorded at the Global AI Summit on Africa in partnership with The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, this episode offers insight into how Africa's most populous nation is positioning itself at the forefront of the AI revolution. Key Highlights: 🚀 How AI can drive productivity across sectors from agriculture to education, creating economic growth and job opportunities 👨‍💻 The critical importance of moving beyond mobile-first to investing in fiber optic networks and computing infrastructure 🌍 The need for African nations to build their own language models rather than outsourcing their digital realities to others ⚖️ Balancing pan-African collaboration with national sovereignty in AI development 🏢 Creating innovation hubs with shared infrastructure where entrepreneurs can access computing resources and develop solutions 📊 Reimagining regulation as a tool to open opportunities rather than stifle innovation 👥 Nigeria's National AI Trust initiative to engage billionaires and influential leaders in supporting AI development 🔬 The importance of research and development partnerships with nations that have decades of AI expertise About Our Guest: Dr. 'Bosun Tijani is the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Dr. Tijani advocates for a distributed approach to AI development in Africa, emphasizing that the continent must invest in connected ecosystems with diverse innovation hubs rather than centralized control. He sees AI as fundamentally different for Africa compared to the Global North - African countries view AI primarily as a tool for economic growth, productivity enhancement, and job creation. He champions linguistic diversity in AI and has spearheaded Nigeria's development of a multimodal, multi-language large language model covering multiple Nigerian languages, asserting that AI must reflect local cultures and languages to be truly beneficial. His vision centers on building sovereign AI capabilities while maintaining collaborative networks across the continent. Prior to his ministerial appointment, he co-founded and led Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), Africa's leading innovation center with presence in Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda. Since its launch over a decade ago, CcHUB has become the home for more than 50 Nigerian start-ups, including among others BudgIT, Wecyclers, Lifebank, GoMyWay, Vacantboards, and Autobox. In 2021, he was recognized and honoured with the Global icon of African excellence Award by the New African Magazine, which is the oldest and definitive annual listing of Africa’s most influential people. Connect With Embedded: Website: www.therundown.studio [http://www.therundown.studio] Twitter/X: @Rundown_Studio_ LinkedIn: The Rundown Studio Connect With The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution & The Global AI Summit on Africa: LinkedIn: https://rw.linkedin.com/company/c4ir-rw [https://rw.linkedin.com/company/c4ir-rw] Twitter/X: @c4IR_rw Website: https://c4ir.rw/ [https://c4ir.rw/] The Global AI Summit on Africa: https://c4ir.rw/global-ai-summit-on-africa [https://c4ir.rw/global-ai-summit-on-africa] Connect With Minister 'Bosun Tijani: Twitter/X: @bosuntijani LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bosuntijani/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-%E2%80%98bosun-tijani-1b027b/

Data Sovereignty & Building Up Africa’s AI Ecosystem

In this fourth episode of a special series of the Embedded podcast, host Zain Verjee speaks with Kate Kallot about building the fundamental data infrastructure needed for Africa's AI revolution. As the founder and CEO of Amini AI, Kallot shares her views on AI as a pivotal technology that can either perpetuate colonial patterns of dependence or become a mechanism for sovereignty and inclusive prosperity in the Global South. Her work focuses on making environmental data accessible and actionable to empower communities at the forefront of climate change while building local AI capacity. Recorded at the Global AI Summit on Africa in partnership with The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Key Highlights: 🔄 Amini AI's approach to collecting, structuring, and fusing diverse data sources for actionable insights 🌍 Kate's mission to create an equitable, African-made AI ecosystem to prevent digital colonialism 🛰️ The power of data when combined with ground-level information to create incredible insights 📊 The urgency of data sovereignty, with only 2% of African data currently processed on the continent 🧩 Breaking data silos between government ministries and organizations 👩‍💻 Why women don't need technical backgrounds to succeed in AI, drawing from Kate's own journey from political science to tech ⚖️ The challenges entrepreneurs face with cross-border business, IP registration, and taxation across African markets 🔬 How Amini focuses on useful, contextually relevant AI rather than chasing the latest architectural innovations About Our Guest: Kate Kallot is the Founder and CEO of Amini, a Nairobi-based startup building data infrastructure for Africa and the Global South to regenerate natural capital at scale. Named one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2023 and a Young World Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024, she currently serves as Vice Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce Global Environmental and Energy Commission and is a member of EY's Global AI Advisory Council. Before founding Amini in 2022, Kate held leadership positions at global tech companies including NVIDIA, where she led global developer relations and expansion into emerging markets, and Arm, where she was instrumental in the Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) movement. At Intel, she led the development of the world's first AI development kit in a USB form factor, the Neural Compute Stick, bringing computer vision and AI to IoT and edge devices for millions of users. About Amini AI: Operating in over 25 countries with 2.5TB of training data and analysis of 80 billion hectares of land, Amini provides insights that help farmers understand soil health, crop conditions, potential disease outbreaks, weather forecasts, and yield predictions. The company works with a network of data partners in a revenue-sharing model that returns value to communities while breaking down data silos across organizations and governments. Connect With Embedded: Website: www.therundown.studio [http://www.therundown.studio] Twitter/X: @Rundown_Studio_ LinkedIn: The Rundown Studio Connect With Zain Verjee: Twitter/X: @Zain_Verjee LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zain-verjee-97747467 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/zain-verjee-97747467] Connect With The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution & The Global AI Summit on Africa: LinkedIn: https://rw.linkedin.com/company/c4ir-rw [https://rw.linkedin.com/company/c4ir-rw] Twitter/X: @c4IR_rw Website: https://c4ir.rw/ [https://c4ir.rw/] The Global AI Summit on Africa: https://c4ir.rw/global-ai-summit-on-africa [https://c4ir.rw/global-ai-summit-on-africa] Connect With Kate Kallot & Amini AI: Twitter/X: @katekallot LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekallot/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katekallot/] Amini AI: https://www.amini.ai/ [https://www.amini.ai/]

Inside Rwanda's AI Blueprint

In this third episode of a special series of the Embedded podcast, host Zain Verjee speaks with Hon. Paula Ingabire about Rwanda's strategic approach to artificial intelligence. As the Minister of ICT and Innovation, Ingabire shares insights on how Rwanda is positioning itself as a leader in Africa's AI landscape, focusing on talent development, investment attraction, and ethical frameworks. The conversation explores Rwanda's partnerships with educational institutions, the launch of their AI scaling hub, and how the country is addressing the urban-rural divide through technology. Recorded at the Global AI Summit on Africa in partnership with The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, this episode offers a glimpse into Rwanda's vision for becoming a testing ground for AI solutions tailored to African contexts. Key Highlights: 🌍 Rwanda's approach to leading Africa's AI development through strategic partnerships and collaborations 🎓 Building talent through programs like Carnegie Mellon University, Africa Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and the Coding Academy for 13-year-olds 💰 The launch of the AI scaling hub with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support proven AI solutions 🔍 Rwanda's ethical framework emphasizing transparency, privacy, and cultural context in AI development 🏘️ How Rwanda is using AI to bridge the urban-rural divide, particularly in healthcare delivery 👩‍💻 The importance of women not just using AI solutions but leading in their design and implementation 🚀 The role of local startups in ensuring cultural context and nuances are incorporated into AI solutions About Our Guest: Hon. Paula Ingabire serves as the Minister of ICT and Innovation in the Government of Rwanda, where she champions the country's digital transformation strategy. Before her ministerial appointment, she headed the ICT Business Development Department at the Rwanda Development Board, leading the implementation of national programs in eGovernment and Cyber Security. She coordinated the Kigali Innovation City Project, designed to strengthen a pan-African innovation ecosystem in Rwanda, and was instrumental in creating Smart Africa, an initiative leveraging broadband infrastructure for Africa's socio-economic growth. Minister Ingabire is a thoughtful advocate for responsible AI development in Africa. Under her leadership, Rwanda launched its National AI Policy in 2023, focusing on "creating critical building blocks for AI integration while mitigating associated risks." The policy takes a practical, sector-specific approach, identifying areas with the highest economic impact potential, including agriculture, public administration, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services. Her approach to AI governance is distinctive in that Rwanda is not only creating regulatory frameworks but actively experimenting with AI applications in the public sector. As she explained, "We want to be able to lead the way. We can't only put on a hat of regulations and policymaking. We also want to be able to experiment with the potential of AI across different fields." Connect With Embedded: Website: www.therundown.studio [http://www.therundown.studio] Twitter/X: @Rundown_Studio_ LinkedIn: The Rundown Studio Connect With Zain Verjee: Twitter/X: @Zain_Verjee LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zain-verjee-97747467 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/zain-verjee-97747467] Connect With The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution & The Global AI Summit on Africa: LinkedIn: https://rw.linkedin.com/company/c4ir-rw [https://rw.linkedin.com/company/c4ir-rw] Twitter/X: @c4IR_rw Website: https://c4ir.rw/ [https://c4ir.rw/] The Global AI Summit on Africa: https://c4ir.rw/global-ai-summit-on-africa [https://c4ir.rw/global-ai-summit-on-africa] Connect With Minister Paula Ingabire: * @rwandaICT across all platforms * @Ministry of ICT & Innovation, Rwanda on LinkedIn * @MusoniPaula on X * @PaulaIngabire on LinkedIn

Language AI as Critical Infrastructure for Africa's Digital Sovereignty

Featuring Prof. Vukosi Marivate, Professor of Computer Science & Co-founder of Lelapa AI In this second episode of a special series of the Embedded podcast, host Zain Verjee speaks with Prof. Vukosi Marivate about the critical role of language in creating AI systems that serve African communities authentically. As a leading figure in machine learning and natural language processing in Africa, Prof. Marivate shares insights on developing AI for low-resource languages, preserving cultural context, and ensuring ethical approaches to data collection. The conversation explores how grassroots initiatives like Masakhane Research Foundation and companies like Lelapa AI are working to ensure African languages aren't left behind in the AI revolution. Produced in partnership with The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and recorded at the Global AI Summit on Africa from April 3rd-4th, 2025. Key Highlights: 🔍 The challenge of building AI that understands cultural nuances and local language variations 🗣️ Creating datasets for low-resource African languages through community engagement and ethical data collection 🌍 How language models must reflect cultural contexts to serve areas like healthcare and education effectively 🤖 The release of "Lelapa LLM" - the first language model specifically built for African languages 💼 Why entrepreneurs need to engage with each other to strengthen the African AI ecosystem ⚖️ Ethical considerations and data sovereignty in AI development across the continent 💡 The critical gap in R&D investment on the continent compared to global standards 🔄 Building models from scratch to maintain control rather than relying on constantly changing Western models About Our Guest: Prof. Vukosi Marivate is a Professor of Computer Science and holds the ABSA UP Chair of Data Science at the University of Pretoria. He specializes in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence with a focus on Natural Language Processing. As the co-founder of Lelapa AI, a socially-grounded, Africa-centric AI research and product lab, he works to create "AI for Africans by Africans." Prof. Marivate also leads the Data Science for Social Impact research group at the University of Pretoria and is a chief investigator for the Masakhane Research Foundation, which develops NLP technologies for African languages. His work spans from building language models that preserve linguistic diversity to creating ethical frameworks for AI development in African contexts. Connect With Embedded: Website: www.therundown.studio [http://www.therundown.studio] Twitter/X: @Rundown_Studio_ LinkedIn: The Rundown Studio Connect With Zain Verjee: Twitter/X: @Zain_Verjee LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zain-verjee-97747467 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/zain-verjee-97747467] Connect With The Rwanda Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution & The Global AI Summit on Africa: LinkedIn: https://rw.linkedin.com/company/c4ir-rw [https://rw.linkedin.com/company/c4ir-rw] Twitter/X: @c4IR_rw Website: https://c4ir.rw/ [https://c4ir.rw/] The Global AI Summit on Africa: https://c4ir.rw/global-ai-summit-on-africa [https://c4ir.rw/global-ai-summit-on-africa] Connect With Prof. Vukosi Marivate: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vukosi-marivate/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vukosi-marivate/] Twitter/X: @vukosi Masakhane Research Foundation: https://www.masakhane.io/ [https://www.masakhane.io/] Lelapa AI: https://lelapa.ai/ [https://lelapa.ai/]