[ACCI-CAVIE] As Africa enters a decisive decade, the continent is confronted with unprecedented geopolitical and economic challenges. In this increasingly competitive, uncertain and hostile environment, competitive intelligence (CI) is emerging as a vital strategic weapon for the survival and prosperity of both states and businesses. Yet a crucial distinction must now be made—one that has long been ignored but is becoming increasingly visible and is hindering the full potential of this discipline: the divide between the “pundits” of competitive intelligence and its true “commanders.”

The African Centre for Competitive Intelligence (ACCI), whose expertise is well established, defines CI not merely as a discipline, but as a true art of economic warfare:
“Competitive intelligence is a mindset, a process, and a system for the legal, rapid and secure questioning, collection, processing, analysis, and transmission of intelligence useful for economic decision-making in competitive, uncertain or hostile environments.”
This definition reflects the need for reactivity and pragmatism inherent in CI. It is no longer about academic essays but about operational intelligence—information transformed into a decisive advantage.

For too long, the field of competitive intelligence in Africa has been dominated by scholarly voices — essential, no doubt, for laying the conceptual foundations — yet often detached from the realities on the ground. These “pundits”, emblematic figures of knowledge transmission, excelled in the art of theorising, academic conferences, and radio or television appearances. Their contribution to the intellectual development of the discipline is undeniable. However, as threats intensify and opportunities dwindle, Africa can no longer afford the luxury of an imported, lecture-hall-bound intelligence model.

This is where the “field commanders” come in — practitioners who are driven by the obligation to yield results. Figures like Dr Guy Gweth, head of the ACCI, embody this new generation of competitive intelligence professionals. Their strength lies in their dual expertise — both international and local — enabling them to convert knowledge into operational capacity, decode weak market signals, anticipate adversarial moves, and craft robust, agile strategies. They are the architects of monitoring systems, the strategists of information flow, the bulwarks against industrial espionage, and the scouts of emerging markets. Their battlefield is the field, their currency is actionable, secure intelligence, and their goal is informed decision-making.

The distinction between these two profiles is all the more urgent as Africa stands at a critical crossroads. States must urgently equip their security and economic institutions with robust competitive intelligence capabilities, led by practitioners able to integrate intelligence into political and strategic decision-making. Similarly, African businesses—small, medium, and large—must abandon empirical approaches in favour of proactive competitive intelligence strategies, guided by seasoned managers skilled at navigating a globalised competitive environment. The time for lamenting data shortages is over; the priority now is the methodical acquisition of strategic information.

It is precisely this synergy between deep analysis and swift action that makes an entity like the ACCI strong. Far from being just a think tank, the Centre brings together a cohort of knowledge producers and seasoned practitioners. This duality — the ability to merge theory and practice, scholarship and the engineering of legal intelligence — explains the fifty leading references it has accumulated over a decade with public, private, and civil society actors. The ACCI is living proof that effective African competitive intelligence combines intellectual finesse with disciplined action, thus forging the tools necessary for the continent’s victory in the global economic arena. Africa needs visionaries, but even more so, builders and soldiers to realise this homegrown vision.

Elisabeth Atangana