NEWSROOM

Joint venture begins in Nigeria with plans to expand across the continent by 2026.

Four technology companies — Lakeba Group (Australia), Next Digital (Nigeria), AqlanX (UAE), and Agentic Dynamic (Netherlands) — have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish AfricAI, a joint venture focused on developing and deploying artificial intelligence (AI) solutions designed specifically for African markets. The initiative begins in Nigeria, where AfricAI will build on existing national data centers and digital infrastructure to introduce AI applications in areas such as healthcare, digital identity, public administration, and enterprise services. The joint venture aims to support Africa’s capacity to develop sovereign, context-aware AI systems that reflect local realities and priorities.

Building AI Capacity in Africa

AfricAI’s approach emphasizes development within the continent, rather than outsourcing. The joint venture envisions a distributed AI network across Africa that supports local needs in agriculture, urban planning, education, and citizen services. By 2026, AfricAI intends to expand operations into Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Rwanda, while training more than 100 professionals to strengthen regional expertise in AI development and deployment.

Focus Areas

The joint venture will focus on applications that combine technical innovation with local governance requirements. This includes developing secure digital identity and document automation systems, advancing healthcare and education technologies, and integrating agent-based AI architectures for adaptable and explainable use across human resources, legal, and policy sectors. AfricAI also plans to establish a Center of Excellence to support skills development in AI engineering, cybersecurity, model training, and ethical deployment. Leveraging Nigeria’s cloud and edge infrastructure, the initiative will ensure that sensitive data and AI workloads remain under local control in line with national data residency rules.

Strengthening Digital Sovereignty

By embedding compliance, multilingual capabilities, and secure access controls, AfricAI aims to provide a foundation for trustworthy AI adoption across both public and private sectors. Pilot projects are expected to include government services, financial technologies, healthcare, and utilities, with the broader goal of supporting digital sovereignty and interoperability across African countries.

Partner Perspectives

Prince Malik Ado-Ibrahim, Chairman of Next Digital, said: “AfricAI is about building AI capacity within Africa. Nigeria provides the right foundation for this effort, and through collaboration, we aim to shape AI that is aligned with local needs and aspirations.” 
Giuseppe Porcelli, CEO of Lakeba Group, said: “Nigeria represents an important starting point for creating a sustainable AI ecosystem in Africa. AfricAI will help ensure that infrastructure and innovation are built locally, with long-term growth in mind.”
Demetrio Russo, CEO of AqlanX, said:“Digital trust and multilingual compliance are central to AfricAI. This venture will support Africa’s digital sovereignty agenda and enable secure innovation at scale.”
Eren Sivaslı, Chairman of Agentic Dynamic, said: “Our focus is on scalable automation that complements human workflows. AfricAI gives us the opportunity to apply our agent-based architecture within a collaborative, international framework.”