CEOs in Sub-Saharan Africa believe the future looks bright: PwC 2025 Global CEO Survey

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At the same time, half (50%) of this cohort have entered new sectors in the past five years in an effort to embrace reinvention more aggressively, which demonstrates a greater appetite for transformation and strategic diversification. These are some of the key findings emerging from PwC’s 28th Annual Global CEO Survey: Sub-Saharan Africa perspective report.

Dion Shango, PwC Africa CEO, says: "Today’s competitive business environment is characterised by a multitude of significant factors. Among them is the imperative for leaders to adapt to emerging technologies and reinvent their business model.

"CEOs are under immense pressure to keep their organisations viable, and for many in Africa, they have earned their stripes handling complex challenges. This has highlighted their unique resilience and given them a competitive edge in today's global market. Under the theme ‘From resilience to reinvention’, our CEO Survey highlights these crucial insights from leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa and shows that their resilience has blossomed into something more powerful—optimism."

Growing confidence

There is evidently increasing economic optimism across Sub-Saharan Africa as 63% of CEOs on the continent are expecting improved global economic growth over the next 12 months. This is compared to 58% globally, and marks a 12% increase year-on-year when only 51% of the region’s CEOs shared this outlook the previous year.

Lullu Krugel, PwC South Africa chief economist and Africa sustainability leader, says: “This upward shift in confidence ... suggests that these business leaders see clear opportunities ahead, setting a positive foundation for their own business strategies and growth plans. Sub-Saharan Africa's optimism about global economic growth is also being driven by several key factors — among them are declining interest rates, a downward trend in inflation, improved energy security and fuel exports.”

CEOs are also increasingly focusing on the factors that will drive their economic viability in the coming years. Almost two-thirds (64%) identified making the correct strategic choices and enhancing organisational efficiency as the factors that will most influence their businesses' economic viability. This is notably higher than their global counterparts, where 55% and 48% respectively shared this view.

What remains a significant concern for 57% of these CEOs is potential changes in the regulatory environment — higher than the global average of 42%.

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Reinvention vital

As global forces reshape the business landscape, Sub-Saharan Africa business leaders find themselves at a critical point. They are being driven to reinvent their business models due to several crucial factors — these include ensuring business viability, adaptation to disruption and key megatrends, and navigating key business and risk challenges.

Hannelie Gilmour, PwC South Africa consulting and transformation platform leader, says: “Business model reinvention goes beyond incremental changes and improvements or strategies. It is about fundamentally transforming the core elements that drive an organisation’s business model, including their value proposition, profit formula, products and services, capabilities, processes and resources.”

Business leaders on the continent do face a distinct set of challenges that set them apart from their global counterparts. The survey reveals that regional business leaders believe they are at a higher exposure to certain critical risks, with inflation emerging as a paramount concern.

A striking 42% of CEOs report feeling vulnerable to inflationary pressures — significantly higher than the global average of 27%. However, the challenge landscape extends beyond economic concerns as these business leaders also feel elevated exposure to other critical risks: one in four CEOs in Sub-Saharan Africa feel vulnerable to cyber threats, workforce skill gaps and geopolitical conflicts — each surpassing the global average.

Despite these key challenges, 61% of CEOs are confident in their businesses' long-term viability, projecting sustainability beyond the next decade.

“This figure not only surpasses the global average of 55% but also represents a dramatic increase from the previous year's 40%,” says Olufemi Osinubi, PwC Nigeria consulting and risk services leader. “This surge in confidence suggests that Sub-Saharan Africa business leaders are not merely acknowledging challenges, but actively embracing transformation as a pathway to future success.”

AI uptake

Businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa are showing slightly lower AI adoption rates compared to global figures (75% vs. 83% globally). Despite this, PwC impact data shows encouraging signs of effective implementation. Business leaders are seeing notable gains in efficiency, with 56% reporting increased employee productivity and 53% noting improvements in executive time management — both comparable to or exceeding global benchmarks.

A majority of regional business leaders (72%) plan to adopt or expand their AI initiatives in the next 12 months (compared to 80% globally), and this is being done as they project meaningful returns: 45% expect AI to increase profitability in the coming year.

Christiaan Nel, PwC Africa AI leader, says: “Sub-Saharan Africa business leaders are taking a balanced approach to AI adoption and moving purposefully rather than rushing to match global adoption rates.

"The data shows that they are achieving comparable or better efficiency gains when AI tools are implemented, and this suggests that AI is being integrated thoughtfully into existing transformation initiatives. This strategic approach should always align with an organisation’s broader business reinvention efforts — and for it to have the best chances of being successful, trust in these AI solutions will be paramount."

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Strategic sustainability planning

Today’s business operating environment demands business leaders to integrate their climate impact goals into their strategic planning. Leaders who neglect this aspect risk compromising the long-term growth and viability of their organisations. Sub-Saharan Africa CEOs and their global counterparts show distinct patterns in how they approach climate initiatives, particularly in compensation structures and investment decisions.

While 32% of global CEOs have no sustainability metrics tied to their compensation, this figure was significantly lower (23%) for CEOs in Sub-Saharan Africa. More notably, 9% of business leaders in the region have more than 50% of their compensation linked to sustainability metrics, compared to 4% globally.

“This suggests a stronger structural emphasis on sustainability goals for Sub-Saharan African businesses,” Krugel says. “Beyond this, companies in the region also appear to lag slightly behind in climate-friendly investments, with 78% initiating such investments over the past five years compared to 85% globally.”

Krugel says this conservative approach could be due to the fact that only around a third of regional CEOs (32%) reported seeing increased revenue from climate-friendly initiatives. “Government incentives have remained largely unchanged, with 69% of companies reporting minimal impact in this area,” she adds.

Change is inevitable - growth is optional

As CEOs contemplate the next year, PwC says it hopes that they do so taking away a critical insight from this report — that the distinction between surviving and thriving in the next decade does not lie in whether organisations face disruption, but in how they respond to it.

“The most forward-thinking CEOs in Sub-Saharan Africa are already embracing this reality and recognising that today's challenges demand more than incremental solutions — they require fundamental transformation,” Shango says. “For these leaders, the focus has shifted from managing uncertainty to harnessing it as a catalyst for change.”

The window for action, however, is narrowing. Whether addressing climate change, technological disruption or market volatility, the opportunity lies in viewing these challenges not as obstacles to overcome, but as platforms for innovation and growth. Organisations that have yet to embark on their transformation journey must move with urgency as the future belongs to those who can turn today's complexities into tomorrow's competitive advantages.