AI and the Future of Work in Cameroon: Preparing the Workforce for Emerging Opportunities

By Larissa Ntoubia & Dr. Atangana Stephane

Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a transformative opportunity for Cameroon’s labor market and overall economic development. With the launch of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (SNIA) in July 2025, Cameroon aims to become a continental hub for AI innovation by 2040. The strategy includes ambitious sets ambitious targets : training 60,000 AI professionals (of whom 40% will be women), creating 12,000 direct jobs AI jobs, and increasing AI’s contribution to national GDP to around 0.8 – 1.2% by 2040 through applications in key sectors such as agriculture, health, education and justice.

While these targets signal a strong political commitment, achieving them will require overcoming significant structural constraints that are common across the continent. Experience from other African countries shows that the successful implementation of national AI strategies depends on reliable digital and energy infrastructure, clear regulatory frameworks for data governance and privacy, and sufficient institutional capacity to manage complex multi-sector programme. The feasibility of the SNIA will therefore rest not only on its design but also on the government’s ability to address these foundational prerequisites.

According to World Bank data, Cameroon’s labour market is characterized by a large youth cohort of around 57% of the working-age population, which could maximize the benefits of AI-driven economic change. Yet this potential is constrained by persistent challenges: high levels of unemployment and underemployment, a mismatch between training and labour-market needs, widespread informal employment and deep digital divides. To ensure that the workforce actually benefits from ongoing technological change, and that the gains are broadly shared, deliberate and comprehensive preparation is essential.

This policy brief examines Cameroon’s strategic response to the future of work shaped by AI. It explores how AI is likely to transform the Cameroonian labour market, analyses the readiness of the workforce and presents concrete policy recommendations to help the country leverage AI for sustainable growth and inclusive development, so that emerging AI opportunities benefit all segments of society.

1. AI’s Transformative Impact on Work and Employmentin Cameroon  

The introduction of AI in Cameroon brings both risks and opportunities for the labour market. Routine and rules-based activities are the most exposed to automation, especially clerical functions in public administration (data entry, payroll processing, document management), basic customer service in call centers and front offices, and repetitive tasks along factory and agro-industry production lines in cities such as Douala.

Yet most jobs are more likely to be transformed than fully eliminated. As AI tools enter offices, farms, clinics and classrooms, workers will be asked to combine digital tools with interpersonal, technical and problem-solving skills instead of executing purely manual tasks. This creates a critical “window of opportunity” for policy: over the coming decade, government and its partners can invest in basic digital literacy, broadband connectivity and targeted upskilling so that young people and workers currently in low-productivity roles can move into higher-value, AI-complementary occupations.

New employment opportunities are already emerging in Cameroon’s digital economy. Core AI and data professions (software developers, data analysts, AI engineers) are growing alongside complementary roles such as digital marketers, content creators and freelance digital service providers. In agriculture, applications like Ndemri use machine learning to analyse soils and plant health for farmers in the Far North, while in public administration initiatives such as GOV-AI aim to support civil servants with digital decision-support tools. These early use cases show that AI can create new sources of value and jobs when local innovators, public institutions and training systems move in the same direction.

However, the depth and inclusiveness of AI’s impact will depend on infrastructure and connectivity. Recent data indicate that about 42% of Cameroonians used the internet in 2024–2025, slightly above Africa’s average of around 37–39%, but still leaving the majority of the population offline.

Mobile connections are widespread, yet fixed broadband and high-quality access remain concentrated in urban centers such as Douala and Yaoundé, while many rural areas still face slow, expensive or unreliable service.  This uneven connectivity is a major constraint on AI uptake and risks reinforcing existing territorial and social inequalities.

AI can support innovation in key sectors of the Cameroonian economy, but its benefits will not be automatic. In agriculture, data-driven advisory tools can help farmers optimize input use and adapt to climate shocks; in health, AI-supported diagnostics and triage systems can help address personnel shortages; and in education, adaptive learning platforms can complement teachers and improve resource allocation. Without appropriate regulation, investment and safeguards, however, these tools could also exacerbate gaps in access, privacy and quality of service. Sectoral AI initiatives promoted under the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy therefore need to be accompanied by clear governance frameworks and capacity-building for frontline workers.

1. Preparing the Cameroonian Workforce for Emerging Opportunities

Cameroon’s labour market is marked by a paradox. Official unemployment is relatively low, at about 3.3–3.5% according to the National Institute of Statistics, but this figure masks much deeper challenges. Underemployment affects around two-thirds of workers, and close to 80–90% of jobs are in the informal economy, often characterized by low productivity, unstable income and lack of social protection. In this context, the key question is not only how many jobs AI will create or destroy, but how it can help transform existing jobs into more productive and decent work.

For young people, the stakes are particularly high. Youth represent a large share of the working-age population, yet they are over-represented among the unemployed, the underemployed and workers in precarious self-employment. If the AI transition is not accompanied by targeted skills development and job-creation strategies, there is a risk that existing frustrations—already visible in segments such as motorcycle-taxi drivers and low-paid service workers—will intensify.

Women face additional barriers in accessing emerging AI and digital opportunities. They are more concentrated in informal and low-paid activities and remain under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Some initiatives are beginning to address this gap. MINPOSTEL’s Digital Talks series encourages women in the ministry and affiliated institutions to see themselves as key actors in digital transformation and promotes capacity-building, mentoring and networking for women in tech. Civil-society organizations such as TechWomen Cameroon or “Les Go Sciencent” also provide mentoring, training and role models for girls and women in STEM careers. Scaling up and coordinating these efforts with the AI strategy will be crucial to move towards the SNIA target of 40% women among AI professionals.

The informal sector will remain central to Cameroon’s economy for the foreseeable future, which means that preparing the workforce for AI cannot be limited to formal employees or advanced specialists. Many informal workers already use digital tools in their daily activities: mobile money services such as MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money are used by more than ten million people to receive payments, send remittances and pay bills, and WhatsApp and Facebook are widely used for advertising products, taking orders and coordinating deliveries. Building on these existing practices, AI-enabled tools—such as simple, voice-based assistants in local languages for market information, bookkeeping or customer management—could help small traders, farmers and service providers increase their productivity and resilience, provided they are designed with their constraints and literacy levels in mind.

Preparing the Cameroonian workforce for AI therefore requires a differentiated approach. For highly skilled workers and graduates, the priority is to strengthen advanced training in data science, software engineering and AI, while integrating ethics and responsibility into curricula. For the broader workforce, including informal workers and those with limited formal education, the focus should be on basic digital literacy, problem-solving and the ability to use simple AI-powered tools safely and productively. Nkafu’s analysis suggests that only by combining these two levels—specialized AI skills and broad-based digital capabilities—can Cameroon ensure that the benefits of AI are widely shared rather than concentrated among a narrow group of high skilled professionals.

III. Policy Recommendations

Based on this analysis, the Nkafu Policy Institute recommends that the Government of Cameroon and its partners prioritize four complementary pillars of action to prepare the workforce for AI and the future of work.

Infrastructure and Energy for AI-Enabled Work

• Accelerating investments in reliable connectivity and power.Implement the infrastructure and governance pillars of the Digital Cameroon Strategic Plan and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (SNIA) by expanding fibre-optic networks, improving 4G/5G coverage and reinforcing electricity supply to universities, training centres and innovation hubs.
• Developing local data infrastructure.Promote public–private partnerships (PPPs) to establish and maintain secure data centres in Cameroon, ensuring that training data and critical applications can be hosted locally, in line with national data-sovereignty and cybersecurity objectives.

Education and Skills for the Present and Future Workforce

• Reforming curricula to integrate digital and AI literacy at all levels.Introduce basic digital and AI concepts in primary and secondary education, and strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pathways in technical and vocational education.
• Targeted measures for women and under-represented groups.Align scholarship schemes, mentorship networks and role-model campaigns (e.g. MINPOSTEL initiatives, women-in-tech organisations) with SNIA’s objective that at least 40% of AI professionals be women.

Governance and Regulation for Responsible AI

• Clarifying the roles of existing institutions.The Council should work closely with MINPOSTEL, which leads digital and telecom policy, and with the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC), which is responsible for ICT promotion, internet regulation and cybersecurity. org+1 It would not duplicate their mandates, but provide a platform for coordination with other ministries (education, labour, finance, agriculture, health), local authorities, the private sector and civil society.
• Developing clear frameworks for data protection and algorithmic accountability.Nkafu recommends that Cameroon update and implement its legal frameworks on data protection, privacy and cybersecurity, and establish mechanisms for impact assessments and oversight of high-risk AI systems in public services and finance. Generis Global Legal Services+2African Journal of Info & Comm+2

Informal Sector and Inclusive AI

• Designing AI solutions that build on existing digital practices in the informal economy.In partnership with mobile operators and fintech actors providing mobile money services (such as MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money), as well as savings groups and cooperatives, develop simple AI-enabled tools—accessible via basic phones and messaging apps—to help traders, farmers and service providers manage payments, customers, inventories and market information.
• Piloting local “AI for inclusion” projects with municipalities and cooperatives.Work with local councils, producer organizations and women’s associations to test AI-supported advisory services in agriculture, commerce and urban services (for example, building on existing initiatives such as Ndemri in smart agriculture), and then scale up successful models through national programmes.