RAPT BizTrendsTV: Musa Kalenga - How agentic AI is revolutioning business
Group CEO and shareholder of Brave Group and co-founder of Bridge Labs Musa Kalenga says AI is a natural evolution in the continent’s journey.
He says a year ago only 20% of the average audience he speaks to were excited about AI; today it is more like 50%, and he believes in a couple of months 80% will be excited. This he adds signals some level of adoption.
"The point we are at now is that while many people are adopting and experimenting with AI, there is a massive amount of knowledge and learning that can happen."
Currently, it is about testing and learning what works within your ecosystem. “And that is the bridge into agentic AI.”
What agentic AI does (or can do)
He explains that there are tasks you perform in your daily life that take up time, time you could be doing other, more useful things. If you can identify those tasks and describe those tasks, there's a degree of automation that you can attach to that tasks. Then your life becomes a lot easier.
But you must learn how to describe something and then match a solution to that over time, and then turn that match solution into a way to automate or code it into an AI.
But once you get that, you do not have to do these tasks anymore. It is about agentic AI taking away from you doing the stuff we do not want to do as human beings.
“Then it is about turning that into a business solution, because that is where you get the commercial value.”
The advertising example
Kalenga says their advertising agency realised they could produce value much quicker using agentic AI.
About two years ago, they started experimenting with their traditional process, from getting a great brief right through to getting stuff ready for production, and then they added in an increasingly challenging timeline.
“We wanted agility. We wanted a quicker process.”
Using this, they have cut their process time by 50%, from 42 days to a matter of hours to turn work around.
“It is a classic example of looking at the best-in-class AI and at a value chain of how we produce work and applying it to each stage of that process to get our time our process down."
They then converted this to a solution that became a service, Forge.
The market is shifting
He says they are not the only ones doing this, other organisations are doing similar things.
What has been exciting for them is that they are able to solve a challenging problem for clients, who then, in turn, look at how they can improve their ways of working.
“When a client tells you they want it done faster, and you say to them, 'We can do it faster, but can you move at the same speed?' Then it becomes a whole other conversation.”
His point is that the transformation and the digital change that needs to happen alongside all these solutions is the difference between those that work and those that do not.
“Businesses need to understand that technology is moving, and the market is shifting.
“However, they need to be clear about what it is they want and what it is they can and should do themselves, thanks to these new tools and what they should be delegating.”
Africa and AI
AI is a big opportunity for African businesses.
“We are famous for leapfrogging the desktop, and AI is being touted as one of the reasons that we'll be able to capture value in this fifth industrial revolution.
“Small businesses can get a lot of amounts of value in a short period using this technology,” he says.
The language challenge
A unique challenge in adopting agentic AI on the continent is language. “You have to describe things in English, so if you are not a first language English speaker or you've never spoken English before and you're having to prompt it in English, then it is a problem.”
He says some LLMS are being developed for African languages and African language contexts that are coming up, which will help to solve that problem.
Then when we are trying to find solutions around this issue, it might be a combination of different initiatives, not a one-size-fits-all all.
What is important is that we need to create LLMS and databases that have more African language context, and that will help us to get a better output.
Solving for Africa
There are opportunities to solve problems for the continent from the ground up, solving problems for the greater population and then you can solve from the top down, where established businesses create space for innovation.
Entrepreneurs have solved in the first space, with insurance and financial services companies innovating in the second space.
Looking forward, Kalenga hopes that the technology will make us more human. He highlights his own experience here.
Apart from that, he says there are going to be some interesting ethical conversations, especially in the African context.
RAPT BizTrendsTV
BizTrendsTV is a collaboration between Bizcommunity, Rapt Creative and The Real-Networks consortium, and the first-of-its-kind trend show focusing on global topics impacting future socio-economic trends from a uniquely Afrocentric perspective.
Hosted by a leading voice in the African business trend ecosphere - fast-talking, fast-thinking Bronwyn Williams - futurist, economist, future finance specialist and business trends analyst - in conversion on trending topics such as AI, influencer farming, billionaire bunkers, distraction democracy, Gen Bees, hyper-capitalism, trade wars, exclusionary geopolitical policies, hot wars and more with leading PanAfrican futurists.
A new episode is available on the last Tuesday of every month at 8 am on Bizcommunity’s official website and via The Real Network digital platforms.
About Danette Breitenbach
Danette Breitenbach is a marketing & media editor at Bizcommunity.com. Previously she freelanced in the marketing and media sector, including for Bizcommunity. She was editor and publisher of AdVantage, the publication that served the marketing, media and advertising industry in southern Africa. She has worked extensively in print media, mainly B2B. She has a Masters in Financial Journalism from Wits.Related
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