African CEOs prioritise AI investment despite readiness gap

African enterprise leaders are more and more prioritising synthetic intelligence (AI) investment, however solely 14 per cent imagine their organisations are retaining tempo with or shifting forward of AI developments.

Meanwhile, 66 per cent of world enterprise leaders are shifting forward of AI developments, based on a brand new KPMG survey.

The survey additionally discovered that 72 per cent of African chief government officers (CEOs) establish AI as a high investment precedence.

This highlights a gap between companies’ ambitions to undertake the know-how and their readiness to deploy it.

The findings are contained within the 2026 KPMG Africa CEO Outlook, launched in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday.

The report examines enterprise leaders’ development expectations, investment priorities, financial dangers, workforce methods and sustainability readiness throughout the continent.

KPMG Africa CEO Outlook

According to the report, the gap between AI investment priorities and organisational readiness underscores the problem going through African companies as they search to translate technological ambition into measurable enterprise outcomes.

While 48 per cent of African CEOs anticipate returns on their AI investments inside one to a few years, in contrast with 71 per cent globally, 42 per cent anticipate returns to take greater than three years, towards 12 per cent of world CEOs.

The report means that the longer investment horizon could mirror the work required to strengthen information infrastructure, combine AI into present techniques, set up applicable governance and develop the talents wanted to grasp its advantages.

Speaking on the launch, Tola Adeyemi, senior companion and chief government officer of KPMG One Africa, stated the survey was meant to problem enterprise leaders’ present assumptions, encourage new concepts and validate selections they have been already making.

The agency surveyed 176 CEOs throughout Africa, from north to south and east to west, as a part of a world survey of 1,400 CEOs throughout industries.

“One clear message from the survey, when it came to economic outlook, is that African CEOs are optimistic about the growth prospects of their organisations, in spite of the environment in which they operate,” Mr Adeyemi stated.

He, nevertheless, harassed that ambition alone wouldn’t ship the anticipated outcomes, saying companies wanted disciplined execution and resilience to translate their development targets into tangible outcomes.

Mr Adeyemi additionally challenged the widespread concern that AI adoption would essentially result in job losses, saying African CEOs anticipated their workforces to increase as companies built-in the know-how.

“Rather, it is one of rescaling the workforce and looking for different types of talent that can work alongside technology to optimise results,” he stated, describing workforce transformation as a central a part of the AI dialog.

The survey discovered that 84 per cent of African CEOs anticipate their organisations’ headcounts to extend over the subsequent three years, in contrast with 89 per cent globally.

It additionally discovered that 86 per cent intend to retain and retrain high-potential workers, whereas 82 per cent are redesigning roles, profession paths and group buildings to help human-AI collaboration.

Despite these plans, expertise shortages stay a big constraint. Some 59 per cent of African CEOs recognized workforce expertise gaps as a problem, 58 per cent cited AI upskilling and coaching, and 52 per cent pointed to difficulties attracting and retaining expertise.

The findings recommend that companies’ capacity to learn from AI will rely not solely on investment in know-how but additionally on their capability to develop the workforce and organisational techniques required to make use of it successfully.

Data safety

The report recognized cybersecurity and information safety, alongside supply-chain resilience, because the main threats to development, every cited by 31 per cent of African CEOs. The integration of AI into working fashions and workflows adopted at 27 per cent.

In response, 45 per cent of African CEOs stated they have been growing investment in cybersecurity and digital-risk resilience, whereas 36 per cent have been investing extra in regulatory compliance and reporting and 31 per cent in AI integration.

Mr Adeyemi stated the findings pointed to the significance of resilience as companies ready for the approaching yr.

“I would expect that as we go from 2026 into 2027, we would see that continued focus on resilience as an enabler of growth,” he stated.

Revenue development and sustained profitability

Despite the uncertainties, African CEOs stay broadly optimistic concerning the financial outlook.

The survey discovered that 66 per cent of CEOs have been assured within the world financial system, broadly in step with the worldwide benchmark of 65 per cent.

Confidence in home economies stood at 72 per cent, whereas 79 per cent expressed confidence in their very own organisations’ development prospects.

The optimism follows a yr of comparatively robust enterprise efficiency, with 86 per cent of African CEOs reporting income development of their newest monetary yr.

However, solely 58 per cent anticipate annual earnings development of at the very least 2.5 per cent over the subsequent three years, in contrast with 68 per cent globally.

It advised that changing income development into sustained profitability stays a problem for companies working amid financial uncertainty and rising operational pressures.

“Africa’s development alternative will rely on how successfully companies work throughout markets, develop expertise and construct the capabilities wanted to compete in a altering world financial system.

“The priority is to move from recognising the opportunity to executing against it, with investment decisions that strengthen resilience today while building capacity for long-term growth,” Mr Adeyemi added, creating an image on how African CEOs might flip their confidence into execution.

The report famous that Africa’s power sources, vital minerals, increasing client markets and alternatives to develop native manufacturing and worth chains might appeal to investment as world provide chains shift.

Realising these alternatives, nevertheless, would rely on dependable power, infrastructure, expertise, connectivity and predictable regulatory environments, the report famous.

Sustainability reporting

The survey additionally discovered progress in sustainability reporting readiness, with 65 per cent of African CEOs saying their organisations had the capability to fulfill new reporting necessities, up from 55 per cent within the earlier yr.

However, solely 48 per cent stated they have been embedding sustainability extra deeply into their core enterprise methods, in contrast with 63 per cent globally.

KPMG stated the broader problem was to include sustainability into enterprise selections in ways in which enhance operational resilience, effectivity and long-term worth creation.

Economic uncertainty

Beyond know-how, the survey recognized financial uncertainty and geopolitical disruption as vital concerns for African companies.

The report attributed this disruption to altering power costs, supply-chain pressures and commerce relationships that have an effect on working prices and investment selections.

Also, talking to PREMIUM TIMES after the launch, Frank Blackmore, lead economist at KPMG South Africa, stated expectations for world financial development had improved initially of 2026, supported by easing inflation and interest-rate cuts in a number of economies.

However, geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran disrupted power markets and launched recent uncertainty, he stated.

Mr Blackmore defined that larger world power costs, significantly diesel, have been growing the price of residing and doing enterprise, including to the challenges confronting African firms.

“So I believe most economies thought it might be transitory, quick time period, come to an finish and transfer on. But we will see now that that type of Middle Eastern energy stability is such that that is going to be on a long run foundation.

“We’re going to see energy prices being volatile and uncertain. That has meant that most economies have seen an uptick in cost of living and costs of doing business just on the back of these higher,” Mr Blackmore stated.