Africa in Motion: Kamo Sesing

Kamo Sesing on AI, creativity and Africa’s role in shaping the future of tech.

Article by Lesibane Mohale

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Kamogelo Sesing is one of those rare creative leaders whose career has moved seamlessly between advertising, technology and entrepreneurship. An award-winning writer, creative director and tech enthusiast, Kamo represents a generation of African creative talent proving that big ideas can travel far beyond traditional agency walls.

I first met Kamo at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris during an iconic time in South African advertising. It was a time of bold thinking, ambitious work and strong creative voices, and Kamo was already someone whose writing stood out. He went on to win the first-ever Gold Loerie in the New Voices category for vernacular radio, a recognition that reflected both his talent and his commitment to work rooted in culture.

In 2016, Kamo co-founded Accomplice, a creative tech start-up that launched products such as BookBeak in EdTech, Foxtrot in SaaS and Kitchen Manager in hospitality. Foxtrot was invited to exhibit at TechCrunch 2019 in Silicon Valley, where it was the only South African start-up present. Kitchen Manager won the first-ever Traction Bus start-up challenge and BookBeak was identified by Apple Africa’s editorial team as a standout app in 2019, going on to headline the storefront for Africa Day. More recently, in 2025, Kamo was also part of the MIT Demo Day judging panel held in Boston, Massachusetts.

Kamo also served as Creative Director at M&C Saatchi and Executive Creative Director at Metropolitan Republic. He was also part of the team that launched Discovery Bank, South Africa’s first digital bank.

In this second instalment of Africa on the Move, Kamo shares his insights on AI, tech and what it could mean for the African marketing landscape.

He reflects on the lessons he has learned from building tech products, explores the cultural and technological shifts shaping the future while offering practical guidance on the skills creatives should be investing in to stay relevant in a rapidly changing industry.

LM: You’re a South African-born creative leader based in the US, working at the intersection of brands, technology and advertising. What excites you most about where AI and creativity are heading right now?

Kamo: I’d describe my feeling as cautious excitement. We’re living through a moment of creative hyper-enablement unlike anything in history. Tools that once required entire teams, budgets and months of production can now be explored by a single individual with curiosity and a laptop. That’s incredibly exciting.

At the same time, those same tools can potentially undermine the creative agenda if they’re used carelessly. AI can generate outputs, but it doesn’t replace perspective. The creatives I’m most excited about right now are the ones who use AI as a medium for expressing a point of view, not as a substitute for having one. My concern is when people begin to delegate the responsibility of thinking and creating to the tech itself.

LM: You’ve often spoken about AI not as a threat, but as a creative tool. What do you think most creatives and marketers misunderstand about it?

Kamo: I try to be cautious about saying who's getting it right or wrong because the space is evolving so quickly and there are many legitimate use cases. What I will say is that the people who seem to be getting the most value out of Al are using it to reclaim time and redistributing it to the parts of the job that actually matter like the thinking, the craft, and the strategic imagination behind the work.

LM: You’ve co-founded multiple tech startups in the past across hospitality, EdTech and SaaS. How has building technology products changed the way you think about campaigns and brand storytelling?

Kamo: Building products has given me a much deeper appreciation for the broader ecosystem of people it takes to make something successful. Earlier in my career, I was all creative, creative, creative. But once you start building a startup, you’re concerned with conversion and viability. As a result, my approach to storytelling has become more direct and more methodical. It’s not just about making something interesting; it’s about making sure it works.

LM: Africa is often perceived primarily as a consumer market. What opportunities do you see for African creatives to shape the global AI and technology conversation?

Kamo: I think Africa’s greatest opportunity lies in perspective. Many African creatives come from environments where constraints are the norm i.e. limited budgets, fragmented infrastructure, complex markets. That inspires a different kind of ingenuity and problem-solving. It creates space for African thinkers and builders to contribute ideas that are informed by very different realities, which has the potential to lead to more resourceful, human-centered solutions.

LM: As AI tools become more accessible, what skills do creatives need to develop to stay relevant over the next 1-3 years?

Kamo: Beyond becoming comfortable with AI tools themselves, one capability I advocate strongly for vibe coding. I’m a Replit man myself. Creatives have always been full of ideas, but historically there was a technical barrier between imagining something and building it. AI is starting to lower that barrier. A creative who can prototype an idea, build a simple product, or launch a digital experience without waiting for a large technical team suddenly has enormous leverage. The interesting advantage creatives have is that they don’t just generate ideas, they also understand how to position and market them. When you combine those two abilities with the power to build quickly, it creates a very powerful skill set.

LM: Which tools, platforms or AI technologies excite you most right now, and why do you think they matter for creatives and marketers?

Kamo: What excites me most isn’t necessarily a single tool but a category of tools. Those that allow rapid prototyping and experimentation.

LM: Looking ahead to 2026, what cultural and technological shifts do you think will most influence how creative and marketing content is created and consumed across Africa?

Kamo: I think an important shift will be the rise of creator-led economies across the continent. Social platforms have already allowed African creators to build global audiences, but AI tools will give them even more independence in how they produce and distribute content. By the way, I think this is true for the whole world, not just Africa.

LM: We’re seeing more brands experiment with AI-generated content. In your opinion, which brands are getting it right and what are they doing differently?

Kamo: Without singling out specific brands, the ones that seem to be doing it well are the ones that still place storytelling and brand integrity at the center of the work. AI should be a tool in service of the brand narrative, not the narrative itself. When brands use AI purely for novelty, the work often feels disposable. Or as the streets say, ‘AI slop’. But when the technology is used to enhance a clear idea or story, it can unlock new forms of expression that weren’t previously possible.

LM: If you could change one perception about Africa, what would it be?

Kamo: I think it’s more interesting to talk about the shift that’s already happening. Increasingly, the world is beginning to look at Africa as the next frontier. Not just economically, but culturally and technologically as well. The continent has one of the youngest populations in the world, rapidly growing digital adoption, and an enormous amount of creative energy. Those ingredients tend to produce innovation. But okay, to answer the question, if there’s a perception I’d like to see evolve, it’s the idea that Africa is simply a market to sell into. In reality, it’s also a place where new ideas, businesses and cultural movements are emerging.

LM: When you look back on your career years from now, what do you hope your legacy will be?

Kamo: I’d like to be remembered as someone who built things that people genuinely valued and used.

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Africa in Motion is a TIA interview series spotlighting Africa’s trailblazers in the advertising, marketing and creative industries. Visionaries who are putting African creativity on the world map and shaping culture from Lagos to London, Accra to Atlanta and Jozi to Boston. Featuring agency leaders, strategists, creatives, entrepreneurs and brand marketers, each conversation aims to unpack insights, emerging trends, shifts in culture and ideas that are redefining the African narrative.

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