Google Cloud hosted its inaugural Cloud Summit in Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, gathering more than 2,500 business leaders, developers, public sector leaders, and partners. At the summit, Google announced five new initiatives that build on its existing $1 billion investment commitment, its recent $37 million AI skills and research funding, and the launch of the AI Community Centre in Accra last year.
Google Cloud’s Johannesburg Cloud Region is estimated to contribute $90.6 billion in additional gross economic output and support 314,900 jobs by 2030. Maureen Costello, Vice President for UK, Ireland, and Sub-Saharan Africa at Google Cloud, said African enterprises have moved decisively past the initial phases of AI experimentation and are now deploying autonomous agents to solve uniquely African challenges.
The Five Initiatives
The first initiative is a new connectivity hub, described as a Digital Exchange Port, located in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, the first of four planned across the continent. The hub will connect Africa directly to Australia via the Umoja subsea cable and open a new subsea route to India.
The second is Africa’s first applied AI lab, based at the Accra AI Community Centre in Ghana. The Google Africa Applied AI Lab pairs African founders with Google researchers and provides early access to Google’s latest AI models, with applications open until August 31st, 2026.
The third is a creative AI education programme: Google is partnering with The Akuna Group, backed by more than $1 million in Google.org funding, to deliver AI creative education and digital tools to underrepresented African creators. The Akuna Group is the creative media venture founded by British-Sierra Leonean actor Idris Elba, who said the initiative will equip creators with AI skills and Google’s storytelling tools to transform creative talent into sustainable businesses.
The fourth is a digital innovation centre: Google and WeThinkCode will establish a R3 million centre at South West Gauteng TVET College in Soweto to deepen digital skills training.
The fifth is the 2026 South African Google for Startups Accelerator, with applications opening on July 21. The programme will select 15 startups for AI-focused curriculum, mentorship, and equity-free funding, part of Google’s pledge to support 50 African ventures between 2024 and 2028.
What Google Says
James Manyika, Google’s Senior Vice President for Research, Labs, Technology and Society, warned that Africa risks facing a new form of inequality if it fails to build AI capabilities locally. “The AI opportunity for Africa is significant, and Google is committed to doing our part working with Africans to help Africa realise it,” he said, adding that Google had already surpassed its $1 billion commitment ahead of schedule.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who opened the summit, said Africa was becoming a strategic growth region for the global cloud ecosystem through investments in AI and digital infrastructure.
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