Lagos — Technology and innovation leaders have emphasised that Africa’s progress depends on its ability to build a strong research culture and harness its existing but fragmented data systems.

Speaking on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at TechCabal Moonshot 2025, experts, including Dr. Olubayo Adekanmbi, Ayodeji Alaran, and John Kamara, urged African innovators to shift from imitation to original, data-driven problem-solving as the foundation for sustainable growth.

Founder of Data Science Nigeria, Dr. Olubayo Adekanmbi, said the continent’s biggest barrier is not the lack of data but the absence of structured research and analytical rigour. “We need to determine what research truly is,” he said. “Some people spend years applying mathematics and rigorous research methods to converge knowledge. We must get out of this copy-and-paste culture if we want to lead in innovation.”

Adekanmbi, a leading figure in Africa’s AI ecosystem with over two decades of experience at MTN and Airtel, noted that transformative tools like Gemini and ChatGPT are products of deep research, not replication — a model Africa must learn from to develop context-specific solutions.

Ayodeji Alaran, Founder and CEO of PBR Life Sciences, highlighted how the lack of aggregated data continues to hinder effective decision-making in Africa’s pharmaceutical industry. “People say there is no data in Africa — that’s not true. The data exists but it’s scattered and unaggregated,” he said.

Drawing from real-world experience, he explained that while a pharmaceutical company in Jos may hold excess stock of insulin, patients in other parts of the country often struggle to access the same drug. “Go for the problem, understand the customer need, and research how you can solve it,” Alaran advised.

His company, which raised $1 million in pre-seed funding in 2024, is building a data infrastructure platform to help manufacturers and pharmacies make predictive, evidence-based decisions.

For John Kamara, Founder and Global CEO of Adanian Labs, innovation cannot thrive without a clear understanding of invention. “You can invent on innovation or innovate on invention,” Kamara said. “Data is an infrastructure; you must understand what you want to invent with it. It’s what helps us to innovate and invent.”

He explained that while Nigeria and other African countries have innovated on existing infrastructures, there is a pressing need to invent new systems that can power future industries. Kamara’s Adanian Labs — which operates innovation hubs across Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa — has incubated more than 50 startups and is working toward its goal of supporting 300 tech ventures across the continent by 2025.

The experts collectively agreed that data is more than a resource — it is infrastructure that underpins invention, innovation, and economic transformation. They called for better collaboration between governments, academia, and the private sector to build robust data systems, fund research, and foster knowledge creation rather than mere technology adoption.

As Africa accelerates its digital transformation journey, the message from TechCabal Moonshot 2025 was clear: to unlock the next wave of innovation, the continent must invest in research, aggregate its data, and create homegrown solutions that respond directly to African realities.