Africa's next decade will not be decided by which technologies arrive on the continent. It will be decided by whether Africa builds the institutions — the funds, the laws, the research bodies, the delivery machinery — that let its own people create.

I have spent my career on both sides of that equation. Inside government, I learned that a well-designed law can unlock more capital than any single fund: the Nigeria Startup Act exists because founders, investors, and public servants sat at the same table long enough to trust each other. Inside a development finance programme, I have learned the opposite lesson too — that board approvals and headline figures mean nothing until the machinery of delivery works: procurement that moves, funds that disburse, hubs that open their doors.

The next chapter, for me, is continental. The Africa Innovation Council exists because the continent's research and innovation agenda needs what every serious agenda needs — dedicated institutions, honest data, and convening power. Nigeria taught me how one country builds this. The question that now occupies me is how fifty-four do it together.