Africa’s rapidly evolving digital landscape took centre stage on Thursday as technology leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers and innovators from across the continent gathered in Mauritius for the Women in Tech Africa Summit & Awards 2026 at the Hilton Mauritius Resort & Spa in Flic-en-Flac. Held on 24 September, the summit brought together voices from Mauritius and across Africa to examine some of the defining questions surrounding the continent’s technological future, from the accelerating impact of artificial intelligence and digital transformation to the role of women in shaping innovation, policy and the future of work.
But beneath the discussions about algorithms, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies was a broader message: Africa’s digital transformation will ultimately be shaped by people and women must have a meaningful role in deciding what that future looks like. That theme ran through the remarks of Sandeep Mohapatra and Lisa Simrique Singh, who approached the question from different but complementary perspectives.
For Sandeep Mohapatra, Head of Digital Transformation and Technology at ABSA Mauritius, delivered the Key sponsor Welcome Address, and for him, one idea sits at the heart of this transformation: “Your story matters.” Every innovation begins with a story, he argued. Every entrepreneurial venture begins with someone looking at the world differently and imagining that it could work another way. Technology, he suggested, is ultimately a means of amplifying what people are capable of achieving.
The growing importance of human judgment
One of the most important distinctions in the emerging AI era, Sandeep argued, is the difference between experience and judgment. Human beings have traditionally relied heavily on experience to recognise patterns. An experienced technology professional confronted with a production problem, for example, may immediately recall similar incidents and begin searching for a familiar explanation. AI excels at precisely this kind of work. It can process enormous volumes of structured and unstructured data, recognise patterns, identify anomalies, generate predictions and produce insights at remarkable speed. But Sandeep drew a sharp line between experience and judgement. “Judgment is different from experience,” he said. Judgement is a combination of accumulated knowledge, context, ethics, empathy, situational awareness and the ability to make decisions in conditions of uncertainty. “Judgment is doing what matters,” he said. “Judgment is choosing between competing priorities. Judgment is deciding: what can we do, but what should we do?”
As AI becomes better at recognising patterns and processing information, that human capacity could become even more valuable. “AI will improve pattern recognition at unprecedented speeds,” Sandeep observed, “but judgment remains where individuals, organisations and societies will create disproportionate value.”
The shrinking distance between an idea and its creation
Sandeep also offered a broader perspective on how technology has changed the journey from an idea to something that can create value. Today, an idea can become an image, video, presentation, strategy or software in a matter of seconds. “The distance between imagination and creation is shrinking,” he said. Capabilities that once belonged largely to corporations, wealthy individuals or organisations with access to specialist teams are becoming available to individuals. As AI makes creation faster and more accessible, he believes judgement will become even more valuable. “When AI expresses itself, it becomes abundant; judgment becomes very, very scarce.” That scarcity changes the nature of competitive advantage. The future does not belong to people who create the fastest,” Sandeep said. “It belongs to people who can ask the best questions, identify the most meaningful problems, imagine possibilities others cannot see yet, and apply technology responsibly to achieve them.”
From access to agency
Lisa Simrique Singh, UN Resident Coordinator, spoke on behalf of the United Nations, she brought another dimension to the conversation, placing women’s participation in technology within the broader context of Africa’s development. She began by recognising the significance of the Women in Tech gathering and the achievements it sought to celebrate across technology, innovation, STEM, cybersecurity, digital transformation, inclusion and community impact. At the heart of those recognitions, she noted, were three powerful words: celebrate, recognise and inspire. “We celebrate because these achievements deserve visibility,” Lisa said. “We recognise because talent must be seen and supported, and we inspire because when a woman sees another woman driving technology, leading an enterprise or shaping digital policy, what once seemed distant becomes truly imaginable.”
Lisa recalled a conversation organised by the United Nations involving women in technology, policymakers, regulators, industry representatives and young people. Two messages emerged clearly from that discussion. “Girls need role models and women need networks.,” she said. But Lisa stressed that the conversation must move beyond simply connecting women to the internet. “This is really about moving from access to agency,” she said. According to International Telecommunication Union figures cited during her address, 31 per cent of women in Africa were online in 2025, compared with 40 per cent of men. But connectivity alone is not enough. “Digital inclusion must therefore be more than connectivity,” Lisa said.
Building the Africa we want
For Africa, that means ensuring women are not only users of technology, but engineers, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and leaders helping to shape the systems of tomorrow. “Africa should not be positioned simply as a market for technology developed elsewhere,” Lisa said, calling for African researchers, entrepreneurs, governments and communities to play a greater role in creating and governing emerging technologies. That ambition must also be matched by responsibility. Online harassment and technology-facilitated violence continue to threaten women’s participation in digital spaces. “We cannot invite women to participate fully in the digital economy while treating violence and harassment as an unavoidable cost of being online,” Lisa said. Responsible innovation, she added, means embedding rights, safety, accessibility and accountability into technology from the outset. Perhaps the most fitting message of the gathering came through the African proverb: “Until the lion has its own historian, the story will always glorify the hunter.”
In an age increasingly shaped by algorithms and artificial intelligence, the question is not only who builds the technology, but whose knowledge, language, experience and perspective are represented within it. The Women in Tech event offered a clear reminder that Africa’s digital future cannot be written without women. Technology may provide the tools, but people provide the judgement, imagination and purpose.
