At the centre of this transformation is a young, mobile-first generation whose expectations are reshaping how retailers engage, sell, and build loyalty.

More than 119 million Gen Z consumers are coming of age as digitally fluent, aspirational shoppers.

Despite broader economic pressures, 70% expect their financial situation to improve in the near term.

As these consumers prioritise quality and global brand experiences, moving fluidly between online discovery and physical purchase, retailers will need to confront a structural shift: loyalty is no longer secured through price alone, but through relevance, convenience, and experience.

Africa鈥檚 鈥榗lick-and-mortar鈥� retail model

Modern consumer journeys are inherently hybrid. Sixty-three percent (63%) of African consumers research products online before making a purchase, even when the final transaction happens in-store.

Social platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok have evolved from marketing channels into primary drivers of purchase intent.

Physical retail remains central to trust and fulfilment, accounting for the majority of completed transactions and sustained loyalty.

The result is the rise of a distinctly African 鈥渃lick-and-mortar鈥� model, where digital discovery and physical fulfilment are seamlessly interconnected.

Retailers that treat these as separate channels risk fragmentation, while those that integrate them into a unified experience are seeing measurable gains in engagement and conversion.

The most compelling evidence of omnichannel value creation on the continent comes from Shoprite Group’s dual strategy: a physical supermarket network anchored by deep loyalty programme penetration, layered with Checkers Sixty60 as the digital-first quick commerce extension.

Sixty60 fulfilled over 100 million orders since its 2019 launch, with revenues growing 48% to R18.9bn in FY2025 and on-demand digital commerce sales rising a further 34.6% in the first half of FY2026.

Critically, Sixty60 is not a standalone digital channel but a loyalty-integrated experience: Xtra Savings Plus, South Africa’s first grocery subscription, delivered unlimited free Sixty60 deliveries alongside additional in-store discounts and doubled the retailer’s original subscriber target within its first year.

Core technologies underpin retail success

The retailers winning hearts and wallets are the ones that use technology as a decisive differentiator.

Unified commerce platforms that connect every touchpoint in the customer journey from social discovery and mobile browsing to in-store fulfilment and post-purchase engagement enable consistent, personalised experiences across channels, helping customers find products faster, access relevant offers, and choose payment options that suit their needs.

None of this would be possible without connected data.

Retailers sit on vast volumes of information across point-of-sale systems, loyalty programmes, mobile apps, and digital platforms.

When this data is unified and enriched with AI-driven insights, it becomes a powerful engine for engagement, enabling retailers to anticipate demand, personalise offers, and improve retention.

Retailers leveraging integrated data and AI capabilities are reporting reductions in customer churn of up to 30%, alongside improvements in stock availability, workforce productivity, and overall operational efficiency.

More importantly, they are building deeper, more durable relationships with customers by delivering experiences that feel relevant and timely.

Rich, personalised retail customer experiences

Consumers increasingly expect retailers to understand their preferences, anticipate their needs, and communicate with them in context. This goes beyond targeted promotions to include intelligent product recommendations, tailored loyalty rewards, and seamless interactions across digital and physical environments.

Loyalty itself is also being redefined. Traditional points-based programmes are evolving into broader loyalty ecosystems that integrate retail, payments, and financial services.

In South Africa, for example, leading retailers have demonstrated how loyalty platforms can drive both engagement and revenue, with millions of active users and billions in annual savings delivered to customers.

Retail customer experiences are also being enhanced through embedded finance, including Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solutions, digital wallets, and integrated payment options. These services unlock purchasing power and reduce friction at the point of sale, reshaping how consumers shop and how retailers compete.

Yet for all the advances in digital engagement, Africa鈥檚 retail landscape remains uniquely complex. Informal trade continues to account for a majority of transactions in many markets, creating a hybrid ecosystem where formal and informal channels coexist.

Rather than competing directly, forward-looking retailers are finding ways to integrate with these networks, extending digital capabilities into local markets and building loyalty across both formal and informal touchpoints.

Ultimately, the future of retail customer engagement in Africa will be defined by integration: of channels, data, technology, and experience. Retailers that can unify these elements into a seamless, omnichannel journey will be best positioned to capture the loyalty of the continent鈥檚 next generation.

The post African Retail鈥檚 Future Hinges on Tech-driven Consumer Insights appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

麻豆原创 HR Connect brought together a community of HR leaders to discuss how digital technologies are helping organisations reduce compliance risk, streamline operations, and unlock more strategic value from their people functions.

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at 麻豆原创, says the South African employment landscape is at a critical point. 鈥淧ublic and private sector companies are racing to unlock the power of AI and cloud technologies to improve their competitiveness and build capacity for future innovation. Every organisation needs an active, motivated and fully enabled workforce to realise full value from business transformation initiatives. At a time when demand for certain skills is at an all-time high, companies are increasingly leveraging powerful human capital management technologies to attract, retain and empower their employees.鈥�

South Africa鈥檚 employment landscape is undergoing significant change, with new and proposed legislation introducing greater complexity into HR operations. Recent developments include the overhaul of parental leave following a landmark Constitutional Court ruling, proposed increases to statutory severance pay, and new regulations governing unpredictable and on-call work.

Together, these changes are increasing the administrative burden on HR teams and raising the stakes for compliance. Organisations must now manage more complex policies, maintain accurate and defensible records, and ensure consistent application of rules across increasingly diverse and dynamic workforces.

鈥淗R teams are operating in a fundamentally different environment today,鈥� said , Head of 麻豆原创 HCM for MEA South. 鈥淐ompliance is no longer a periodic exercise but a continuous, data-driven discipline. Organisations that continue to rely on spreadsheets and fragmented systems without leveraging the power of AI-driven innovations are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk and inefficiency.鈥�

Many organisations continue to rely on manual processes such as spreadsheets and disconnected systems to manage HR activities. However, these approaches are increasingly unsustainable in a fast-changing regulatory environment.

Tiwary says manual systems make it difficult to maintain accurate, up-to-date employee records, track compliance requirements, and produce reliable audit trails. 鈥淭hey also consume a significant portion of HR capacity, limiting the ability of teams to focus on higher-value activities such as talent development, workforce planning, and employee experience. As compliance requirements grow more complex, the need for integrated, digital HR systems is becoming more urgent.鈥�

A 2025 PwC global study found that  to drive compliance activities in a clear signal that the limitations of manual approaches have reached a tipping point. The study identified faster identification of compliance issues (53%), better risk visibility (64%), and increased productivity (43%) as the leading drivers of compliance technology adoption.

, Group Human Capital: Chief Operating Officer, Sanlam, said: 鈥淲e have adopted an ambidextrous strategy for our digital and data transformation journey, simultaneously exploiting operational excellence, proficiency and efficiency in our current landscape while exploring incremental innovation that enhances and elevates the user experience while driving the longer-term transformation journey focused on leveraging intelligent, transformative technology to drive business value.鈥�

By digitising HR processes and documents, organisations can create a single source of truth for employee and organisational data 鈥� including positions, time tracking, and cost centres 鈥� ensuring information is accurate, consistent, and always up to date.

,听Chief Operating Officer Discovery People, Discovery Ltd, noted that shared services is a catalyst for reinvention. 鈥淲hen data, technology, and people are fully integrated, organisations don鈥檛 just scale but evolve, creating platforms for growth, innovation, and long鈥憈erm impact.鈥�

Integrated capabilities across recruiting, onboarding, payroll, and time management further streamline processes and support compliance from hire to retire. In addition, continuous performance management, learning, compensation, and succession planning capabilities help organisations not only remain compliant but also build more engaged and resilient workforces.

鈥淒igitisation should go beyond efficiency to enable HR to play a more strategic role in the business,鈥� says Tiwary.  鈥淲hen compliance is embedded into systems and processes, HR teams are freed up to focus on developing talent, strengthening culture, and driving long-term organisational performance.鈥�

The post Industry Leaders Meet to Discuss Impact of Compliance 麻豆原创ures on HR Priorities in South Africa appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

This is the view of 麻豆原创 Africa director of customer evolution Gerhard Alberts, who said many organisations run highly customised legacy systems that have evolved over decades.

He warned that remaining on legacy systems carries hidden costs, increases operational risk, limits integration with modern cloud and AI tools, and results in higher manual overheads.

A significant challenge 麻豆原创 faces is migrating legacy users to its latest ERP system, S/4HANA, a process which requires input from all parties.

鈥淢igrating to S/4HANA is a business transformation process that requires organisations to rethink processes, data structures, and integrations,鈥� Alberts said.

Alberts emphasised that enterprise resource planning (ERP) transformation is not a simple technical upgrade. A critical factor in migration success is organisational readiness and strong leadership.

鈥淚t requires a fundamental shift in how people work, how decisions are made, and how processes are structured,鈥� he said.

鈥淲ithout clear governance, disciplined execution, and strong stakeholder engagement, even the most robust systems will underdeliver.鈥�

Alberts highlighted data readiness as another major barrier to migration. Poor data, inconsistent master data, and insufficient data cleansing efforts regularly undermine system performance.

It also erodes user trust, making it difficult for organisations to see the true value of their ERP investments.

鈥淥ne of the most persistent misconceptions around 麻豆原创 migration is that failure is rooted in the technology itself,鈥� Alberts said.

鈥淚n reality, modern ERP systems are highly mature, stable, and deeply embedded in global business operations.鈥�

The biggest challenges emerge from organisations鈥� implementation and transformation approaches, rather than from software.

Alberts explained that breakdowns generally occur during implementation processes and in organisational alignment.

This is because businesses are frequently navigating increasingly complex IT landscapes that combine 麻豆原创 and non-麻豆原创 systems.

鈥淲hen workflows across these environments are not properly coordinated or monitored, inefficiencies and failures begin to surface,鈥� Alberts said.

South African businesses worry about cost and complexity

According to Alberts, South African organisations鈥� hesitance to migrate stems from concerns about risk, cost, and complexity.

He explained that because many businesses operate with highly customised legacy environments that have grown over the years, transitioning to S/4HANA represents a significant business transformation.

鈥淭hese systems often support mission-critical functions such as payroll, procurement, and financial reporting, which raises the stakes considerably and contributes to a cautious approach,鈥� he said.

Alberts said these organisations will face growing limitations in integrating with modern cloud and AI technologies, adding that fragmented processes also drive higher manual workloads and inefficiencies.

鈥淯ltimately, businesses that delay migration may preserve short-term stability, but they do so at the expense of long-term competitiveness, agility, and innovation,鈥� he stated.

He said a well-implemented, modern ERP system will combine applications, data, and AI into organisations鈥� business suites.

鈥淭he latest ERP systems will consume data where it resides with zero copy data sharing, creating a semantically rich data layer that fuels AI value,鈥� Alberts said.

He added that embracing all facets of AI is critical to future-proofing South African businesses. 麻豆原创 embeds AI directly into its core applications.

鈥淎cross industries such as manufacturing, retail, energy, as well as the public sector, customers are already seeing tangible impact in Finance, Human Resources, and Supply Chain,鈥� he said.

He added that 麻豆原创鈥檚 AI-embedded core applications ensure intelligence is embedded in workflows rather than delivered through separate, loosely connected tools.

He said this helps finance teams close faster and strengthen controls, HR teams improve workforce planning and employee services, and supply-chain leaders build more resilient and efficient operations.

This article first appeared on .

The post The Hidden Dangers of Old ERP Systems appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

Since 2020, the continent has seen meaningful investment in logistics infrastructure. The African Development Bank committed , while Africa50 deepened its role in financing trade-enabling infrastructure. Ports have been one of the clearest focal points. Nigeria鈥檚 Lekki Deep Sea Port is emerging as a serious regional node. South Africa鈥檚 Cape Town and Ngqura ports have posted notable improvements in performance after years of decline, while Transnet has clawed back some operational ground through better turnaround times and improved crane productivity.

Throughout Africa, governments have invested in ports, rail and trade corridors, and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has started to turn the long-discussed idea of regional trade integration into something more tangible. In pockets across the continent, the results are faster cargo movement, stronger port performance, growing intra-African trade, and a more serious push toward localisation in sectors ranging from manufacturing to health.

AfCFTA notably helped push intra-African trade to $220.3 billion in 2024, , following a sharp jump in the number of countries actively trading under the agreement. However, it remains a work in progress instead of a finished shield, with tariff schedules, digital trade protocols, customs harmonisation and non-tariff barriers still being worked through.

Test of resilience

The question now is whether the progress made within the continent鈥檚 supply chains has delivered the resilience to withstand repeated shocks. The Red Sea crisis, now stretching into its third year, has already forced a major restructuring of Asia-Europe-Africa shipping. The near closure of the Strait of Hormuz has layered a second and more acute shock onto already strained global trade flows.

For African economies, the effect is being felt all at once through higher freight costs, longer lead times, elevated fuel prices, fertilizer disruption, and tighter access to trade finance.

Agriculture is especially exposed. A significant share of Africa鈥檚 fertilizer imports comes from Gulf producers, with East and Southern Africa particularly reliant on those flows. Disruption in Hormuz raises shipping costs, and threatens planting cycles, food production, and ultimately food security. Constricted fertilizer supply drives up costs, with the shock moving quickly from ports and tankers into farms, food prices, and household budgets.

Africa鈥檚 trade finance gap creates additional challenges. When lead times become unpredictable, businesses carry more buffer stock. Cost increases for fuel, freight and insurance drives demand for greater working capital. When banks remain cautious and access to formal trade finance is limited, especially for SMEs, resilience becomes something only the largest firms can afford.

This is why the next phase of supply chain resilience in Africa cannot be built only with cranes, roads, and policy frameworks, but with better visibility, greater efficiency, and improved decision-making.

A connected supply chain

Greater digitalisation is one of the most encouraging developments since the pandemic. Digital customs systems, single windows, electronic cargo tracking, and trade portals are reducing friction at the border.

In markets where customs and border processes have been digitised, . Digital trade facilitation has already shown what practical resilience looks like: less paperwork, better visibility, fewer delays, and more predictable movement of goods.

Digital platforms, AI-enabled forecasting, and scenario modelling have become more than technology talking points. In a volatile operating environment, end-to-end visibility is the difference between reacting late and acting early. Companies need a clearer view across suppliers, logistics partners, inventory, transport routes, and cost exposure. They need to test disruption scenarios before they happen, and model the impact of rerouting, delays, fuel spikes, or supplier failure in real time.

This is where embedded AI and better workflow orchestration are starting to matter. The real value is not automation for its own sake, but the ability to guide decisions in real time, coordinate actions across previously disconnected functions, and keep the wider value chain in sync as conditions shift. In practice, that means breaking down long-standing silos between planning, procurement, production, logistics, and finance so that businesses can respond faster, allocate resources more effectively, and maintain service levels under pressure.

In an , supply chain leaders cited advanced analytics and AI as their most important technology investment over the next three years. The top expected benefits of embedding AI into supply chain planning processes were improved decision-making, supplier selection, and inventory optimisation.

For African businesses, governments, and logistics operators, the lesson of 2026 is not that resilience investments have failed, but that more is needed to be done. Over the next five years, the continent鈥檚 supply chain challenges will go beyond simply building greater resilience to connecting what has been built into a system that can withstand a volatile, unpredictable world.

The post Africa鈥檚 Post-pandemic Supply Chains are About to be Severely Tested appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

Pierre du Plessis, strategist and founder of Be Brave, and the event鈥檚 guest speaker, explored how trust, culture and meaningful engagement can transform teams and communities, touching on the  of 鈥榯ribes鈥� – small, connected groups where people feel seen, trusted and valued. 

鈥淧rofit and growth are lagging indicators of deep chemistry, not ,鈥� he told attendees. 鈥淭he board may set a strategy, but the tribe makes it real. Only the tribe builds the movement.鈥�

Through storytelling and practical examples, Du Plessis illustrated why connection matters more than metrics alone, and why shared experiences are valued over shortcuts. 

鈥淭rust is fundamental to any team,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚t enables conflict, commitment, accountability and ultimately meaningful outcomes.鈥�

Research highlighted at the session reinforced these insights. Gallup studies show that, globally, only 21% of employees feel truly engaged at work, while actively disengaged employees can undermine entire teams. Loneliness and over- in organisations not only erode morale but also have measurable influences on productivity and wellbeing. 

鈥淗umans are pack animals,鈥� Du Plessis emphasised. 鈥淲e thrive in communities, not in isolation.鈥�

The session also explored the concept of meaning and transcendence at work. Drawing from examples ranging from Trappist monks to special needs teachers, Du Plessis argued that fulfilling work is about impact, not just a pay packet. 鈥淭hese Belgian monks produce some of the world鈥檚 best beer,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut their purpose isn鈥檛 profit, it鈥檚 sustaining the community. Meaning  performance; profit is a side effect.鈥�

As organisations grapple with digital transformation and AI-driven workflows, this message resonates: human connection remains a competitive advantage. This philosophy is also shaping AFSUG鈥檚 own strategic direction.

鈥淎t AFSUG鈥檚 local 麻豆原创 user conference, 麻豆原创HILA, last year, we spoke about  our community and establishing our tribe, and this is exactly what we鈥檙e doing as an organisation,鈥� explained Amanda Gibbs, AFSUG CEO. 

鈥淎FSUG has reached an inflection point 鈥� one where we鈥檝e looked back at why the organisation was originally founded: as a peer-to-peer customer networking platform that helps customers bridge the gap with 麻豆原创. We are now  a path towards a community that is purpose-led, operationally sound and designed for  impact across .

鈥淭he shift we are putting into place is to move away from being event-driven, reactive and purely informational, towards becoming outcomes-driven, influential and insight-led. The pivotal role that AFSUG must play is as the trusted voice of the African 麻豆原创 community and an independent advocate.鈥�

AFSUG chairman Duke Mathebula echoed Gibbs鈥� statement, adding that the organisation is committed to action, structured advocacy and creating real, measurable value for the local 麻豆原创 community, as well as empowering transformation.

鈥淭rue impact comes from creating tribes of engaged, courageous and committed people who can make a real difference, and this is exactly how AFSUG plans to move forward,鈥� he said.

The post Why Trust and 鈥楾ribes鈥� Still Matter in an Age of Metrics appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

• Jesper Schleimann, AI Officer, EMEA at 麻豆原创
• Jhani Coetzee, EPI-USE Labs

Together, they unpack what AI really means for organisations today 鈥� moving beyond the hype to focus on practical use cases, real impact, and business value.

In this episode, you鈥檒l gain insight into:

• How AI is being embedded into 麻豆原创 environments
• The shift from experimentation to execution
• Where organisations are seeing real value from AI
• What to consider as you start or scale your AI journey

Click below to watch!

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The post AFSUG Conversation Starters – AI in Action appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

For much of the past decade, AI has lived in labs, pilots and PowerPoint decks. The next phase is different. AI is moving into the operational core of organisations, reshaping how decisions are made, work is executed and value is created.

AI is becoming the most significant technology shift enterprise leaders will face in this generation. Not because the algorithms are new, but because the operating model required to make AI work at scale is fundamentally different.

One of the clearest changes heading into 2026 is the move from AI that assists humans, to AI that acts on their behalf.

Early enterprise AI tools functioned as copilots: surfacing information, generating insights or suggesting next steps. Increasingly, organisations are deploying autonomous AI agents that recommend actions 鈥� and take them 鈥� executing multi-step business processes within defined roles and controls.

This transition matters because it forces leaders to confront new questions of trust, accountability and governance. Autonomous AI can deliver significant productivity gains, but only if organisations are prepared to define where machines can act independently, where human approval is required, and how exceptions are handled.

In practice, this means treating AI agents less like software features and more like a digital workforce: assigned roles, clear permissions, monitored performance and escalation paths when things go wrong. Without this discipline, autonomy becomes risk rather than advantage.

Intelligence must be built in, not bolted on

Another defining trend is the move toward AI-native systems. Many organisations still treat AI as an add-on: a layer of intelligence bolted onto processes designed decades ago. That approach is reaching its limits.

AI-native architecture embeds intelligence directly into core workflows, allowing systems to understand intent rather than simply execute transactions. Instead of navigating complex menus and dashboards, users express what they want to achieve, and systems orchestrate the necessary steps across functions.

For leadership teams, this is not a user-interface upgrade, but a shift in how work gets done. Ideally, decision-making accelerates, organisational friction reduces, and the boundary between analysis and execution begins to disappear.

However, this only works when underlying systems are clean, standardised and integrated. Which leads to a harder truth many organisations are discovering.

Data quality is the real AI constraint

The biggest barrier to AI success is not model sophistication, but data reality. AI systems amplify whatever foundations they are given. Clean, consistent data produces reliable outcomes, while fragmented, poorly governed data produces confident nonsense.

This is why data has become the strategic nervous system of the modern enterprise. AI depends on shared definitions of customers, products, suppliers and processes. It requires transactional integrity, accessible historical context and the ability to combine internal and external information in real time.

Organisations that have postponed data discipline are finding that AI exposes weaknesses instantly, often in ways that affect customers, regulators or financial performance. In the year ahead, leaders will increasingly be judged on whether they treated data as a strategic asset early enough, rather than as an IT hygiene issue.

Closely linked to data readiness is a simple but central principle: keeping core enterprise systems clean.

Years of excessive customisation have left many organisations with fragile ERP environments that are difficult to upgrade and harder to integrate with modern AI capabilities.

The shift toward standardised cores with extensions built outside the core system creates an environment where innovation doesn鈥檛 break operations.

For boards and executive teams, this requires a mindset shift. Standardisation is not a loss of competitive differentiation, but the price of adaptability. The differentiation moves to how organisations use data, design experiences and make decisions, not how many lines of custom code they maintain.

Technology alone will not deliver results

Perhaps the most underestimated factor in AI success is change management, which consistently accounts for a larger share of AI outcomes than technology itself.

AI changes roles, not just tools. Finance teams move from processing transactions to managing exceptions. HR shifts from administrative workflows to skills intelligence.

Operations leaders rely more on forecasts and simulations than static reports. These changes demand new skills, new incentives, and new ways of measuring performance.

This year, leaders must invest in adoption with the same commitment and focus as they invest in new capabilities. AI literacy should be a core leadership competency not just a specialist function.

As AI initiatives multiply, so does the risk of fragmentation. Different business units experimenting independently can create inconsistent standards, duplicated effort and unmanaged risk.

This is why many organisations are establishing AI centres of excellence that coordinate AI innovation. Effective governance frameworks address five questions: how AI systems are approved and retired, how decisions are logged and audited, how policies are enforced, where human oversight is required, and how performance is measured.

In 2026, AI governance will be viewed much like financial governance: a prerequisite for trust, not a brake on progress.

From pilots to production or paralysis

A final challenge looms large: scaling. Many organisations are stuck in what has become known as 鈥減ilot purgatory鈥�, where successful experiments never reach enterprise impact.

The reasons are consistent: poor integration with core systems, unclear ownership, lack of user trust, weak data foundations and vague ROI metrics. Moving from pilot to production requires deliberate planning, phased rollout and visible executive sponsorship.

Leaders who expect AI to scale itself will be disappointed, while those who design for scale from day one will pull ahead quickly.

As we accelerate into 2026, AI is an operational reality. The real strategic question for leaders is whether their organisations are structurally ready for AI, with clean systems, trusted data, skilled people and disciplined governance. With these foundations, AI becomes a durable source of advantage.

In a volatile global environment, leadership is increasingly defined by the ability to move forward without perfect certainty. Business AI, deployed responsibly and at scale, is becoming one of the most powerful tools leaders have to do precisely that.

The post Business AI in 2026: Execution, not Experimentation, Will Define Success appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

麻豆原创 Consultants

The role of an 麻豆原创 Consultant can be divided into 2 functions: Functional and Technical.

The consultant will contribute to blueprinting, design, implementation, operation, optimization, and upgrade phase of a S/4 HANA project, and provide business process as well as functional expertise, and project guidance to our clients to ensure their investment in 麻豆原创 software and consulting services will make their business the best run business.

The Consultant is also responsible for maintaining a high degree of customer satisfaction in each of their accounts in addition to growing and developing referenceable customers through their investigation, analysis, consulting, coaching, knowledge transfer, and relationship-building efforts.

How You Benefit

• Start your journey to become an 麻豆原创 Consultant;
• Gain globally-recognised associate-level 麻豆原创 Certifications;
• Learn directly from 麻豆原创 experts;
• Experience classroom and workshop-based training in 麻豆原创 Technologies;
• Develop the soft skills needed to prepare you for successful job applications;
• Benefit from introductions to job opportunities within the 麻豆原创 Ecosystem to help secure a position after the training. Please note this program does not guarantee you a job at the end of it.

What We Require From a Candidate

• Candidates must have the legal right to work in Nigeria.
• Candidates must be currently unemployed or employed in a part time/non-permanent role not related to career aspirations;
• Candidates must be educated to at least Bachelor level in a field related听to听Business Administration / Management Information Systems / Engineering /听Data Science / AI
• Candidates will preferably have graduated within the last 3 years with a GPA in the top quartile 鈥� proof of this may be requested.
• Candidates must have a keen interest in starting an 麻豆原创-related career involving travel;
• Candidates should be fluent in English, both written and spoken;
• The program will commence by听mid-May 2026听and full-time availability from 9am 鈥� 6pm from听Monday – Friday听throughout the training period is essential. The Program will last for 2 months.
• This training will take place online in a virtual live classroom format. Please ensure you have strong enough internet at home to be able to participate in this program.

Please share an English version of your resume while applying for this program.

We help the world run better
At 麻豆原创, we keep it simple: you bring your best to us, and we’ll bring out the best in you. We’re builders touching over 20 industries and 80% of global commerce, and we need your unique talents to help shape what’s next. The work is challenging 鈥� but it matters. You’ll find a place where you can be yourself, prioritize your wellbeing, and truly belong. What’s in it for you? Constant learning, skill growth, great benefits, and a team that wants you to grow and succeed.

We win with inclusion
麻豆原创鈥檚 culture of inclusion, focus on health and well-being, and flexible working models help ensure that everyone 鈥� regardless of background 鈥� feels included and can run at their best. At 麻豆原创, we believe we are made stronger by the unique capabilities and qualities that each person brings to our company, and we invest in our employees to inspire confidence and help everyone realize their full potential. We ultimately believe in unleashing all talent and creating a better world.

麻豆原创 is committed to the values of Equal Employment Opportunity and provides accessibility accommodations to applicants with physical and/or mental disabilities. If you are interested in applying for employment with 麻豆原创 and are in need of accommodation or special assistance to navigate our website or to complete your application, please send an e-mail with your request to Recruiting Operations Team:听Careers@sap.com. Requests for reasonable accommodation will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

For 麻豆原创 employees: Only permanent roles are eligible for the听, according to the eligibility rules set in the 麻豆原创 Referral Policy. Specific conditions may apply for roles in Vocational Training.

Successful candidates might be required to undergo a background verification with an external vendor.

AI Usage in the Recruitment Process

For information on the responsible use of AI in our recruitment process, please refer to our听.

Please note that any violation of these guidelines may result in disqualification from the hiring process.

The post 麻豆原创 Young Professionals Program Nigeria 2026 appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

From managing customer support workflows to orchestrating complex supply chains, agentic AI is redefining how businesses operate, respond, and grow. These intelligent digital co-workers act with autonomy, context, and speed, with growing capabilities for reasoning, making decisions, and working alongside humans to execute multi-step processes across departments.

听, agent-driven applications are rapidly becoming the standard for enterprise management. Global estimates suggest AI agents could contribute trillions to the world economy by 2030 through productivity gains, faster decisions, and cost reductions.

Transformative impact

Despite pervasive AI skills shortages, South African companies are moving quickly from experimentation to execution. Financial institutions are embedding AI agents into ERP systems to reroute inventory and manage disputes. Healthcare providers use AI meeting agents to generate follow-ups and automate patient admin. Legal firms use AI to prepare case files and speed up settlements.

This shift is being driven by a combination of pressure and potential. Faced with economic headwinds, skills shortages, and rising customer expectations, South African companies are looking to AI agents to unlock productivity, streamline operations, and free up human talent for higher-value work.

But deploying AI agents effectively requires more than buying the latest tool. The success of AI agents depends on deep integration of data, processes, and applications through a suite-first approach.

Leading with a suite

According to an IDC Spotlight Report, companies that adopt AI-powered suites like 麻豆原创鈥檚 see measurable gains:

• 37%听report improved process productivity
• 39%听achieve greater cost efficiency
• 36%听boost workforce productivity
• 35%听accelerate speed to market

By leveraging an AI-powered suite integrated to a core business technology platform, companies can empower their AI agents to act with full business context. Unlike siloed tools, a suite-first approach supports real-time collaboration between agents, humans, and systems, making AI agents not just smarter, but more impactful on the overall performance of the business.

麻豆原创鈥檚 Joule, an AI agent framework embedded into the 麻豆原创 Business Suite, offers companies a system of intelligent agents that collaborate across business functions, from finance and procurement to HR and supply chain, to execute complex workflows and drive better decisions at scale.

These agents leverage knowledge centres and data cloud to ground actions in real-time, contextual business data. Working alongside teams, the agents augment human decision-making, accelerate task completion and minimise manual errors. In finance functions, agents can optimise working capital by accelerating accounts receivable matching, while in procurement they can surface the most relevant suppliers based on business rules and past performance.

AI agent readiness check

Before companies deploy AI agents like Joule, they need the right digital foundation. 麻豆原创 recommends a four-part readiness framework:

1 Data quality and accessibility 鈥�听Agents are only as good as the data they use. Clean, structured, and real-time data from across the enterprise is critical for effective agent decision-making. Silos, outdated data, or missing context will slow adoption and risk poor outcomes.

2 Process maturity 鈥�听AI agents thrive on well-defined workflows. Before automation, companies must ensure their business processes are standardised, documented, and ready for orchestration. Automating chaos just creates faster chaos.

3 Organisational clarity 鈥撎�Who will use these agents? For what tasks? How will they hand off to human employees? Clear role definitions and communication are essential for adoption and trust.

4 Governance and guardrails 鈥�听Just like human employees, AI agents need rules. Define permissions, escalation paths, ethical boundaries, and auditing practices. Agents should act autonomously but within the boundaries of the businesses in which they operate.

AI agents are more than just another layer of automation. They represent a new model of work, one that is collaborative, contextual, and continuous. The true value of AI agents is unlocked only when companies are ready. And the companies that unlock the greatest value the quickest are those deploying their AI agents through an AI-powered suite integrated to a core business technology platform.

The post The Suite Spot: A Practical Guide to Business AI Agents appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

Foundational capabilities such as cloud, business AI, and ERP running on clean-core data strategies will be measured not only by their adoption and use within the business, but how quickly and effectively they can be unleashed across the SME鈥檚 operations.

This vital sector accounts for nearly 95% of registered businesses in sub-Saharan Africa and generate roughly half of the region鈥檚 GDP, yet many remain under-digitised. A World Bank report found that听听that have adopted digital technologies make intensive use of them to improve the running of their businesses.

The B20 South Africa 2025 Digital Transformation Task Force listed SME digitalisation and AI literacy as听. A separate report projected that听, creating 300听000 jobs and expanding access to essential services to millions.

However, this digitalisation is also introducing greater cyber risk.听听revealed a continent-wide escalation of cybercrime,听with about one in 15 organisations in Africa facing a ransomware attempt each week 鈥� significantly higher than the global average.

SMEs seeking to scale their digital capabilities for greater efficiency, innovation and growth this year must take heed of the trends and forces shaping Africa鈥檚 digital economy, including:

Trend 1: Cloud as the default operating model

Cloud computing has crossed a tipping point among African businesses, with adoption growing across the continent. For SMEs, the attraction is straightforward. Cloud replaces large upfront capital costs with predictable subscriptions, supports hybrid and mobile work, and allows businesses to scale systems as they grow. Just as importantly, it reduces the operational burden of maintaining infrastructure, patching systems and managing uptime.

Simplified cloud adoption through offerings such as GROW with 麻豆原创 for new ERP customers and RISE with 麻豆原创 for those moving from on-premise systems to the cloud ease the path to adoption. The emphasis is not on infrastructure alone, but on packaged best practices, faster implementations and built-in compliance and security.

With hybrid and remote work now an established reality for SMEs, demand for cloud-based human capital management systems is surging. These systems听integrate payroll, performance, learning and workforce analytics, equipping even smaller firms with digital payslips, employee self-service, compliant payroll processing and basic people analytics.

Trend 2: Business AI moves from hype to habit

The most important AI trend for African SMEs is not experimentation with standalone tools, but the quiet embedding of AI into everyday business workflows. Finance, HR, supply chain and customer operations are increasingly augmented by AI that automates routine tasks, highlights risks, and supports better decisions.

The expected gains are practical rather than futuristic: faster invoice processing, improved cash-flow forecasting, better demand planning and more efficient HR administration. For example, 麻豆原创鈥檚 Joule AI copilot is being embedded across core business applications, enabling natural-language interaction with trusted enterprise data. Instead of building AI capabilities from scratch, SMEs consume intelligence directly through their ERP, HR and planning systems.

This matters in African contexts, where skills and budgets are constrained and trust in data is critical.听听found that nine in ten African organisations were suffering from negative impacts due to a lack of AI-related skills, including delays in implementations, failed innovation initiatives and loss of clients.

Trend 3: ERP is the digital nerve centre

This year,听cloud ERP will be less about 鈥渕odernisation鈥� and more about survival. SMEs that remain on fragmented, on-premise systems will find it harder to compete on cost, speed and trust.

Once seen as too complex or expensive for smaller firms, modern ERP is increasingly modular, cloud-native, mobile-friendly and AI-enabled. It integrates finance, operations, people and partners into a single source of truth. For SMEs, ERP is no longer just a back-office system but a digital nerve centre that enables AI, supports compliance, strengthens security and connects businesses to wider ecosystems.

In 2026, African SMEs听that build capability stacks around cloud ERP, embedded AI, secure platforms and digital skills will be able to compete with far larger organisations. Those that delay risk being locked out of supply chains, talent pools and digital markets.

Trend 4: Cybersecurity becomes existential

Ransomware, business email compromise and data breaches are no longer rare events, and the financial impact can be devastating.听听found that the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.4m in 2025. For many SMEs, such a breach represents an existential threat.

The volatile cyber threat landscape is shaping technology decisions. Cloud platforms can help reduce overall risk by consolidating听security, patching and monitoring into professionally managed environments. For example, 麻豆原创鈥檚 cloud ERP strategy emphasises secure-by-design architectures and shared responsibility models that reduce the burden on small IT teams.

This year,听cybersecurity will be firmly established as a board-level issue for African SMEs, on par with cash flow and regulatory compliance.

Enterprise technology is heading toward cloud, business AI and end-to-end solutions that improve planning, efficiency, execution and innovation capabilities. For African SMEs, the opportunity lies in adopting these capabilities pragmatically and early, turning global platforms into local competitive advantage.

The post The Essential Tech Trends for African SMEs appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.