These overlap. Never add them up. One hour of work can draw on two or three skills at once.
The future of work deserves its own champions.
Show us what you've changed. We'll show the world.
Recognising organisations making work better with AI. Every month. Across three regions. With evidence, not hype.
Submit your AI success storyNo entry fee · Evidence required · Independent jury · Monthly deadline: the 20th
Know a team changing the way work gets done? Put them on the map.
- 01Work ReimaginedMaking work smarter and more meaningful, by handing the drudgery to AI.
- 02Human PotentialTurning technological change into human opportunity: reskilled, redeployed, elevated.
- 03Inclusive FutureOpening the future of work to more people, including women and people with disabilities.
- 04AI ChallengerSmall organisations. Extraordinary impact.
- 05AI for GoodUsing AI to make a difference beyond business.
The Board of the Future Award
Recognising the boards leading enterprise transformation in the AI age.
- OversightHow the board governs AI across the whole enterprise
- LeadershipThe strategic choices it made, and the people it brought with it
- OutcomesMeasurable results for performance, work and people
Every month an independent regional jury selects outstanding practices from India, the GCC and Africa. Winners are announced in the monthly heat-map issue, starting in November.
A feature in the issue and the video episode, the winner's emblem for your website, reports and hiring, a place in the AIWoW register, and a place on the shortlist for the annual awards.
One AIWoW juror each from India, the GCC and Africa, with judges from global business and consulting. Jurors step out of any decision involving their own organisation or clients.
What government could do to unlock the prize in Africa
US$815 million a year on offer, 8% picked up. Tellers, clerks and back offices hold 31% of it, and most of that work is done by women. Much of what holds it back is cost, skills, data and trust, and governments can move all four. Two options, each drawn from something another country has already done.
AI sandboxes at Africa's central banks
93% of Kenyan lenders want guidance, skills are short, and most South African institutions plan to spend under R1 million on AI.
A sandbox with shared computing, test data and supervisors on hand, so mid-sized banks, microfinance banks and digital lenders can test credit, KYC and fraud models first.
For example, the Central Bank of Kenya, the Central Bank of Nigeria, or South Africa's FSCA and Prudential Authority.
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority opened a "Supercharged Sandbox" with NVIDIA in June 2025, giving any financial firm computing, data and regulatory support. FCA, June 2025
Credit, KYC and fraud work: about US$133 million a year (16% of US$815 million).
Live, consent-based open banking for AI lending
Thin-file borrowers have no records a bank's AI can read. Only about 9% of Nigerian adults have formal credit, and Nigeria's open-banking launch has slipped since August 2025.
Switch on consent-based sharing of bank account data, so AI can underwrite on real transactions.
Central Bank of Nigeria first, then other central banks.
India's Account Aggregator system: lenders used it for ₹42,300 crore of loans between September 2021 and March 2024, running at about ₹4,000 crore a month. DT Next, September 2024 BusinessDay, June 2026
Credit work: about US$59 million a year (7% of US$815 million), before any new lending.
| ID | Option | Where | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-030-01 | Kiranas Go Digital drive | India | Issue 030 | Proposed |
| P-030-02 | Half-price, pre-approved AI tools | India | Issue 030 | Proposed |
| P-030-03 | Job-redesign grants tied to nationalisation | UAE, Saudi Arabia | Issue 030 | Proposed |
| P-030-04 | Shared test kit for shopper-facing AI | UAE, Saudi Arabia | Issue 030 | Proposed |
| P-030-05 | Consent-based sharing of mobile money records | Kenya, Nigeria | Issue 030 | Proposed |
| P-030-06 | Open language models for traders | Kenya, Nigeria | Issue 030 | Proposed |
| P-031-01 | RBI AI sandbox for smaller lenders | India | Issue 031 | Proposed |
| P-031-02 | Legal gateway for sharing fraud signals | India | Issue 031 | Proposed |
| P-031-03 | Shared platform to flag financial crime | UAE, Saudi Arabia | Issue 031 | Proposed |
| P-031-04 | Supervised generative AI sandbox | UAE, Saudi Arabia | Issue 031 | Proposed |
| P-031-05 | AI sandboxes at central banks | Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa | Issue 031 | Proposed |
| P-031-06 | Live, consent-based open banking | Nigeria | Issue 031 | Proposed |
Options for India and GCC are in their editions. These are options for discussion, not advice to any government. Precedents are described as published by their sources; pools are our estimates from this issue's figures. No one pays to appear in this section.
Where the unclaimed prize sits, and who is funding it
Most of the prize has not been picked up, so most of the market is still unserved. Two theses for investors, the disclosed funding we found, and dated calls we will score in public.
AI credit engines that banks license
Mid-sized banks that want to lend to small firms and thin-file borrowers without building their own models.
Credit underwriting copilot.
Moderate. Lenders outside the banks have proved the models; banks need explainable decisions for Kenya's draft guidance.
Policy options P-031-05 and P-031-06.
A bank signing a licence for a fintech's credit engine.
Anti-money-laundering automation for Nigerian banks
Nigerian banks, fintechs and payment firms, which must run AI-capable monitoring under the central bank's March 2026 rules.
Fraud and money-laundering monitor.
High. Banks have a deadline of about September 2027 (TechCabal).
The rules require yearly independent model checks, which creates a services market too.
Large banks naming their monitoring vendors.
Egypt's Blnk raised US$37.1m in June 2026, led by Algebra Ventures, for machine-learning credit at the point of sale (TechCabal). South Africa's Bridgement raised R330m (US$20.3m) from Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank in July 2026 for AI small-business lending (Launch Base Africa). Ghana's Fido raised US$30m in 2025 for AI credit scoring (The AI Insider). Banks are now among the investors.
| ID | Call | Check by | Confidence | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I-030-01 | At least one disclosed round of US$5m or more for an AI tool built for Indian kirana stores. | 30 Jun 2027 | Moderate | Open |
| I-030-02 | At least one GCC retail software company launches an AI product sold to retailers it signed up for e-invoicing. | 31 Mar 2027 | Moderate-high | Open |
| I-030-03 | A disclosed round of US$10m or more for an African company offering AI bookkeeping or credit to informal traders. | 30 Jun 2027 | Moderate | Open |
| I-030-04 | A sovereign-linked fund outside Saudi Arabia leads a retail AI round of US$20m or more in the GCC. | 31 Dec 2027 | Low-moderate | Open |
| I-031-01 | A disclosed round of US$10m or more for an Indian company selling AI model governance or model risk tools to banks. | 30 Sep 2027 | Moderate | Open |
| I-031-02 | A Gulf central bank or financial regulator opens a supervised AI or generative AI sandbox for banks. | 30 Jun 2027 | Moderate | Open |
| I-031-03 | At least one bank in South Africa, Nigeria or Kenya announces it is licensing an outside AI credit engine. | 30 Jun 2027 | Moderate | Open |
Sector and market theses only. Nothing here rates, recommends or values any company or security, and none of it is investment advice. Companies are named only as examples of disclosed funding, from the public sources linked; some figures are not confirmed by the companies. No one pays to appear in this section, and it is separate from the AIWoW Awards jury.
Dated. Falsifiable. Scored in public.
Every forecast
Two minutes, two games: this week's AI word and AI crossword
A new word and a new crossword every Friday, Issue . Play here, then share your result without giving away the answers.
How we got these numbers
Every figure in this issue comes from public sources and our own analysis of how the work is done. Open any section to see the working.
AHow we sized the work
BThe new skills, and why banking needs more of someSupervising AI, checking its work, writing its instructions and looking after data.
CWhat we could not confirmRead this before you quote a number.
DSources
R Reported: a named report, filing or news story. A Our analysis of how the work is done. E Our estimate from the named sources.