Esri’s Strategic Role in Africa’s Digital Transformation
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have quietly become the invisible backbone of modern Africa, guiding decisions in agriculture, urban development, disaster response, and national security. Yet behind every map driving these critical choices lies a question: How do we transform raw spatial data into actionable intelligence?
At the 2025 NewSpace Africa Conference, we spoke with Sohail Elabd, Director of International Strategies at Esri, about the company’s role in answering this challenge. With decades of global GIS leadership and deep regional roots across Africa, Esri isn’t just providing tools; it’s redefining how governments, businesses, and communities harness location intelligence to solve real-world problems.
With Esri’s established presence across Africa through regional offices, what distinct GIS application patterns have emerged in different areas, and how does this inform your continental strategy?
Esri is the world’s leading provider of GIS and location intelligence solutions. Our technology supports over 350,000 organisations and over one million users globally, including 90% of Fortune 500 companies. While GIS adoption is growing consistently across Africa, we’re observing fascinating regional application priorities variations reflecting local development challenges and opportunities.
In Southern Africa, we see a strong focus on mining sector optimisation and natural resource management, particularly in countries like South Africa and Botswana. Our work often involves supporting private mining operations and government regulators with spatial analytics for mineral exploration, environmental monitoring, and rehabilitation planning. East African nations are prioritising agricultural applications and food security solutions. In Kenya and Ethiopia, we’re working with agricultural ministries and research institutions to develop crop monitoring systems that combine satellite imagery with field data to predict yields and identify areas at risk of food shortages.
Furthermore, North African countries emphasise urban development and water resource management solutions. Our projects in Egypt and Morocco frequently involve smart city planning, coastal zone management, and optimising scarce water resources for agriculture and municipal use.
These regional differences directly shape our continental strategy in three key ways:
- We maintain specialised technical teams in each region with a deep understanding of local priorities
- Our product development roadmap incorporates region-specific requirements
- We’ve established regional innovation hubs to develop and showcase locally relevant solutions
Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, we’ve succeeded by combining our global GIS expertise with hyperlocal knowledge. For concrete examples of these regional applications, I’d encourage readers to explore our Esri MEA case studies portal, where we document successful implementations across various sectors and countries.
The Mauritius Water Authority case study demonstrates how GIS technology can transform water distribution systems. What specific efficiency improvements have they achieved, and how are you scaling these learnings to other water utilities across Africa?
The Mauritius Water Authority (Central Water Authority – CWA) case study highlights the transformative impact of GIS technology on water distribution management. Before GIS implementation, CWA relied heavily on static spreadsheets, which often contained outdated or inaccurate information. This limited the organisation’s ability to visualise the geographic distribution of assets or track incidents such as pipe bursts or leakages over time.
With the integration of GIS, CWA transitioned to a dynamic and interactive mapping system that provides real-time data on water infrastructure, including pipe locations, lengths, materials, and ages. This spatial intelligence allows management and field teams to quickly identify problem areas, prioritise maintenance, and plan upgrades with greater precision. One of the most significant outcomes has been the drastic reduction in response time; service interventions that previously required extensive manual coordination are now executed much faster, with a 100% improvement in operational efficiency. Moreover, field and management personnel can access updated network data from any location, significantly enhancing decision-making and customer service.
In your partnership with Digital Earth Africa (in 2022), what specific data science solutions have proven most effective in addressing food security challenges, and how are these being implemented locally?
In 2022, Esri partnered with Digital Earth Africa to advance sustainable development across the continent by equipping local organisations with powerful data science tools to confront the escalating challenges of climate change, particularly food insecurity, displacement, and environmental disasters. This collaboration has deployed several impactful geospatial solutions to support food security initiatives.
Key among these is earth observation data to monitor crop health, identify land degradation, and assess soil moisture levels. These insights are critical for early warning systems and informing timely agricultural planning and resource allocation interventions. Additionally, satellite-derived analytics have been instrumental in mapping seasonal changes and evaluating water availability, factors that directly influence food production and distribution.
To ensure accessibility at the local level, these solutions are delivered through the Africa GeoPortal, a community GIS platform developed by Esri. The GeoPortal provides preconfigured applications, curated data sets, and learning tools that serve users of varying expertise, from grassroots organisations to government agencies. With the integration of ArcGIS Online software, the partnership has helped eliminate traditional barriers to geospatial technology, such as high costs and steep learning curves. Even users with limited technical experience can leverage advanced spatial analytics to make informed decisions that strengthen food systems and improve resilience in vulnerable communities.
The ‘digital divide’ remains significant across Africa. How are you ensuring that Esri’s GIS solutions remain accessible to organisations with varying technical infrastructure and expertise levels?
Through the Africa GeoPortal, powered by Esri, we are democratising access to location intelligence by providing a cloud-based, user-friendly platform that supports organisations regardless of their technical infrastructure or expertise.
The platform offers free access to advanced geospatial tools, curated local datasets, and preconfigured applications tailored to African use cases. Whether users are just beginning their GIS journey or are seasoned analysts, the GeoPortal enables them to analyse spatial patterns, derive actionable insights, and communicate complex issues with clarity. To further bridge the skills gap, the Africa GeoPortal includes integrated training resources and community support, empowering users at all levels from civil society groups and startups to government agencies and universities, to harness the power of GIS for solving real-world problems in agriculture, climate resilience, urban planning, and more.
Infrastructure mapping is critical for development. How are your tools helping African governments track and maintain their infrastructure assets, and what measurable benefits have resulted?
Accurate infrastructure mapping is essential for effective development planning, service delivery, and climate resilience. Without up-to-date and reliable basemaps, African governments face major obstacles in tracking and maintaining critical assets such as roads, utilities, public facilities, and agricultural zones. These challenges ripple across sectors, affecting everything from food security and disaster response to conservation and economic development.
Esri’s tools address this gap by providing governments with advanced geospatial solutions that combine high-resolution imagery, real-time data integration, and powerful analytics. These capabilities enable agencies to monitor infrastructure condition, plan upgrades, detect anomalies, and prioritise maintenance more accurately and efficiently.
A major step forward in this effort is Esri’s Map Africa initiative, which aims to deliver high-quality, country-specific basemaps for every African nation, free of charge. Powered by the latest ArcGIS technology and geospatial artificial intelligence (Geoai), and in partnership with leading imagery providers, these basemaps form a consistent and authoritative foundation for digital infrastructure management. More importantly, the initiative is designed to provide data and empower local agencies to maintain and enrich the basemaps over time, ensuring their relevance and long-term utility.
“This represents a significant improvement in the quality of basemaps available across Africa,” explained Deane Kensok, Esri’s chief technology officer for ArcGIS content. “We’re not simply delivering maps, we’re enabling local organisations to maintain and improve these basemaps themselves, ensuring they remain valuable resources for years to come.”
How are African cities utilising Esri’s GIS technology for urban planning challenges like informal settlements, transportation systems, and service delivery? Are there standout examples that demonstrate innovative approaches?
GIS systems are the cornerstone of Africa’s digital economy and smart city development. GeoAI technologies now allow governments and businesses to create highly detailed maps in significantly shortened timeframes, accomplishing in months what traditionally required years. These solutions enable:
- Real-time environmental monitoring
- Quick identification of challenges and violations
- Enhanced crisis management capabilities
- Improved government service delivery
Elabd highlighted that these technologies have demonstrated their effectiveness across multiple countries, leading to greater efficiency, resource conservation, and better service provision. Esri’s solutions contribute to a comprehensive vision for building a sustainable digital economy in Africa, particularly in agricultural development and food security. Their “precision farming” technologies allow governments and farmers to:
- Monitor crop health in real-time.
- Predict agricultural needs with greater accuracy
- Integrate imagery and remote sensing for actionable insights
- Analyse environmental factors that affect production
Furthermore, Elabd emphasised that Esri’s intelligent solutions provide early warning systems that help mitigate natural disasters and strengthen food security, addressing the region’s critical agricultural challenges.
How have African health authorities adapted Esri’s GIS tools for disease surveillance and healthcare resource allocation following global health challenges? What unique innovations have emerged from these implementations?
The Commons Project (TCP), a nonprofit focused on using technology to enhance quality of life, collaborated with the East African Community (EAC) to create a CommonHealth Data Map dashboard for monitoring COVID-19’s regional impact. Using Esri technologies, TCP transformed a previously customised COVID-19 dashboard into a sustainable, automated, and easily maintainable visual mapping system. This successful transition from a custom solution to one built on standard Esri technology equipped regional decision-makers with crucial information needed to implement effective health measures throughout the pandemic.
The streamlined dashboard provided ongoing visualisation of COVID-19 data, enabling EAC officials to make evidence-based policy decisions to protect public health across East Africa.
Beyond providing technology, how is Esri working to build local GIS expertise across Africa? What educational initiatives or training programmes have shown the strongest return on investment?
- GIS Education Programmes for Schools: Esri provides globally recognised GIS educational resources and best practices, benefiting thousands of African schools and students. The classroom integration of GIS has yielded numerous regional success stories through tailored curricula and lesson plans. Esri South Africa’s FundaLula programme is an exceptional example of effective school collaboration in promoting GIS education.
- GIS Education Programmes for Universities: Multiple GIS certification options are available to develop essential skills for successful careers in the field, serving students and working professionals. Universities across Africa incorporate GIS technology to enhance courses and support mapping projects. Esri South Africa’s GIS Diploma has received recognition from leading higher education councils, establishing a standard of excellence in GIS education at the university level.