Tsholofelo K. Setati works at the intersection of AI, technology economics and institutional governance, writing, advising and thinking in public across enterprise, government, multilateral and non-profit contexts.https://tsholosetati.com/en-ZAhttps://tsholosetati.com/policy/welcome-tech-policy/https://tsholosetati.com/policy/welcome-tech-policy/A new section for thinking out loud about how frontier technology meets governance, regulation and the public interest.Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTTech PolicyGovernancehttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/when-ai-writes-policy-hallucinated-citations-reset-south/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/when-ai-writes-policy-hallucinated-citations-reset-south/South Africa's Draft National AI Policy was withdrawn this weekend. Good. That is the process doing what it should. And it opens a comparison worth making, because the countries that have built cre…Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTAI StrategyAI PolicySouth AfricaMEAhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/same-data-different-value-what-i-told-future-casas-ai/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/same-data-different-value-what-i-told-future-casas-ai/Last week I stood in front of a room full of PGDA students at the University of Limpopo. Future CA(SA)s. And I did not open a slide deck.Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTAI StrategySouth Africahttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/economics-innovation-part-4-final-technology-cfos-dashboard/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/economics-innovation-part-4-final-technology-cfos-dashboard/After diving deep into how technology transforms each financial statement, here's your essential scorecard. These are the metrics that separate genuine digital transformation from expensive technol…Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTInnovation EconomicsEconomicsCFO Toolkithttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/emea-innovation-hub-summit-brussels/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/emea-innovation-hub-summit-brussels/There's a particular energy that fills a room when people from different continents realise, they're wrestling with the same fundamental challenge. Last week in Brussels, at the EMEA Innovation Hub…Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTInnovation EconomicsMEAhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/economics-innovation-part-3-how-technology-your-cash-flow/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/economics-innovation-part-3-how-technology-your-cash-flow/The cash flow statement is where technology's promises meet reality. You can massage earnings and revalue assets, but cash doesn't lie. This is where we see whether digital transformation actually…Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTInnovation EconomicsEconomicshttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/economics-innovation-part-2-how-technology-reshapes-your/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/economics-innovation-part-2-how-technology-reshapes-your/Whilst the income statement shows technology's operational impact, the balance sheet reveals how AI and digital transformation fundamentally alters the capital structure and asset efficiency. This…Sat, 16 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTInnovation EconomicsEconomicshttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/whats-name-importance-naming-conventions-more-than-just/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/whats-name-importance-naming-conventions-more-than-just/Ever noticed how calling someone "hey you" instead of their actual name feels wrong? Or how calling someone using a name that is not theirs is embarrassing for everyone?Sat, 28 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTMethodhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/economics-innovation-part-1-how-technology-impacts-your/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/economics-innovation-part-1-how-technology-impacts-your/The income statement is where technology's business impact becomes clear. Unlike balance sheet assets that might sit dormant or cash flows that can be temporarily manipulated, the P&L tells the bru…Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTInnovation EconomicsEconomicshttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/reflecting-youth-day-from-paris-johannesburg/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/reflecting-youth-day-from-paris-johannesburg/A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of collaborating with brilliant technical architects from around the world at Microsoft's Innovation Hub in Paris. We spent intensive days refining AI transform…Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTReflectionhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/accelerating-agentic-ai-adoption-insights-from-egypts/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/accelerating-agentic-ai-adoption-insights-from-egypts/Over the past week, I had the privilege of engaging with senior leadership teams at Banque Misr, Manour Auto, Mantrac, EFG, and Etisalat. What struck me most profoundly was not just their technical…Tue, 27 May 2025 00:00:00 GMTAI StrategyMEAhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/navigating-ai-transformation-morocco-innovation/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/navigating-ai-transformation-morocco-innovation/As an innovation economist specialising in technological diffusion across industries and markets I can say that I am witnessing Morocco's business landscape experiencing a profound technological aw…Mon, 14 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTAI StrategyInnovation EconomicsMEAhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/ai-coe-operating-model/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/ai-coe-operating-model/A practical operating model for enterprise AI CoEs that move from pilot purgatory to durable, measurable value.Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMTAI StrategyOperating ModelValue Realizationhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/enterprise-ai-irr-model/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/enterprise-ai-irr-model/A defensible business-case template for AI initiatives that survives CFO scrutiny and post-implementation review.Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTFinOpsValue RealizationExecutive Advisoryhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/revolutionising-operational-analysis-approach-complex/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/revolutionising-operational-analysis-approach-complex/The challenge of analysing operational performance across large, complex organisations has always been daunting. Recently, I was the data and analytics lead of a pioneering project that combined Ar…Tue, 10 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMTMethodhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/innovation-economics-real-options/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/innovation-economics-real-options/Frontier technology bets behave like real options. Treating them like discounted cash flows under-prices them and starves the portfolio of upside.Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMTInnovation EconomicsStrategyhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/navigating-tide-understanding-south-africas-recent-trade/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/navigating-tide-understanding-south-africas-recent-trade/South Africa's trade landscape has experienced notable shifts as revealed in the latest report from Statistics South Africa. The unit value index (UVI) for exports and imports in October 2023 uncov…Thu, 04 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMTEconomicsSouth AfricaMEAhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/south-africas-innovation-dilemma-can-catch-up-brics/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/south-africas-innovation-dilemma-can-catch-up-brics/South Africa, as one of the BRICS nations, is grappling with its National System of Innovation (NSI). While the country has made some progress, it lags behind its fellow BRICS countries in several…Wed, 21 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMTInnovation EconomicsEconomicsSouth AfricaMEAhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/analyzing-south-africas-retail-trade-sales-insights-from/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/analyzing-south-africas-retail-trade-sales-insights-from/Understanding the performance of the retail trade industry is crucial for businesses and professionals seeking to navigate the market effectively. The latest findings from the March 2023 report on…Tue, 23 May 2023 00:00:00 GMTEconomicsSouth AfricaMEAhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/premature-deindustrialisation-its-implications-economies/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/premature-deindustrialisation-its-implications-economies/Research has highlighted concerns surrounding premature deindustrialisation, a phenomenon where developing economies experience a decline in their manufacturing sector at lower levels of income and…Tue, 04 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMTEconomicsSouth AfricaMEAhttps://tsholosetati.com/insights/navigating-double-edged-sword-technological-equipping/https://tsholosetati.com/insights/navigating-double-edged-sword-technological-equipping/In today's fast-paced world, the impact of technology on the workforce is a hot topic of discussion globally. Experts warn of substantial disruptions in labour markets, with South Africa and other…Tue, 28 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMTInnovation EconomicsSouth AfricaMEA