NAIROBI, Kenya, October 16 – African organisations are increasingly developing their own technology solutions, with 38.2 percent of projects submitted for the 2026 CIO100 Awards completed without external vendors.
The findings, based on submissions from nearly 1,300 organisations across 10 countries, also show that artificial intelligence is a growing investment priority, while cybersecurity preparedness remains a concern.
The awards data shows that 84.8 percent of organisations plan to invest in AI over the next 12 to 24 months. However, only 61.8 percent of submitted projects used AI, while 25.7 percent involved generative AI, which can create text, images and other content.
AI use has risen from 54.8 percent in last year’s submissions, pointing to wider adoption even as organisations work out how to apply the technology to their operations.
“AI is moving rapidly up the agenda for African business and technology leaders, but the real test is how effectively organisations translate that interest into results,” said Harry Hare, Chairman of CIO Africa by dx5.
Hare said businesses still needed to address practical challenges around implementation, skills, data and governance to turn AI investment into measurable results.
The findings also challenge the view that digital transformation requires large budgets. Projects costing less than $10,000 (about Sh1.3 million) accounted for 27.2 percent of submissions, up from 12.7 percent in 2023.
These smaller projects reported a median return of 3.6 times their investment, compared with about twice the investment for projects with the largest budgets, according to the submissions.
“The figures suggest that organisations can achieve meaningful results by investing in smaller projects that solve specific problems, rather than relying only on expensive, large-scale technology programmes,” said Arnold Ng’ang’a, Senior Manager for Consulting Services, Enterprise Technology and Platforms, at Deloitte.
However, the findings point to gaps in cybersecurity readiness. While 82.5 percent of organisations rated their security maturity in the highest category, only 38.6 percent said they had tested an incident-response plan.
Such plans guide organisations on how to respond to cyberattacks, protect systems and restore services. The gap comes as businesses adopt more AI tools, cloud services and connected systems, which can also expose them to new security risks.
The CIO100 Awards recognise organisations that use technology to improve operations, solve business problems and enhance customer experience. This year’s awards and symposium will take place from November 25 to 27 at Diamonds Leisure Beach and Golf Resort in Diani, Kenya.
