East Africa's AI Adoption Exposes Infrastructure Weaknesses
Cisco's Country Manager for East Africa, Shain Rahim, emphasizes that AI is no longer experimental but a competitive requirement for enterprises in the region. The rapid adoption of AI has exposed structural weaknesses in infrastructure, skills, security, and governance across East African organizations.
According to Cisco's 2025 AI Readiness Index, only around 13% of organizations qualify as Pacesetters despite rising investment. Real AI impact depends less on spending and more on disciplined system-level readiness.
The use of agentic AI has moved from concept to boardroom priority, with 80% of executives stating their company's survival will depend on it by 2027. The urgency is further reinforced by CEO sentiment, as 93% are more optimistic about AI than a year ago and 67% worry they are underinvesting.
The adoption of agentic AI has widened the gap between ambition and operational readiness, with organizations struggling to modernize their infrastructure. CEOs prioritize upgrading infrastructure for AI workloads as their number one priority for 2026, closely followed by upskilling teams.