Banks, Insurers and Manufacturers Lead Kenya’s Practical AI Adoption

By Linet Amuli - Reporter

Kenya, January 16 2026 - As Kenyan businesses move beyond pilot projects toward the practical use of artificial intelligence, attention is increasingly shifting to how AI is improving day-to-day operations across key sectors of the economy. Rather than focusing on experimentation, many organisations are now prioritising tools that can be embedded into existing systems to deliver measurable efficiency gains. These trends will be examined at the third AI Kenya Industry Breakfast, scheduled for January 29, 2026, in Nairobi.

The forum comes at a time when organisations in banking, insurance, logistics, manufacturing and retail are facing mounting pressure to operate more efficiently while managing rising costs, complex supply chains and growing volumes of data. As a result, AI adoption is becoming less about innovation signalling and more about solving operational bottlenecks, reducing manual workloads and improving decision-making speed and accuracy.

Discussions will focus on how enterprises are deploying AI within core business functions, including finance, operations, risk management and customer service. Rather than introducing entirely new workflows, many companies are using AI to augment existing processes, enabling teams to handle repetitive, data-intensive tasks more effectively while freeing up staff for higher-value work.

The meeting will centre on the theme “AI-Powered Operational Efficiency for Teams and Systems,” with sessions designed around practical enterprise use cases rather than experimental or consumer-focused applications. Case studies from Kenyan organisations are expected to highlight how AI has been used to streamline internal processes, enhance asset and vehicle assessment, and support data-driven operations, particularly in sectors handling large transaction volumes and complex operational environments.

According to AI Kenya founder and chief executive Alfred Ongere, discussions around AI adoption in the country have matured significantly. The focus, he notes, is increasingly on execution and measurable outcomes, rather than awareness building or proof-of-concept initiatives that do not scale.

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Key discussion areas will include the use of agent-based AI systems to automate data-heavy workflows in financial services and manufacturing, where accuracy and speed are critical. Another focus will be computer vision technologies, which are being applied in insurance, transport and asset-intensive industries to improve consistency in assessments and reduce processing times. Participants will also examine how organisations are aligning AI investments with broader business objectives, while addressing governance, risk management and operational readiness as they plan for 2026.

The session is expected to draw senior executives, technology leaders, data and innovation teams, as well as policy and compliance professionals involved in digital transformation initiatives. As AI adoption accelerates across the private sector, the conversations reflect a broader shift in Kenya’s enterprise landscape from exploring what AI can do, to determining how it can deliver sustained operational value.