Strategic leadership sensemaking of GenAI transformation in an African financial institution

Organisations in emerging markets, particularly on the African continent, are transitioning from linear value chains towards complex platform ecosystems, and Generative Artificial Intelligence is accelerating this shift. GenAI introduces new skill demands, hybrid human-machine roles, and the need for adaptive continuous learning. In the African context, leaders must navigate this alongside infrastructural brittleness, institutional voids, and the need for contextually grounded governance. This study explored how senior leaders in an African financial institution make sense of and navigate GenAI-enabled transformation. The study adopted a qualitative, exploratory, and constructivist case design, involving the purposive sampling of seven senior leaders from a financial institution, who were interviewed. Data was thematically analysed. The findings reveal that in some African emerging economies, financial institutions face transformational challenges stemming from strategic misalignment, capability fragmentation, and tensions between global technological pressures and locally rooted ethical expectations. The study provides a contextually grounded account of how senior leaders in an African financial institution interpret GenAI-enabled transformation amid infrastructural fragility and institutional voids, guiding executives and policymakers in creating sustainable value within GenAI-driven digital ecosystems. The value-add of the article lies in challenging the applicability of canonical Western-centric models to African contexts and in advancing a contextually grounded understanding of leadership sensemaking.