How Hubtel is rethinking AI in Ghana: Own your data, rent the intelligence

From the trader at Makola checking prices on her phone to the graduate in Kumasi searching for work, one question is getting louder across Ghana. Will artificial intelligence make life better, or will it take away what people already have? Ghana has placed its bet. In 2025, it launched a ten-year national AI strategy, and the government has committed $270 million to get the country ready. But for ordinary Ghanaians, the most useful answers may come from a local company that has already tried, stumbled, and found a smarter way forward. That company is Hubtel. Head of Engineering, Augustine Adjei, told the national audience during the premiere of the AI & Ghana documentary on Joy News exactly what Ghana’s AI journey looks like from the inside, and why the country does not need to start big to win. About the Digital Economy Forum The Digital Economy Forum is a national thought-leadership platform conceived by Hubtel to create evidence-based conversations about the technologies, policies and ideas shaping Ghana’s economic future. It combines original documentary storytelling with a televised debate on JoyNews and Joy FM, bringing together government, regulators, businesses, academics and everyday Ghanaians. The maiden edition tackled digital fraud and why trust matters in Ghana’s growing digital economy. The latest edition asked a bigger question: AI and the Ghana economy, opportunity or disruption? For Hubtel, which helps Ghanaians pay bills, send money and order goods, the stakes are personal. A digital economy only grows when people trust it, understand it and can benefit from it. The forum is Hubtel’s way of making sure that conversation happens in public, with the facts on the table and ordinary people in the room. Opportunity or disruption? Both, says Hubtel Asked whether AI is good or bad news for Ghana, Augustine Adjei refused to pick one side. “It is both,” he said. “Growth is hard and painful, but the disruption is a setback while the opportunity is exponential.” He compared it to a catapult. You get pulled back first, and that painful pull is what launches you forward. Change will hurt in places, but those who prepare will move faster than ever. When Hubtel tried to build its own AI Hubtel opened an AI lab in 2023, before chat apps like ChatGPT became part of everyday life. It hired skilled Ghanaian engineers to build AI from scratch. The lab’s biggest project helped the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) catch power theft. The system flagged meters that seemed not to be paying, traced back through the records and connected the dots. Hubtel also built its own fraud detection and call-centre tools. Then the world moved faster and cheaper. By 2025, global AI companies were selling far more powerful tools for about $20 to $25 a month. Hubtel did what any smart trader does when a better product appears at a lower price. It stopped trying to outbuild the giants and started buying access. Talent Isn’t the Problem Augustine Adjei explained the decision with a picture every Ghanaian understands. “Would you want an Italian chef to cook your fufu and light soup, or an equally competent Ghanaian chef who has lived here all their life?” he asked. The answer is obvious: the Ghanaian chef. But training that chef takes time and money. Until then, you hire the chef who can feed you today while you plan for tomorrow. He was clear that Ghana’s problem has never been brains. “Talent is equally distributed; resources are not,” he said. Hubtel had the people. What it did not have was the hundreds of millions of dollars global firms spend on AI. Own your data, rent the engine Hubtel did not just sign up for a free chatbot. It negotiated directly with leading global AI companies, which were surprised a Ghanaian firm could pay at that level. Under the deal, Hubtel runs the AI inside its own systems, keeps full ownership of its data, and the providers have promised not to use Hubtel’s information to train their models. Augustine Adjei summed up the rule simply: “Own what you can before you scale.” He also shared a funny but serious warning. When Hubtel tested a free AI model and asked it about the company, the model said Hubtel was headquartered in Kigali. AI only knows what you teach it, so Ghanaians must feed it Ghanaian facts. The best example of this thinking is Hubtel’s virtual call centre. Because so many Ghanaians transact on Hubtel every day, the phones ring constantly. An AI agent now answers first and can check a customer’s order status on the spot. It works because all the information it needs already belongs to Hubtel. It is built in Ghana, trained on Ghanaian data and speaks to customers in a Ghanaian accent. For Augustine Adjei, that is the point. “AI is not a thing, it is us. There is no AI without humans,” he said. “If we are biased, AI will be biased.” Honorable Sam George backs the Hubtel approach Communications Minister of Ghana, Honorable Sam George said Hubtel’s story shows why Ghana must fix its data first. “AI models are only as good as their data sets,” he said. Hubtel had found no simple way for companies in Ghana to share data. The Minister said government is building a national data exchange hub to connect about 48 public registries, from the Ghana Health Service to the National Identification Authority, so developers make one request instead of 48. Companies are welcome to join, as long as they contribute data too. On jobs, he echoed Hubtel’s message that people must grow with the technology. “Those who evolve and adapt will survive,” he said. “Those who fail to evolve and adapt will fall off.” Bright Simmons of Imani Africa, the night’s toughest critic of government spending, held up Hubtel as an example of doing AI in the right order: use a proven global tool first, then build local. “If you don’t define your problem extremely well, AI can’t give you answers,” he warned, adding: “We should not stay on the surface.” Five lessons for every Ghanaian You do not need to be a tech company to learn from Hubtel. Whether you run a chop bar, a boutique or a small office, the same rules apply: Start with what you already have. Your customer list, your records and the way you work are your biggest AI asset. Use what works today. Global AI tools are cheap and powerful, so use them while local options grow. Guard your information. Keep control of your data and know where it goes. Teach the AI about Ghana. If a tool thinks Hubtel is in Kigali, it can get your business wrong too. Think before you upload. Augustine Adjei said his phone holds his 74-year-old mother’s medical record, and he would not run it through a public chatbot without protection. Ghana’s AI future will not be decided by one big announcement. It will be shaped by businesses and individuals who test, learn, adjust and keep going. Hubtel has shown a practical path for the whole country: own your data, rent the engine, solve real problems for real customers and keep your people learning. Through the Digital Economy Forum, it is making sure every Ghanaian gets to hear that conversation.