AI: 26% of African companies plan to invest more than 20% of their budget within 12 months (KPMG)
November 19th 2025
The report highlights that African leaders are not overly concerned about competition for talent in the field of AI, given that they favour internal training and do not rely too heavily on rapid external recruitment.
Approximately 26% of African business leaders plan to allocate more than 20% of their investment budget to artificial intelligence (AI) over the next twelve months, compared to a global average of 14%, according to a report published Thursday, November 13, by the consulting firm KPMG.
Titled “KPMG 2025 Africa CEO Outlook: CEOs doubling down on AI and talent investment as the keys to resilience and growth” , the report is based on a survey conducted between August 5 and September 10, 2025, of 130 business leaders in Southern Africa, East Africa, and West Africa.
The document, which represents the African edition of KPMG’s “Global CEO Outlook 2025” report, also reveals that 41% of these African business leaders now consider integrating AI into business workflows their second-highest investment priority, just behind cybersecurity and digital resilience (45%). These choices reflect a pragmatic approach: securing today’s technologies while building the growth engine of tomorrow.
In this same vein, African business leaders are placing talent at the heart of their AI strategies. A staggering 81% believe that training their staff in AI will have a direct impact on their company’s success over the next three years, compared to a global average of 77%. At the same time, only 64% of African CEOs fear that competition for AI talent will negatively impact their business, compared to 70% of their global counterparts. This suggests that the executives surveyed on the continent are prioritizing in-house AI talent development and investing in long-term skills growth, rather than relying on rapid external recruitment.
Renewed confidence in the economic outlook
Managing behavioral change is, however, a key priority on the continent, as more than half (52%) of African leaders are concerned about the potential impact of AI on corporate culture, compared to 63% of global CEOs, while 36% cite employee resistance to change as a challenge regarding the deployment of this technology.
The report also highlights that 53% of the continent’s CEOs expressed confidence in the growth prospects of the global economy over the next three years, compared to an average of 68% for their peers worldwide.
African leaders’ confidence levels are improving when assessing the outlook for their national economies. 63% of them expressed confidence in their country’s growth prospects, compared to 61% in 2024, indicating a gradual increase in optimism regarding national economic stability.
At the company level, optimism is even more pronounced. 78% of African executives expressed confidence in their company’s growth prospects, a significant increase compared to the 64% recorded in 2024. At this level, confidence is now almost equivalent to that observed globally (79%).
Confidence in growth prospects is also reflected in companies’ appetite for acquisitions. 86% of African CEOs revealed that they are currently making or plan to make acquisitions in the next three years, compared to 77% in 2024. This increase indicates a stronger appetite for partnerships and expansion, as companies on the continent seek to gain scale and capabilities.
Another very telling indicator of the rise in confidence among African leaders in the economic outlook: 88% of them plan to increase the workforce of their company.
Furthermore, 69% of African business leaders say they have already adapted their growth strategies, and the remaining 31% plan to rethink them in the next three years.
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