How Global Entities Continue to Extract From Africa's Economy

There has been a history of unrestrained extraction from Africa by many developed economies that stretches back to the colonial era and even beyond that. And the painful truth is that this still continues today but in much more subtle forms.

The real sting behind this, is that many of these, are today presented to Africa and other developing nations, as entities who want to help or assist to lift up economies and build sectors in these developing states. Many even portray themselves, as being supportive or having a foundational purpose to help and build.

In reality however, many are starkly extractive by nature offering very little in the way of assistance or value and by means of events, training and consulting services, are entirely structured to extract value from poorer nations who are led to believe they “need” the assistance from these organisations to grow or develop.

AI – The New Extraction Tunnel

Nothing illustrates this more than the current mushrooming AI industry. It has in many ways become the new slave trade with businesses presented with the option of adopting AI (in many instances with unproven value) or face extinction. The industry has developed a web of consultants, experts, legal advisors, speakers and book writers, many of whom had zero AI experience only a few years back.

Software, data science, machine learning, cloud networks and organisational structures are now intricately woven into a fogged insidiously creeping AI mist. A host of “expert events” research papers, consulting perspectives are dropped across the business landscape with talk shops forums and round-tables, being the fashionable place to be seen.

There is hardly an industry today that has not seemingly been completely captured by the bright shiny prospect of AI’s mysteriously missing bottom line value.

Amongst all this comes a well worded email in my inbox this week – providing me with the esteemed opportunity to join an exclusive group of AI visionary leaders who’s focus, if their website is to be believed, is to address a critical disparity, that “while artificial intelligence was reshaping developed economies, its transformative potential remained largely inaccessible to developing nations”. The group now provides a global platform “uniting leaders, innovators, and policymakers to drive responsible and equitable AI adoption.” The organisation called AIFOD, is apparently “more than an initiative; it’s a commitment to ensuring the AI revolution reaches every corner of the world”.

In one respect they are certainly more than an initiative – it is a monetary extraction facility moving millions of euro’s out of the African economy into the founders coffers comfortably situated in the wealth of Switzerland, Europe.

Your Membership Benefits – Or Not

The membership proposed was a carefully “curated offer” supposedly based on my specific background and potential “contribution ” and comes at the princely sum of 585 euro’s for an individual member, or 985 euros per year for a corporate membership with which I would be granted the privilege of speaking opportunities and a Distinguished “Global Advocate” badge”. In addition you are provided “Direct liaison with AIFOD communications team for content collaboration”.

The touted, “carefully curated membership fee”, was nothing other than a lie – its is just the standard membership fee and the “speaking opportunities” would by necessity have to include expensive travel and accommodation in places like Vienna – nothing shouts helping developing nations like an AI summit for developing nations in Vienna does it? Here you are given “access” to exclusive “networking opportunities with global AI leaders across 150+ countries and “access to cutting-edge research and insights on AI governance”.

The membership fees across 6800 global members adds up to an intriguing amount when you add the conference and AI reports also on offer. In short, it is a disgracefully extractive process, whose purpose appears to be none other than exploiting poorer nations for profit without providing much in the way of benefits.

What Africa Really Needs to Build AI Capabilities

In a two words – Infrastructure and education. Any attempt that seeks to assist the African continent to grow its AI and other related capabilities in technological advances, and fails to address this is simply a false front. Without these there will be no AI revolution.

Energy and communications infrastructure heads the list of highest need priorities with the International Energy Agency (IEA) and World Bank data reports indication the following:

Approximately 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity.This represents roughly 43% of the continent’s population. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for the overwhelming majority of around 590 million people or about 85% of the total population in the region without electricity. So how is the region expected to adopt AI without electricity supply?

AI deployment also requires reliable high-speed connectivity, data centres, and sufficient electricity. Africa faces significant gaps here as well:

Internet penetration / usage currently sits at the bottom end of the global spectrum with approximately 38–40% of Africans connected to the internet (as of late 2025 data). This is well below the global average of around 67%.

Africa Needs to Ensure Its AI Sovereignty

There are about four major regions in Africa that have sufficient infrastructure to support AI development and growth including Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya, with other regions such as Morocco developing rapidly. Beyond that the scope is still hampered. Even in the more developed regions, there is still a skills shortage that prevails and education now sits alongside infrastructure as a key hurdle to AI developments.

If AI adoption is to gain momentum, anyone who seeks to support this should be looking for ways to support the gaps that are holding it back. Anything other than that is simply a self serving entity and Africa does not need their “support” or “benefits”. It is time that Africa developed its own associations that can provide real benefits and support the development of key initiatives that can truly build the continent.

There is a growing momentum here and initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area structure (AfCFTA), should be looking beyond just inter regional trade and potentially guiding the continent in creating developments in technology with regional collaboration assisting states that lack meaningful infrastructure balanced with educational initiatives and cross border energy developments. This could well provide that catalyst that Africa needs to build.