Ghanaian  businesses are not deploying artificial intelligence even though their workers use it, a gap tech entrepreneur Carlos Amoako says  Africa must close by building rather than buying.

Amoako, founder of AlphaVecta Technologies, told the Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday that  African countries have too often been “last to the table” while decisions about technology are taken elsewhere. He argued the continent has the talent but weak systems around it. “We have to start building,” he said.

Published data supports the specific gap he describes. The 2026 Global Outsourcing AI Readiness Index, produced by the United States recruitment firm Ataraxis, scores Ghana 54 out of 100 for workforce AI literacy but 31 for enterprise AI adoption. Across Africa only South Africa scores above 50 on enterprise deployment, at 65, with Egypt next at 42. Workers are ahead of the companies employing them.

Amoako named financial inclusion, healthcare and agriculture as the three areas where AI could matter fastest in Ghana, pointing to fintech growth, primary care in underserved communities, and tools telling farmers when to plant, harvest and apply fertiliser. He said such services need not require smartphones and could reach people by SMS.

He also pressed for investment in African-language datasets, arguing systems trained mainly on foreign data and languages will not serve the continent well. Startups are already compiling language datasets for developers, he said, and those should be made widely available.

For businesses, his pitch was productivity rather than novelty. Companies should find repetitive workflows and automate parts of them, he said, with the return measurable in hours saved. He cited a Ghanaian firm he said employs around 120 engineers building for clients in Silicon Valley and Europe as evidence local skills exist, a claim NewsGhana could not independently verify.

On infrastructure, Amoako acknowledged gaps in computing capacity and investment but said waiting for ideal conditions would cost more time. He also warned about political discontinuity, saying one administration may abandon what a predecessor started.

Government has moved on both fronts. Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations Minister Samuel Nartey George has pointed to work on a $250 million AI compute facility intended to serve Ghana and the wider sub-region. President John Mahama launched a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy in April.

Amoako’s remarks come ahead of an event his own company runs. The Execute Africa AI Challenge sits inside One Vecta Africa AI Week, with a conference in Accra on 8 and 9 September, and expects more than 200 innovators aged roughly 21 to 35 from over 12 countries to build prototypes in financial technology, health, agriculture, climate and government services. Winners receive seed funding and incubation rather than prize money alone, with businesses due to launch in 2027. The Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations has endorsed the week.

On job losses, Amoako compared the shift to the move from typewriters to computers and said retraining would accompany displacement. He said Africa may adopt AI later than other regions without missing it altogether.