Africa Must Own Its Digital Future or Risk Exploitation, Says Luminate CEO

Delivering the keynote address at the Build 2026 Conference in Abuja, Hui warned that Africa risks being locked into a subordinate role in the global artificial intelligence economy unless the continent secures genuine ownership of the infrastructure powering the technology.

To illustrate her point, Hui referenced India’s Ministry of Agriculture, which leveraged AI to predict monsoon patterns for nearly 40 million farmers, highlighting the importance of local infrastructure and data control.

Hui cautioned African nations against confusing data centre hosting with sovereign control, emphasizing that a country does not own its digital future when a data centre merely sits within its borders.