The billionaire says Africa’s AI ambitions are held back by electricity, not talent, and urges investors to back young African entrepreneurs.

Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, has told young Africans not to wait until they feel ready before they begin.

He shared the message in a post on his social media account on Saturday. According to him, his own career began in a job he was not qualified for, because someone decided to take a chance on him.

Elumelu said he has spent his working life trying to repay that kindness. He described himself as lucky, but argued that luck should not be the only route through which African talent gets an opportunity.

He then turned to artificial intelligence. Africa, he said, holds less than one per cent of the world’s AI computing capacity and about three per cent of its AI talent.

In his view, talent is not what holds the continent back. The real problem is electricity. He noted that Africa skipped landlines and went straight to mobile phones, but warned that the continent cannot skip electricity in the same way.

For that reason, he said, African countries must fix their power supply quickly. Otherwise, they risk missing the opportunities of the digital economy. He added that Africa’s AI race is also a race to secure enough electricity generation and computing capacity.

Elumelu ended with a call to investors and partners. He pointed to the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s seed capital programme as proof that young African entrepreneurs are worth investing in. Now, he said, others should join the foundation as co-investors to help those businesses grow to scale.