For Zimbabweans, like most Africans, our digital lives remain fundamentally dependent on foreign tech giants. Our emails flow through Gmail servers, our photos are stored in Google Drive, our social interactions happen on Meta's platforms, and our digital identities are shaped by algorithms controlled thousands of miles away in Silicon Valley.
This reality means our most personal data, our business communications, and even our national digital infrastructure rely on systems we neither own nor control. The ambition for a truly African digital future is moving quickly from plans on paper to real world infrastructure.
Driven by the African Union's wide reaching initiatives and the ground-breaking launch of Afrinet, African nations are taking bold steps to control their digital future. This progress gained momentum at the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, a key moment in Africa’s journey towards technological independence. By encouraging local innovation, prioritising data control, and building strong digital systems, Africa is redefining its role in the global digital economy, shifting from being a user to a creator of technology.
Africa’s technological goals are rooted in the AU Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030), which aims to create a continent wide digital single market by 2030.
The goal is to empower African people, boost economic growth, and establish Africa as a producer of technology solutions. This strategy tackles challenges such as low internet access and disjointed digital policies while making the most of Africa’s young population and growing tech scene to support sustainable development.
The AU’s strategy focuses on key areas. It includes improving digital infrastructure with regional broadband, e-government services, digitisation in sectors like health, agriculture, and finance, and essential data centres. It also involves creating clear policies through frameworks like PRIDA and linking with the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The strategy promotes digital skills and innovation through continent wide training, local entrepreneurship, and better digital literacy to benefit both urban and rural communities. A strong focus is placed on digital sovereignty, ensuring African owned data, secure digital IDs, and independent cloud systems to avoid reliance on foreign powers.
The AU supports local talent through programmes like the AU Digital and Innovation Fellowship, which trains young Africans in advanced technologies, and initiatives such as SMART Broadband 2025 to connect millions more. These efforts aim to close the digital gap, ensuring even remote communities can join the digital economy.
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A major part of this transformation is Afrinet, a continent owned internet network launched by the AU in 2025. Afrinet seeks to keep African internet traffic within locally owned data centres, reducing dependence on Western and Asian systems. It supports communication in African languages, with AI helping manage content in 54 languages. It also connects Africa’s digital systems with new global players, like China’s Beidou and Russia’s GLONASS for navigation. Run by African telecom leaders, such as Zimbabwe’s Strive Masiyiwa and Liquid Telecom, Afrinet ensures local investment and control.
The pilot phase has started in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe, focusing on schools, government, and financial institutions. Soon, an AU digital ID will support all online services, managed under a single regulatory and cybersecurity framework, a big step towards digital independence. This infrastructure helps African nations shape their digital future, boosting economic strength and cultural relevance in technology.
The AI Summit for Africa 2025 brought together over 100 policymakers, technologists, and academics to plan the next steps for Africa’s tech future. A highlight was Zimbabwe’s National AI Strategy, with its final draft revealed and a launch planned for October 1. The strategy focuses on digital independence, local data storage through partners such as TelOne, building digital skills, and transforming sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, and education, in line with Zimbabwe’s 2030 National Development Strategy.
The initiative advances an “Ubuntu-driven”AI, focusing on African values and languages such as Shona, Ndebele, and Tonga. Zimbabwe recently-inaugurated Phase 2 of its High Performance Computing Centre, boosting its compute capacity to 559 petaflops.
This upgraded facility puts it among the most powerful supercomputers on the African continent. This is in addition to the “1,5 million coders” initiative for local talent development. Leaders from Rwanda, Malawi, and Zambia have enhanced regional collaboration on this via the Smart Africa Alliance.
Bangure, a filmmaker with a media degree, brings extensive experience in media production and management. He was the inaugural chairperson of the National Employment Council for the Printing, Packaging, and Newspaper Industry in Independent Zimbabwe. His passion for data analytics and artificial intelligence drives him to explore cutting edge technologies, blending his creative background with technical innovation to push boundaries in digital advancement- [email protected]
