Hardy Pemhiwa, president and group CEO of Cassava Technologies.

Cassava Technologies, a Pan-African technology business, has joined forces with Atlas AI, an artificial intelligence analytics platform, in a deal that will provide data-driven insights to accelerate digital transformation and economic growth in Africa.

Cassava will be able to deliver advanced AI development capabilities, custom-built for its enterprise customers, as a result of this agreement.

The move comes as the majority of African IT leaders, particularly those in South Africa, anticipate that generative AI will have a significant impact on their businesses in the near future, exceeding other new technologies.

This is according to the latest State of IT survey from Salesforce, which covers significant trends from IT leaders in 28 countries, including 200 from South Africa.

According to Cassava Technologies, with the deal announced today, it will be promoting Atlas AI's technologies within its continent-wide reach, introducing enterprise AI tools tailored to help African organisations accelerate growth, future-proof supply chains, and build greater resilience to rapid change across the region.

It says: “Cassava will also use Atlas' AI core in its internal digital transformation efforts, making it a leading AI-first company, ensuring it remains at the forefront of technological innovation.”

Hardy Pemhiwa, president and group CEO, Cassava Technologies, comments on the Atlas AI deal: "Our clients across Africa will benefit from access to quality data and analytics that will help them better serve their customers.

“The collaboration announced today with Atlas AI is a key part of this twin effort. Being an AI-first technology company is a key part of our vision."

He continues: "We see immense potential in AI to support the needs of our customers and accelerate Africa's digital transformation to new heights. This partnership will provide the necessary insights to expand access to digital services on our Pan-African fibre broadband network.

“One of the most significant benefits from our access to the Atlas AI platform is that our customers will be able to develop AI models and predictive algorithms without investing in in-house AI data scientists and data engineers."

Abe Tarapani, CEO of Atlas AI, adds: "This announcement is not just a partnership milestone; it represents our teams' heightened urgency to ensure that the latest advances in artificial intelligence are responsibly harnessed by businesses and governments to pave the way for a digitally connected and prosperous Africa."