Outgoing CEO of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh has noted that the narrative around Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa has mainly be its negative impact on jobs but it is time African countries took a critical look at the how they can benefit from AI instead of focusing on the downside.
He was speaking during an interaction with various stakeholders of MTN to mark his five years, nine months of being at the helm of affairs at MTN Ghana, which makes him the longest-serving CEO in the history of MTN.
The meeting was themed: Five Years of Impact; Celebrating Leadership, and Digital Transformation for Progress in Ghana.
Selorm took the MTN Ghana top job in 2018 as the first ever “non-MTNer” to have held that position, coming from Digicel in Haiti. Prior to him, all other MTN Ghana CEOs were drawn from within the MTN Group.
The outgoing MTN Ghana CEO said the obsession with the threat of AI in Africa is mainly due to media reportage about AI, but beyond those threats there are positives Africa countries can derive from AI.
“AI can enable more than we think,” he said.
According to him, the education systems in Africa have for instance, failed to generate the the kind of analytical minds needed to leapfrog the continent’s development but AI can help in that direction.
He also noted that AI can help greatly in reducing cost of doing business among other things, saying that it is time for Africans to start focusing on the positives rather than the obsession with the negatives of AI.
