Nairobi — Artificial intelligence has captured the world’s imagination. Every week brings another breakthrough model, AI assistant or prediction that technology will fundamentally reshape howwe live and work. Yet beneath the excitement lies a more important question: what makesartifi cial intelligence valuable at scale?
The answer is not simply better algorithms or more powerful models. AI is only as capable as
the infrastructure beneath it: the digital rails that collect data, move information, connect businesses and enable better decisions. Just as roads, ports, and electricity powered the industrial economy, intelligence infrastructure is emerging as the foundation of the AI economy.
For Africa, this presents an opportunity not simply to catch up, but to build differently. Rather
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than replicating systems designed elsewhere, the continent can develop intelligence infrastructure tailored to African markets, institutions, and customer needs.
This opportunity is particularly signifi cant in East Africa, where mobile money and a new
generation of technology companies has transformed fi nancial services, retail, transport, healthcare, agriculture, and logistics. Yet the region continues to face a fundamental contradiction: economic activity is becoming increasingly regional, while the systems that support it remain largely national, fragmented and diffi cult to integrate. A shipment travelling from the Port of Mombasa in Kenya to Kampala in Uganda may pass through multiple logistics providers, payment systems and regulatory processes. A farmer selling produce across borders may still lack access to reliable pricing, traceability, fi nance or real-time transport information. A patient may seek treatment in another country while their medical records remain locked within a single facility. Regional businesses often operate without a unifi ed view of customers, inventory, payments, or risk. This fragmentation is precisely why Gullit VC is investing in intelligence infrastructure.
By intelligence infrastructure, we do not mean artifi cial intelligence alone. Nor are we referring
only to data centres, fi bre networks or cloud computing. We mean the interconnected digital
systems that allow economic activity to be captured, organised, understood and acted upon.
These systems include connectivity, payments, digital identity, cybersecurity, cloud computing,
APIs, data platforms, analytics and operational networks. Together, they transform isolated
transactions into reliable information and reliable information into better decisions.
Every major technology shift has depended on foundational infrastructure. The internet
required broadband networks, mobile money depended on trusted payment rails, e-commerce
relied on digital payments, logistics and fulfi lment systems. Likewise, AI depends on structured
data, interoperable systems and resilient operational networks. Without these foundations, AI
remains an impressive demonstration rather than a scalable business capability.
Some of East Africa’s most enduring technology companies will not be those building yet
another standalone application. They will be the companies connecting fragmented sectors by
integrating payment providers, transport operators, warehouses, health facilities, merchants
and regulators. In this environment, operational integration will become intellectual property.
The opportunity is already visible across several sectors.
In logistics, intelligence infrastructure provides end-to-end visibility from ports and border
posts to warehouses and fi nal delivery. Every shipment generates data. Every warehouse
improves forecasting. Every delivery creates new insight into demand, routing, and inventory. Logidoo, a Gullit VC portfolio company, is building Africa’s digital commerce infrastructure
by connecting warehousing, fulfi lment, and cross-border logistics through data-driven technology that enables smarter, more effi cient trade.
In transport, the opportunity extends well beyond digital ticketing to demand forecasting, route
optimisation, fl eet management and integrated payments. Another Gullit VC portfolio
company, Buupass, demonstrates how technology can bring structure and intelligence to
fragmented transport networks by building Africa’s mobility infrastructure through digitization
of transport booking and payments, generating the data and connectivity that enable smarter travel and logistics systems.
In fi nancial services, the next opportunity lies in expanding beyond mobile money into regional
merchant payments, digital identity, fraud detection, and cross-border settlement. Gebeya similarly demonstrates how digital infrastructure can organise and unlock access to African professional talent by connecting businesses with vetted digital professionals while helping organisations build, manage, and scale technology talent across Africa.
These varied sectors share the same underlying principle: that technology creates greater value
when embedded within real operational workfl ows and connected to existing economic
infrastructure. This is also where the commercial opportunity becomes particularly compelling.
Strong intelligence infrastructure can generate recurring revenues through subscriptions,
transaction fees, enterprise contracts, embedded fi nance and analytics products. As these
networks expand, they accumulate valuable operational data that continuously improves
forecasting, risk assessment, service delivery and product development. Over time, this creates
network effects, higher switching costs and stronger competitive advantages.
East Africa is not a single homogeneous market. Its economies differ in regulatory frameworks,
infrastructure maturity and commercial realities. Successful regional companies will therefore
build modular systems that adapt locally while remaining interoperable across borders.
The region must establish robust frameworks governing where data is stored, how it is used,
how consent is obtained and how organisations exchange information securely. Cybersecurity,
privacy and responsible AI cannot be treated as compliance requirements introduced after
growth; they must be embedded into products from the outset.
The region must also avoid a future in which it generates valuable data but captures little of the
economic value derived from it. Strategic control does not require digital isolation. East Africa
will continue partnering with global technology companies and investors. Still, its businesses,
institutions and citizens must play a meaningful role in the ownership, governance and
commercialisation of regional data. Governments can accelerate this opportunity by supporting
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interoperable payment systems, compatible digital identities, clear cross-border data
frameworks and harmonised electronic transaction standards. Corporates can open appropriate
systems for integration, partner with startups and treat operational data as a strategic asset.
Investors, meanwhile, must provide capital suited to the realities of infrastructure-oriented businesses.
In many cases, this will require fi nancing structures that combine venture equity
with debt, guarantees, development fi nance or strategic corporate investment. Founders, for
their part, must remain focused on solving genuine operational challenges. Artifi cial
intelligence should strengthen a business model, not substitute for one.
Africa’s next technology breakthrough will not be defi ned solely by the number of AI
applications it creates. It will be defi ned by whether the continent builds the systems that enable its markets to understand themselves, connect more effectively and make better decisions from the information they generate.
That is the opportunity Gullit VC sees in intelligence infrastructure: companies that transform
fragmented economic activity into connected, trusted and actionable intelligence. When
Africa’s systems can communicate seamlessly, its markets can scale more effi ciently. When its
data becomes usable, its institutions become more effective. And when intelligence is embedded across trade, transport, healthcare, agriculture and fi nance, the continent will not simply participate in the next digital economy, rather, it will help shape it.
By Hiruy Amanuel, Managing Director, Gullit VC