I’ve just returned from Dreamforce 2025 in San Francisco, where global leaders were imagining what comes next in the “agentic era”, a future where AI systems don’t just follow instructions but plan, reason, and act independently to help organisations achieve complex goals. What struck me most was how deeply relevant these conversations are for Africa today.Across the continent, businesses and governments face a familiar challenge: expectations are rising while budgets and teams remain constrained. We’re being asked to deliver more, to more people, with less.AI offers a way to bridge that gap, not as a shiny new tool, but as a reliable partner that can take on the heavy lifting, handle repetitive tasks, enhance decision-making, and free our people to focus on work that truly moves us forward.But to unlock that potential, technology alone is not enough.
African organisations need the right internal functions, people, processes, and guardrails, to ensure AI is deployed responsibly, safely, and at scale.From where I sit, supporting teams across the continent, these five functions are essential for any African business preparing for this new era, and will determine whether Africa prospers in the agentic era:AI agent management: Turning ideas into actionEvery organisation experimenting with AI is asking the same question: Where do we start?AI agent management provides the answer. This function defines where AI can drive measurable value, from improving service delivery to streamlining operations to enabling financial inclusion. We’re already seeing this in action: Absa, for instance, is using AI to deliver faster, more accessible banking for millions.AI risk and governance: Building trust from the startAI can only be transformative if it is trusted, which requires strong safety barriers from the very start.Yet Africa faces a unique challenge: most global AI models are trained on datasets that overlook African languages, cultural nuances, and local contexts.
When systems fail to moderate hate speech or misinterpret African dialects, the consequences are not theoretical.Read: AI in business: Moving from hype to real transformationThis makes governance non-negotiable. Strong oversight, from bias testing and transparency reviews to data protection and continuous monitoring, ensures AI remains ethical, safe, and aligned with our values. Governance isn’t red tape; it’s the foundation of trust.AI operations management: Scaling for dependabilityThe reality is that most, almost 95 percent of AI pilots fail. Often, it’s because companies try to build everything from scratch, only to run into security risks, bad data or runaway costs.In Africa, failed pilots are even more painful because budgets are tighter. The AI operations management function prevents this.
It handles the day-to-day running of AI systems, by deploying them properly, keeping them stable, monitoring performance and making sure they stay secure.At the heart of this function is the AI platform engineer, whose job is technical and hands-on: they connect agents, data and applications into a single, reliable workflow. They make sure the system runs smoothly around the clock and can deploy digital labour when demand grows.AI Workforce Training & Development: Bridging tech and talentTechnology only works when people understand how and when to use it. This is where the training function becomes critical. A significant digital literacy gap exists, with only half of African countries including computer skills in their school curricula.The AI learning and development function must prioritise structured training, moving from basic AI awareness to role-specific capability development, ensuring employees are prepared for the “human-agent collaboration” that defines the future of work.Salesforce’s latest Slack Workforce Index shows people using AI are 81 percent more satisfied with their job than those who aren’t, making training a critical function for talent attraction and retention.AI workforce integration: Augmenting human potentialUltimately, AI is at its best when it elevates, not replaces, human ingenuity. This function focuses on fostering seamless, productive collaboration between human employees and AI systems. The goal is to augment human capabilities, enabling employees to focus on creative and strategic tasks and reduce friction.By automating repetitive and time-consuming activities, AI can free employees to focus on high-value work and strategic initiatives.We’ve seen real-world success, such as Secret Escapes increasing autonomous resolution rates from 10 percent to 30 percent, which allows human employees to focus on higher-value interactions. The AI collaboration strategist defines the essential interaction points and optimises collaboration models to ensure AI enhances our human ingenuity.Africa’s opportunity in the agentic eraThe move toward agentic systems isn’t just another tech upgrade. It changes how work actually gets done. It redefines productivity, service delivery, and even how governments engage with citizens. For Africa, it’s a real opportunity because it has the potential to deliver better public services, faster responses, and the ability to grow without inflating limited budgets.But real transformation requires structure. These five functions, from governance to workforce integration, give organisations the structure they need to use AI safely and effectively. Without them, AI remains guesswork, but with them, it becomes something that can genuinely support growth.After witnessing many AI success stories at Dreamforce, one thought kept surfacing: while success and profit are noble causes, Africa has a duty to set the bar higher and use AI as an opportunity to elevate its people and solve real human problems.Can we, as Africans, afford to miss this opportunity to make meaningful change on a continent that knows too well the price we pay for being left behind? Our AI success starts with each of us taking up the responsibility to participate, develop ourselves, train our people, rethink our workflows, and place skills where they’ll make the biggest difference.We need AI solutions that reflect our values and serve our people.The writer is the Country Manager & Senior Director Solution Engineering, Africa, Salesforce Provided by zaianews. (
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