African entrepreneur Strive Masiyiwa is the founder of Cassava Technologies.

Strive Masiyiwa, the founder of Cassava Technologies and Econet Group, announced a new initiative this week that will enhance digital inclusion and African economic development through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

The Zimbabwean-born global entrepreneur, who spoke on a panel about Reinventing Digital Inclusion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the initiative is a huge step towards creating a more inclusive and connected world.

Masiyiwa is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and invested in businesses across Africa, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, New Zealand, and the US.

“What we are announcing today (Tuesday) is really to build on the extraordinary work done by the Edison Alliance and now take that to the next level, which is how do we ensure growth and prosperity in Africa using AI,” he said.

The World Economic Forum's Edison Alliance is a global coalition of leaders from the private sector, governments, academia and civil society, which seeks to provide affordable access to digital services.

“We want to help create African partners that accelerate and develop the entrepreneurial work that goes on in Africa so that they not only benefit as users of AI but also as entrepreneurs building their own businesses and expanding existing businesses, creating jobs for young people, expanding education and other opportunities,” said Masiyiwa.

He added: “It is very important that this be an African-led initiative because Africans must develop Africa. We are the ones charged with this responsibility and we must lead.”

Masiyiwa advocated for more funding to assist develop African unicorns.

He explained: “You do not fund startups with debt. You provide equity and venture capital. There is no domestic venture capital so where do these young entrepreneurs get the money to fund these businesses? We don’t have a problem with entrepreneurship but the challenge is that simply we have not put in an ecosystem to support startups and until we tackle that we will disadvantage our people.” 

Masiyiwa went on to say: “All these young people building businesses in America, we have them in Africa too. The difference is that in Africa no one will give them $500m or $100m to funding. We have got to solve this problem. We as African leaders have to come into a room and have this conversation with investors.”