Act 2: Moving Pictures

It’s been three years with GenAI in our lives.

You may think we understand what AI can or cannot do (at least those in the Global North think they do). But think again. There are entire regions of the world that are playing catch-up to the AI-first reality. And there are always newcomers to our industry who need guidance to set them on the right path.

Ultimately, progress will look different to every team and professional. It won’t be linear, and it may come at a cost. It may require us to redefine ourselves. In our quest onward, no one should be left behind, right?

In this section, read the articles that explore the human side of the (r)evolution unfolding around us.

Johan Botha

Director at Folio Online

Johan Botha is a seasoned African language expert and localization strategist with 20+ years’ experience. A Director at Folio Online and Co-Founder of the Association of Language Companies in Africa, he champions ethical, tech-enabled solutions across global and African markets.

Africa is often talked about as a land of opportunity. The next billion consumers who come after the more “traditional” billion found in Asia (don’t you just love to be reduced to a number?). Oh, and now we’ve got AI, so naturally, it’ll be so much easier to establish a foothold on the continent. Right?

This is not just an exercise in myth-busting, though. I want to share a story of resilience, a story of progress. One that comes from within. So, while it may be tempting to wait for business to arrive, we cannot afford to sit idly by, twiddling our thumbs.

Across Africa, communities and companies are busy building: building awareness, building solutions that work for us, and building bridges between communities across the continent.

What we learned about AI and ourselves

1. Please keep your (AI) expectations in check

The so-called Global North, including its language services industry, may think they have GenAI and its use cases all figured out. However, copy-pasting those learnings or processes in Africa and expecting similar results will get you nowhere, because flipping a power switch might yield no results. 

There are regions of Africa that lack what other parts of the world take for granted. A reliable electricity grid or decent internet connectivity being top of the list. This remains the case in 2025 and severely hampers access to AI technology. Without access to the technology, there is no experimentation to be done and no advancements to be made.

So, if we aim to educate, before discussing opportunities that AI can bring, let’s talk about how we are making things work despite some of the latent infrastructure challenges.

2. Solutions exist, just not the kind you may be used to

Africa, with its mobile-first mindset, has a track record of developing solutions that work for Africa. A classic example is M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer and microfinancing service launched in 2007 that revolutionized the banking sector in Kenya and was adopted by a burgeoning fintech industry across the continent and imitated globally. Unique solutions like these have paved the way for a company like Flutterwave from Nigeria to offer an API that aims to address payment fragmentation, high transaction costs and the slow speeds experienced when using traditional banking ecosystems in Africa.

This is just one example. Africa not being on par with other parts of the world in terms of infrastructure that can support AI doesn’t mean that no progress is being made. There is a greater focus on no-code/low-code solutions that are optimized for mobile and work even in situations where internet access is limited, or indeed, not available at all.

This also touches on a persistent pain point for linguists in Africa. Most traditional CAT/TMS tools aren’t optimized for mobile devices and low-connectivity environments (not to mention they aren’t exactly priced for the masses). That’s where, for example, a lot of our unseen work goes, creating conditions that allow linguists to accept a job in the first place. If you cannot even take on a job, are discussions around progress even worthwhile? In such instances, AI is way down the list of worries.

3. More building, less waiting

Localization work in Africa is tricky business, especially these days, when every client discussion is so cost-obsessed. It’s paradoxical. Africa has the youngest population globally, with a median age of 19.7 in 2020. Approximately 60% of the continent‘s population is under the age of 25. That‘s potentially a lot of buying power entering the market. The economic incentives are there, but when clients realize the challenges of localizing for the continent, it’s not unusual to see them pull out (and sometimes at the last minute).

It’s getting better, though. Twenty-odd years ago, when I entered the industry, the clients were asking which language they needed to translate into if they wanted to sell in Africa. Thankfully, the awareness of Africa as a linguistically and culturally rich continent has evolved. Still, today, with NMT and AI, we have a similar discussion on our hands: No, AI is not a blanket solution to translate at scale into African languages. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t work or that you should give up.

When we’re not doing it ourselves at Folio, we’re right there in the trenches, helping others build with AI. We’re seeing the value of hyper-specialized models. Instead of creating, say, a language model that can do everything, you train a model in one language (Afrikaans) and one domain (life sciences), and use that as a template for building an AI model in other domains and languages. Instead of casting a wide (AI) net, people here are investing their energy in small language models (SLMs) and getting encouraging results.

Another example you may have heard about is Lelapa AI, a South African company outside the language industry, which has been actively developing an AI model for various African languages. Their Vulavula API is available for LSPs and the like to start building in their languages for their customers.

These examples show that the well-documented challenges AI has with low-resource languages don’t prevent us from building viable solutions. Stories of progress may be isolated. But they exist and they’re growing incrementally. Part of the work ahead of us is linking initiatives across the continent.

4. Building bridges between communities and letting the world know

This is where the work of the Association of Language Companies in Africa (ALCA) is so important, especially in a world that thinks it knows everything about Africa and how business is done on the continent.

The language services industry in Africa is fragmented and concentrated in a few geographical pockets. There is work to be done to connect the activities of LSPs in Egypt with those in Nigeria, Kenya, or South Africa (or anywhere else on the continent). If industry and company growth is the answer, the question is whether to go at it alone or together. It should be an obvious one.

The progress comes from within

Perhaps part of exploring what other amazing things are lying beyond the next hill, whether it’s another new AI development or selling your (localized) product in Africa, is fundamentally understanding that not every part of the world is moving at the same speed.

Africa is a unique continent, often overlooked, frequently misunderstood, yet anything but static. Waiting for the next big wave of outside interest and investment (which has yet to materialize fully) is simply not enough, and so we should get a move on, building the tools that will allow us to prosper.

AI is a boon for Africa; when used correctly and optimized in the right way, it can allow us to circumvent many of the structural challenges. I am optimistic about Africa’s future. The dynamic demographic will drive demand, and technology will rise to meet it. Those of us on the ground have already been hard at work preparing the terrain, removing roadblocks, and doing the unglamorous work that moves us forward.

Read the full 132-page Global Ambitions: (R)Evolution in Motion publication featuring vital perspectives from 31 industry leaders on the ongoing AI-spurred (r)evolution.

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