DataProphet Brings Real-World AI to Centre Stage at Leaderex 2025

At this year’s Leaderex, Africa’s premier business leadership event, the spotlight turned toward a homegrown AI powerhouse making waves globally: DataProphet.

CAPE TOWN , WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA, September 12, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- At this year’s Leaderex, Africa’s premier business and leadership event, the spotlight turned toward a homegrown AI powerhouse making waves globally: DataProphet. The session, titled “Applying AI in Manufacturing”, featured a candid fireside chat between Lucie Fink, facilitator of the session and CEO of Thinkroom Consulting, and Frans Cronje, founder of DataProphet, unpacking the gritty realities of building and scaling deep-tech from Africa to the world.

Founded in 2014, years before the mainstream AI hype, DataProphet chose not to chase trends, but to solve a stubborn industrial problem: how to optimise
manufacturing processes through actionable AI. The result? PRESCRIBE, their flagship prescriptive AI solution, now deployed on factory floors across continents, helping manufacturers prevent defects before they happen.

Today, DataProphet is not just a South African success story, it’s a global AI thought leader, having been named by the World Economic Forum as a Top AI Company to Watch, and most recently, winning an Edison Award for Innovative Services & Software Solutions.

"The global manufacturing sector is under enormous pressure to digitise and decarbonise at the same time," said Davey Gant, Chairperson of the Board at
DataProphet and Partner at Knife Capital. "What makes DataProphet stand out is that it delivers real, measurable impact – using AI not just to report on the past, but to prescribe the next best action in the present. It’s a shift from hindsight to foresight, and that’s exactly what modern manufacturers need to stay competitive."

“AI is Not a Magic Bullet”

During the session, it was confirmed that people think AI is a silver bullet. It’s not. Cronje pulled no punches. It’s a strategic tool,” he said. “The hardest part isn’t the tech; it’s the legacy culture and approach. The mental shift of the ‘old way of doing things’ away from legacy systems, fragmented data, and human resistance can derail even the best projects.”

He described how many manufacturers sit on mountains of “dirty” data. The real challenge? Turning that data into structured, learnable information. That’s where DataProphet’s prescriptive AI sets itself apart, offering not just insights, but clear actions to prevent manufacturing losses in real-time.

The Human Side of AI

Fink steered the conversation toward the human elements: “What has to be true on the people side for AI to stick?” Cronje’s answer: leadership buy-in, cross-functional collaboration, and setting realistic ROI expectations. “AI isn’t an overnight win,” he warned. “But when done right, it delivers measurable impact, from defect reduction to bottom-line growth.”

Africa as a Deep-Tech Launchpad

Reflecting on the company’s journey, Cronje shared hard-won lessons on scaling from the Global South. “If you can succeed in industrial AI from Cape Town, you can scale anywhere,” he said. His advice to fellow founders? Don’t chase sexy markets, solve hard problems.

The Final Takeaway

It was clear that the mindset shift the fireside chat wished the audience would leave with, was this: AI isn’t just a Silicon Valley game. Africa has the talent, the problems worth solving, and the resilience to lead. Starting an AI business is one thing, growing one is different, but if you stay the course, outside of the hype of AI, the value truly does present itself.

With deep-tech credibility, global validation, and real-world ROI, DataProphet is not done disrupting yet. As the conversation around GenAI and digital transformation accelerates, DataProphet remains laser-focused on doing what most tech companies don’t: delivering results on the factory floor.

Sam Stodel
Knife Capital
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