Google SA on practical AI adoption
Katlego Sekhu
Kaya BIZ with Gugulethu Mfuphi recently spoke to Kabelo Makwane, Country Director at Google South Africa, to find out why so many organisations remain stuck in pilot mode, and what separates those that move past it.
For Makwane, the gap is less about technology and more about leadership.
Consideration is not Implementation
Makwane pointed to independent research showing that more than 95% of C-suite leaders now consider AI a business imperative. Only around 58% of them have active AI projects underway.
“That means there’s still a big gap between consideration versus implementation,” he said.
Closing that gap, he argued, requires leadership to acknowledge AI’s value and then empower teams to actually use it. “Leadership needs to acknowledge, let alone empower their teams and create the psychological safety for people to actually test these technologies out,” Makwane said.
He offered a simple reframe for how businesses should think about strategy in this period. “You don’t need an AI strategy,” he said. “You actually need AI to run your strategy.”
From disease detection to digital addresses
Makwane pointed to two South African examples of AI already producing measurable outcomes.
The first is in healthcare. A local company is using AI to detect early signs of tuberculosis, a disease prevalent in the mining sector, with what Makwane described as a higher degree of accuracy than human intervention alone. Medical practitioners still confirm every case, but earlier detection means earlier treatment.
The second addresses a quieter but persistent problem. People living in informal settlements often have no formal address, which can affect access to services and even how courts assess flight risk. Using mapping technology combined with social media listening and geolocation, Google has helped give residents of informal settlements a form of verifiable address, allowing municipalities to plan and deliver services more effectively.
Both examples, Makwane said, point to the same principle: AI’s value is measured in outcomes, not experimentation.
The organisations that move fastest, he suggested, will not be the ones with the most advanced pilots. They will be the ones willing to let AI run the strategy, not just support it.
To hear the full discussion with Kabelo Makwane, Country Director at Google South Africa, listen to the podcast.
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