It's a marathon, both sides will benefit: Airtel Africa Foundation chief

Airtel Africa Foundation starts AI fellowship at IIT's first overseas campus

The Bharti group, the telecom major with a strong presence in Africa, is widening its reach in the continent, starting with a fellowship on artificial intelligence (AI) and data science at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Zanzibar, the first overseas campus of an IIT.

Soon after the announcement of the fellowship, expected to enhance India-Africa ties, Olusegun Ogunsanya, who is chairman of the Airtel Africa Foundation and was chief executive officer of Airtel Africa immediately before the current holder of the office, said, in an exclusive interaction with Business Standard, India and Airtel (telecom network of the Bharti Group) would play a key role in the ongoing process of digitisation in Africa.
 

Ogunsanya spoke of furthering India-Africa collaboration across diverse areas including digital and financial inclusion.
 

Earlier in the day, the Airtel Africa Foundation announced its maiden initiative, a $500,000 fellowship programme to sponsor 10 undergraduate students for the AI and data science course at IIT Madras Zanzibar, set up last year. While the fellowship is expected to nurture leaders who will contribute towards technological innovation and economic growth in Africa, Ogunsanya said the long-term goal of the foundation was to create a prosperous Africa.
 

“There is no monopoly of knowledge. There is always value when people exchange knowledge,” Ogunsanya said while replying to a question on how India would benefit from the initiative. The programme will benefit students of 14 African countries. The foundation will explore collaboration with other Indian educational institutions as well.
 

Ogunsanya said India and Africa would need to focus on specific areas, be it energy or technology. “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It has already begun, and both sides will benefit,” he said while speaking on the India-Africa collaboration.

Africa is beginning its journey in harnessing AI in step with the rest of the world, and is in the early stages of using the technology to drive customer experiences, medical care, and education.
 

“India has done so well in terms of data science, AI, and simply driving the frontiers of technology. Africa would benefit from this partnership,” Ogunsanya said.
 

Airtel Africa owns an AI laboratory in India, which is collaborating on the technology and runs an exchange programme for researchers of both regions, he added.
 

Synergies and collaborations
 

Responding to a question on synergies, he said India and Africa had many commonalities, and that the foundation laid emphasis on sharing education in telecom and beyond telecom.
 

“The foundation has four key objectives — education, digital inclusion, financial inclusion, and environmental protection. We have benefited from the Indian heritage at Airtel Africa, and India has benefited from the African experience. I see Airtel and India playing a very important role in digitisation in Africa,” he said.
 

Airtel is the third-largest telco in the world, considering both Airtel and Airtel Africa, Ogunsanya pointed out. “That is a strong foundation. Beyond telecom, India has created structures to compete with China on low-cost manufacturing. India is already one of the largest partners for many African countries,” Ogunsanya said.

Recounting a meeting with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last year alongside Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Ogunsanya said Airtel promised to help Africa’s largest economy to create a “digital highway”, making it easier for payments to be made to the workforce, and citizens to partake in digitisation.
 

Similar commitment in terms of creating digital public infrastructure has been made to Kenya as well, he said.
 

During the 2023 G20 Summit, Mittal had championed the cause of higher investment in Africa, arguing that it was not only a matter of expanding the business footprint in the continent but one of diversifying global supply and value chains. 
 

He was chairman of the Action Council on African Economic Integration at the B20, the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community.
 

The foundation’s initial funding comes from Airtel Africa, with a promise of an annual percentage of its profit after tax, but Ogunsanya said it was open to partnering all entities keen on working 

for Africa.