Nigerian business leader and Chief Executive Officer of ELIN Group, Dr Elizabeth Jack-Rich, has positioned Africa as central to the future of the global Artificial Intelligence economy.
She argued that the continent’s resource base and industrial potential will play a defining role in shaping the next phase of technological advancement.
This was contained in a statement she personally signed on Thursday.
Speaking at the UNLEASH Global Business Conference 2026, held on April 25 at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Centre in Washington, DC, Jack-Rich challenged conventional narratives around AI, stressing that its foundations extend far beyond software.
“Everyone discusses AI like it’s a software story. No, it’s not; it’s a physics story,” she said.
According to her, the rapid expansion of AI technologies is deeply dependent on physical infrastructure and raw materials.
“It’s about power, compute, copper, rare earths, and the industrial services needed to move, extract, and refine all of that,” Jack-Rich stated.
