Africa’s AI Future: The Gebeya-NVIDIA Partnership

As the AI conference hosted by Nvidia in Silicon Valley kicks off today, attention is turning to Africa’s growing role in the global artificial intelligence ecosystem.

The conversation comes as Nvidia partners with African talent development platform Gebeya to train the next generation of AI developers across the continent.

Almaz Negash, CEO of the African Diaspora Network, joins us for this episode where she reflects on the increasing global interest in Africa’s young and fast-growing population, which is expected to play a major role in the future digital workforce.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Partnerships withtain global tech firms and African innovators could help position the continent as a key hub for AI talent and digital innovation. From over 2,376 cities and 178 countries, we bring the Good Morning Africa podcast. Welcome aboard your post on Everything Business in Africa. I am Rither Dong for more follow-ups on Twitter at the K Financial News, and you can find me at Rither Dong. As the AI conference hosted by Nvidia in Silicon Valley kicks off today, attention is turning to Africa's growing role in the global artificial intelligence ecosystem. The conversation comes as Nvidia partners with African talent development platform Geber to train the next generation of AI developers across the continent. Alma Znigash, CEO of the African Diaspora Network, joins us for this episode, where she reflects on the increasing global interest in Africa's young and fast-growing population, which is expected to play a major role in the future of digital workforce. The AI conference is coming up in Silicon Valley, of course, led by NVIDIA, and we're seeing companies like Gabea partner with global tech leaders, such as NVIDIA, to train the next generation of AI developers. And so why are companies like Nvidia so crucial for Africa's tech ecosystem? And to add to that, what tell us about the growing role of the diaspora in Africa's tech ecosystem? That's a mouthful, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Yeah. So I uh I'm glad you mentioned that. I'm also glad you mentioned Gabea. Gabea is one of the largest uh platforms right now we have on the continent that is doing an amazing training and development of African technologists, future technologists uh on the continent. Very happy to have uh the uh knowledge of Gabea, which also really uh stemmed from the first African diaspora investment and investment symposium right here in Santa Clara, California, where Nvidia is located. So I think it's such a meaningful uh partnership, and I'm also proud for the fact that Nvidia is looking at companies like Gabea to become their partners because what what does this mean? Yeah, the AI um technology is booming, but then I want to step back a little bit and think about what they get out of Africa. Africa is the youngest continent in the world. In 20 by 2050, according to the World Bank and other uh data, one in every four uh persons in the world will be African, which we believe uh the future work of work is African. And so investing in in Africa and collaborating with companies like uh like Gavea for Nvidia, one of the largest AI uh uh technology um platform developer or the company that really produces all the tech behind AI is Nvidia, and is based right here in the valley and really looking for connection to the continent actually says a lot more about the continent than even just the uh the company. Africa is on the verge of uh developing um the next generation uh programmers and uh talent. And so for Nvidia to do the partnership in Africa is is actually very, very important and it's timely. And so I think they're tapping into the younger generations and that power of the youth on the continent and having um this collaboration with Gabea, then provides access to Nvidia to think a little bit even deeper and further than what they are doing in any other part of the continent. So they really see an opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Uh the the collaboration is quite large. I I if you could maybe touch on the development of Africa's first AI factory and what that means for enabling enterprise uh level AI development. Uh it's it's a big development, and I know it's something that you've been following closely.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Yeah, well, I think one of the things, in fact, we do have this uh conversation coming up in our own uh symposium in uh March 25 to 27 at Santa Clara University. But why is this important? Why is it, why could I say this? I really am not a technologist, but from what we are hearing, what we're reading, what we're understanding, um, is that AI could actually become transformative for Africa. We can leapfrog a lot of the challenge that we have faced for generations. And so if uh if enabling Africa's AI economy is going to take this kind of collaboration, we're talking about uh uh Africa having its own local AI infrastructure on healthcare diagnosis, uh, agriculture and climate, financial services and fintech, public sector, there's all kinds of different things that we can leapfrog using AI, but then you cannot just the technology exists. But I think where where you see Gabea and others become very important to this longer term, large uh uh big opportunities for the continent is the training of our youth. Because if you have more than 60% of the population of Africa is young, well then do you want to use that young uh power as an opportunity or disadvantage? I think they are opportunity, and the way you do make sure that the AI infrastructure that are that is being created on the continent of Africa has their focus on the younger generation, really providing them the tools and resources they need to thrive. And I think um the other thing is there is uh a fastest, a fast-growing digital market on the continent. We're not new to the digital market. We uh we know that um uh we have you uh many African people have used FinTech to do their mobile uh funding transfer, money. Uh you know, you've got all kinds of things uh on the continent that has been uh in existence for a long time. But the massive youth population entering the digital economy is something that we haven't done before. Now it is happening, and I think having that collaboration early on uh with the kinds of NVIDIA, uh Microsoft, Google, and others, they all have some kind of capacity on the continent. But what makes the NVIDIA thing unique is because it's primarily focused on AI. And I think that infrastructure, no matter how they twist it, it must include and it must be focused on the younger generation of the continent. And this could help with a lot of things for Africa. So we have uh security issues. So do we have the cybersecurity that we need? What does the data infrastructure uh look like on the continent of Africa? The other thing is what is the ethical uh component of it? Is it being designed to fit our own uh value, the community's value of the continent, or is it fitting somebody else's value? So there's got to be some responsible way of engaging the African governments, need to play a very, very key role in making sure that the uh AI data centers um are really pretty much well managed and they're not being compromised. So I think this is a huge conversation for technologists to have, but for me, from my own little uh space and hope that Africa plays a big role in this uh new, evolving, and also a bit scary technology to ensure that the community on the continent and specifically the youth is part of that discussion. I don't know if I answered your question. It's a long uh drawn-out, but I do hope that it gives you some insight in a sense that for me, sitting in Silicon Valley, my hope is that companies like Nvidia, when they go to the continent looking for uh resources, uh they look at the youth, they provide them the training they need, they provide them the infrastructure that they need, and then they help them thrive. It cannot be we cannot be used as a means to an end. We must be a means in itself. And to do that, you really do need to bring a partnership of the private sector, the government, the foundations, the community all together, developing something that is owned by the continent for the continent. And um, I think that would make us um that would give us some kind of uh data sovereignty uh and digital independence that we need. Otherwise, uh we could also be used um for bad reasons. So I I mean it can happen, anything can happen, but I am I am betting uh on the capability of uh the technologists, but also the governments of Africa and the businesses themselves.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

And a quick review of the other stories Zimbabwe's push to refine lithium at home could reshape both its economy and the global battery supply chain, but it also risks reinforcing China's dominant role in the local industry. Chinese producers are building lithium sulfate plants in the country, as Harare forces mining companies to process more of the metal domestically instead of exporting raw materials. Lithium sulfate is used to produce battery grade compounds for electric vehicles and energy storage systems. It is part of an aggressive beneficiation strategy by President MS Mnaganga's government, which last month suspended lithium concentrate exports. Zimbabwe has rapidly become a major player in the lithium market, accounting for almost 10% of the global mined supply last year, according to US Geological Survey and around 15% of the processed lithium in China. But companies building that processing infrastructure are overwhelmingly Chinese, raising questions about whether the country is building an independent refining sector or simply deepening its role inside China's pace ecosystem. Establishing a framework to support the country's socioeconomic development and expand its trade capacity over the next five years. Under the agreement, ITC ITFC IT ITFC will mobilize financing and technical support for priority sectors of the Mauritanian economy, particularly energy, banking, private sector development, and the partnership will facilitate financing of the input and energy commodities, provide trade, finance facilities and confirmation lines for letters of credit to local banks and support small and medium-sized enterprises. Thank you for always waking up with us. Good morning, Africa's product of the K Financial. If you have suggestions or just and check out more stories, visit the website, that's the Kfinancial.com. Don't forget to subscribe. You can find us on all social media platforms at the K Financial, and you can find me at visitor.