Sixty-six per cent of CEOs in Africa expressed confidence in the global economy despite greater uncertainty and volatility, while 72% expressed confidence in their domestic economies, a survey of 1 400 CEOs from across the world, including 176 in Africa, has shown.

African CEOs’ confidence in the global economy was six percentage points higher year-on-year, while their confidence in their domestic economies had increased by nine percentage points year-on-year.

These findings indicate that CEOs are getting to grips with uncertainty in the business environment, professional services firm KPMG lead economist Frank Blackmore said in an October 22 briefing.

During a presentation of the findings of the ‘KPMG Africa CEO Outlook 2026’, he noted that 86% of African CEOs reported revenue growth in their latest financial year, but only 58% expect yearly earnings growth of at least 2.5% over the next three years, compared with 68% of CEOs globally.

Further, 79% of African CEOs were confident in the growth prospects of their own organisations.

This contrast between revenue performance and conservative future earnings expectations was a feature of the 2026 survey, he said.

“African CEOs remain optimistic about growth, but their measured expectations point to the importance of productivity, cost management and selective investing to deliver measurable returns. This is critical to the sustainability of business performance amid uncertainty,” Blackmore added.

In terms of the most significant risks to the growth of their organisations, surveyed African CEOs perceived cybersecurity and data security, and supply chain resilience, as the two highest risks, each cited by 31% of respondents.

This was followed by risks related to the integration of AI into organisations, and then geopolitical instability as the third-highest perceived risk to growth, Blackmore said.

“To counter the risks they face, African CEOs’ priority investment areas are cybersecurity and digital risk resilience, cited by 45% of respondents; regulatory compliance and reporting at 36%; and AI integration into operations at 31%.

“These are the same as the priority investment areas cited by CEOs outside Africa. Notably, the investment levels in these areas are higher than their perceived threats, with 45% of African CEOs investing in cybersecurity and digital risks mitigation measures, compared with 31% perceiving these as risks to future growth.”

This also indicated that leaders were moving from managing exposure to improving operational preparedness, he noted.

Further, the top operational priorities cited by African CEOs to achieve growth include, first, organic growth, then improving customer experiences and then advancing digital and connectivity solutions across the business.

“The message here is that companies do not expect to rely only on expansion for growth. African businesses are prioritising stronger core operations, closer customer relations and technology embedded for efficiency,” said Blackmore.

“The imperative is to tie resilience spending to service continuity, market access and margin improvement,” he recommended.

The choices made by African CEOs indicated that they were pursuing a practical model of growth. For boards of directors, the challenge was to connect investments to measurable commercial outcomes.

To achieve this, boards and executives should track margin-based productivity and the continuity improvements derived from investments to boost resilience, as well as focus on greater speed and agility in decision-making through the use of AI and technology, he advised.

In terms of where AI was expected to add value, African CEOs were pragmatic in their expectations, with about 60% citing expectations to leverage AI to improve operational performance, process efficiency and decision-making, said KPMG West Africa partner and technology platforms head Ladi Asuni.

Additionally, African CEOs also expected AI to help address enterprise resilience, especially by improving tracking of performance and improving security postures. This result was seen across different industries, with AI investments in financial services aimed at boosting fraud detection and prevention, he said.

“The focus around AI for CEOs in Africa currently is to enhance their businesses, while also looking at how they can expand the use of AI to transform their businesses, develop new products and transform their business models,” he noted.

Most companies were making AI investments, which was an important baseline, but the importance of scaling and deriving measurable value from these systems moved the conversation beyond only technology considerations, Asuni noted.

Therefore, CEOs needed to look at their workforces’ capabilities, data and trust in combination to realise value from AI investments, he recommended.

Further, the survey of the CEOs indicated that 86% expected to retain and retrain high-potential talent in their organisations, 74% expected to hire people with AI and technology capabilities and 56% expected to streamline their workforces in productive areas.

“The interesting thing about these workforce figures is that several themes coexist, with an expected reduction in workforce in some areas, a realignment of workforce capabilities, and an injection of new talent to help organisations accelerate their AI ambitions,” Asuni said.

To transform workforces, CEOs must map out the future of work by identifying activities that could be automated and where people needed to remain involved, said KPMG Nigeria people and talent associate director Ohenewaa Appiah.

Companies needed to look at the value chain end to end to determine at what points people needed to be supported to align with the changing processes and how roles would be redesigned, she said.

“In redesigning roles, defining roles is important such that people know what to expect. Once this is done, companies can develop skills, retrain personnel, develop programmes and determine how best to retain skills in the organisation.

“While African companies are ambitious in terms of AI adoption, the execution of gaining, retraining and retaining skills to support this is critical to build the right skills so that people and work are aligned to the company’s AI agenda,” she said.

Meanwhile, African business leaders remain confident about growth, but converting that confidence into sustained performance will depend on how effectively organisations navigate economic uncertainty, geopolitical disruption, technological change and structural constraints.

Execution is needed to turn ambition into results. Businesses have to strengthen their resilience in a world challenged by volatility and complexity. The opportunities for African businesses are significant, and those who move decisively will seize them,” said KPMG One Africa partner and clients and markets head Segun Sowande.