Mfikeyi Makayi

Image: Ted

Mfikeyi Makayi, CEO of KoBold Metals Africa - where she is using AI to find the minerals powering the clean-energy future.

If the world wants electric cars, renewable energy, and fewer fossil fuels, it needs huge amounts of copper, lithium, cobalt, and nickel - the materials used inside batteries, power grids, and solar panels.

Mfikeyi Makayi is helping make sure the world can find them.

Born in Zambia, Mfikeyi left home to study Civil and Environmental Engineering in the US, then earning a Master’s in Mining Engineering in the UK.

She returned home to work inside active mines, starting her career at First Quantum Minerals, where she learned how mining works - from operations on the ground to audits across Africa, Australia and Europe.

Today, she is CEO of KoBold Metals Africa, leading a company that uses AI to search underground. Instead of drilling blindly, KoBold’s AI analyzes decades of geological data to predict where large mineral deposits are likely to be - making exploration faster, cheaper, and less damaging to the environment.

Under her leadership, KoBold is developing what’s expected to be a $2B underground copper mine in Zambia, one of the biggest discoveries in recent years. It puts Africa at the center of the global energy transition.

In 2025, Mfikeyi was named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, and became one of the first Zambian women to lead a major mining exploration company in the country.

Last Updated: February 2027