Women across Africa must move from token inclusion to genuine decision-making power in the artificial intelligence economy, senior executives and global policymakers said at an intergenerational dialogue convened by MTN Group.
The forum brought together Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) Global Compact; Angela Wamola, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA); Nompilo Morafo, MTN Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer; and Selorm Adadevoh, MTN Group Chief Commercial, Strategy and Transformation Officer, alongside young African women working in a rapidly evolving digital economy.
Participants said artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally reshaping how capital is allocated, how risk is assessed, and how institutions operate — making the absence of women in leadership roles a structural liability rather than a social failing. As AI accelerates these shifts, the systems it produces will reflect whoever shaped them.
Ojiambo set the tone early. “AI will help us make better and more informed leadership decisions, but decision making will always be human. Decision making must be accountable, transparent, inclusive and it must think about the future,” she said.
A central theme emerging from the dialogue was the gap between access and influence. Mentorship programs have expanded across the continent, participants noted, but they rarely translate into leadership without sponsorship, professional networks and meaningful seats at decision-making tables. Advice without access to capital, procurement pipelines or boardrooms has limited effect in a fast-moving economy where delayed inclusion compounds disadvantage.
Wamola acknowledged the difficulty of the moment while urging resolve. Africa, she said, must be bold because the opportunities far outweigh the headwinds, even as those headwinds remain strong.
Younger participants rejected symbolic gestures outright. They said they want to be part of shaping decisions, not simply acknowledged as present. Executives agreed, warning that businesses excluding women from AI-driven leadership risk narrowing their talent pools, weakening institutional judgment and constraining innovation at precisely the moment when those qualities determine competitive survival.
Adadevoh said empathy remains the defining quality of effective leadership. Morafo added that true leadership in a fast-changing environment is built on listening and collaboration rather than on titles or having ready answers.
For MTN Group, participants framed the dialogue as part of a broader strategic imperative: digital transformation must be inclusive by design, with deliberate pathways into technical disciplines, leadership structures and innovation ecosystems. As AI reshapes how capital is allocated, risk is assessed and organizations operate, the company said digital transformation must be inclusive by design, with deliberate pathways into leadership, technical disciplines, innovation ecosystems and governance structures.
The broader context reinforces the urgency. The jobs women hold are three times more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate 25 percent lower than men on average, according to recent research. That combination of higher exposure and lower adoption creates a compounding risk.
Participants concluded that access to connectivity, once considered the primary goal, is no longer sufficient. Influence over how AI systems are designed, governed and deployed will determine who