When you deliver 75 million packages a day, innovation isn’t optional—it’s survival. In this special episode of Below the Fold, recorded live at the Dubai AI Festival, Amadou Diallo, CEO of DHL Middle East & Africa, shares how one of the world’s largest logistics networks is transforming through AI, automation, and purpose-led technology. From electric aircraft and AI-powered warehouse robotics to the launch of Ubuntu Academy—DHL’s initiative to train thousands of young Africans in digital supply chain skills—this conversation unpacks what it takes to lead global logistics into a smarter, greener future.
🎧 Topics include:
In partnership with @BelowTheFoldPodcast, @DATEwithTECH, @launchfoundryai, @DubaiAIFestival, and @DubaiAICampus
[00:00:00] Hello, I'm Rika Khari presenting today on behalf of Date with Tech in association with Trescon, Launch Foundry and Below the Fold. Today we have with us Amadou Diallo,~ uh,~ he's the CEO at DHL for Middle East and Africa. And you live here in Dubai. And,~ uh,~ every year we have at AI Festival and Dubai is at the forefront of like.
AI in application. Mm-hmm. So, ~um, ~probably two years ago we were just talking about AI being the buzzword, but now we are applying it. So I'd like to know,~ uh,~ how DHL is applying AI in their day to day. Yeah. So first of all, thanks for having me here. ~Um, ~you know my question,~ uh,~ you know, d at DHL we have like, ~uh, ~over 600.
Thousand employees working across the entire globe,~ um,~ operating in over 220 countries. Wow. And our business is actually about delivering and we roughly do more than 75 million deliveries per day.~ Um, ~so therefore, you know, we use a lot of technology to be able to support us to be efficient. Absolutely.
Now, a little bit to the history of the Asian. [00:01:00] So we are the daughter company of,~ uh,~ what used to be the German boss, right. Which,~ uh,~ was founded in 1,490. So, ~uh, ~that means that,~ uh,~ when we were starting to operate, people were moving with horses. There was no cars, I think. Yeah. Horses. Yeah. ~Uh, ~there was no trains, there were no planes.
And we have seen all of those evolutions. There were no technology. ~Uh, ~absolutely we have seen all of those evolutions. So we have gone through a lot of disruptions, as we call it. Yes, absolutely. ~Um, uh, ~and are still hanging around. And the, the, the new, ~uh. ~Disruption as we call it,~ uh,~ new technology or enhancement, which is around,~ uh,~ ai, right?
We believe it's just a continuity of continuous improvement, which is a property of human being because we always want to become much better on a day in, day out basis. So we use AI in many different types of forms. You know, we use it, first of all for security, okay? And safety. ~Um, ~that's one very big pillar.
That's, yeah, it's very important for our operations, yes. For the health and safety of our employees. ~Um, ~where do we use it,~ uh,~ in computer visioning,~ uh,~ [00:02:00] so that we can detect if a defect is about to happen so that we can prevent it? Oh. ~Uh, ~we use it in,~ uh,~ the tools that we move, forklifts,~ um,~ cars,~ uh,~ planes,~ uh,~ it used in all of those,~ uh,~ means of transportation because it allows us to be able to measure.
The efficiency of the, the tools of our production that we use. So we use it in many different dimensions. Mm-hmm. That makes me wonder, like, you know, how effective would digital twins be and like, are you in getting into that space or have you thought of that? Yeah, so we, we did a first study on digital twins.
So we run an innovation center here in the, in the UAE and actually run four of them in Chicago, in Singapore and in in Germany. Plus the one that we have here in Dubai. And there we already made a study on digital twins four years ago. Wow.~ Um, ~which was around way ahead a few times. Yeah. Which was around how to organize efficient transportation, particularly in Europe and particularly in Sweden.
Okay. So that we can mirror, you know, many containers into a truck and then move them,~ uh,~ with only one driver. This is all around improving [00:03:00] efficiency. Wow. And what about energy saving? Because you talk about sustainability,~ um,~ and it's also Dubai's,~ uh,~ one of the pillars,~ uh,~ and themes for this year. So how has this helped?
How has this helped you save,~ uh,~ on efficiency, of course, but energy as well. So we started working on an energy efficiency 15 years ago. ~Um, ~so our target is to be,~ uh,~ carbon neutral by 2050. Yes. ~Um, ~and therefore, you know. So far, you know, we have roughly around 38% of all of our vehicles that are electric.
In the UAE here, all of our operation facilities are run with sustainable energy. So we have solar panels across all of our roofs. We have a lot of warehouses. ~Um, ~and we actually do have a training for all of our employees. So, you know, all of our employees have to go through a certified go green certificate that we call it.
Okay. And, and, and that's in-house, like you've developed this? Yes. 95% of all of our employees have gone through that training. So people are not only learning about how to be sustainable in terms of. Operations, but also for at us at home. ~Um, ~you know, one example is that the, [00:04:00] all the Express courier deliveries that you, that delivers, that you, that you meet, they have t-shirts that are made by Degrade and actually they're made out of bottles that we have been consuming using to consume water in our offices.
Wow. Wow. That's a great initiative. Yeah. And. Talking about tech and how you have adapted tech,~ uh,~ into the system,~ uh,~ as you started with like horses probably. What is the future? What is, what does the future look like? What emerging technology would you like to integrate? Well, so, you know, the, the one thing that we see,~ uh,~ as, as an emerging challenge is,~ uh,~ delivering in,~ uh,~ cities, right?
~Um, ~you know, and because there's less and less space for people to be able to park as trucks and vans. Yeah. And therefore we think that there will be a high need of having autonomous vehicles that are circulating in the city, so, so that the delivery man can, or woman can step out of the vehicle, deliver while the car is just moving.
~Uh, ~the second one that we have is,~ uh,~ the implementation of,~ uh,~ what we call,~ uh,~ service points. That's like, you know, that, that these are distribution centers. That are [00:05:00] fully automated where you get a code and then you can go to, you know, any of the stores, parcel stores, and then get your, just pick it up, collect, collect your products without having somebody hanging there, but also taking it at your convenient time.
That's amazing. That is something that has been developed in multiple countries. ~Um, ~and lastly, you're working on efficiency on aviation. So we have,~ uh,~ ATIs, I don't know if you have heard of ATIs. So we have 12 electric planes that we are utilizing to pilot flying on electric,~ uh,~ so that we can avoid having a lot of carbon emission on the freight.
That's amazing. And I, I'm sure by doing all these efforts, you will achieve your target of being,~ uh,~ like zero carbon footprint very soon. ~Uh, ~but on a personal level mm-hmm. We are at AI festival. Mm-hmm. How do you use AI in a day-to-day thing for your personal life?~ Uh, ~I use AI in many different dimensions, so I have,~ uh,~ kids, so, you know, okay, so I, and my, my daughter is studying criminology.
~Uh, ~I am not an expert in criminology. ~Uh, ~my son is more into e-commerce. I'm not an expert in e-commerce. So when they have questions, I use AI to [00:06:00] be able to find out drafts of answers so that I can, you know, level discuss with them. But do they figure out that you've used AI to Yeah, I tell them that I have to find my sources somewhere,~ uh,~ because I have to work on the daytime.
~Um, ~secondly, you know, I, I also use it because I'm,~ uh,~ very curious by nature. So I work in many,~ uh,~ multiple NGOs. So I use a lot of AI because we are having a platform that is called Ubuntu Academy. It's a a teaching platform, okay. ~Um, ~where we want to train roughly around 50,000 people in the Middle Eastern Africa region on logistics.
So we use AI to get resources to make it affordable, you know, so that we can give it for free. I think that's,~ uh,~ in, in different markets. And then we have a lot of initiatives that are related to improving trade or including people into trade, global trade. They also, we use a lot of AI tools so that we can make sure that people are sitting in Uganda or sitting in Guatemala or many different remote places they have access, that they have access to knowledge without it being too expensive for us to make, make it available.
That's amazing because [00:07:00] adaptability is the next question. That was, I was, that I was coming to how easy it is to integrate AI now. Yeah. Not just restricted to charge g pt. Of course there are multiple other things. Yes. ~Um, ~so that, that kind of answers my question. Yeah. Wrapping up this entire conversation, we are on date to tech and ~uh, ~my podcast are also called Beyond Borders.
What do you think is your vision? Yeah, of course. It doesn't have to be, it can be AI generated, but what is it, what, what is one prompt that you would put and give it to an AI to build the future? I mean, since we are beyond borders and, you know, we still have like 600 million people to be included so that they can have access to affordable water Wow.
Or 800 million people to include so that they have access to affordable energy. I think that if you all go a little bit beyond borders, we, we will make the world a better place. Lovely. And,~ uh,~ my last question is always, I know you are an optimist and on the panel also we heard you being an AI optimist, but again, we need to talk about the risk.
So what do you think is the [00:08:00] biggest risk at the moment? The biggest risk is to stand there and do nothing. Yes, I think we have to adapt and,~ uh,~ yes, that's a perfect, perfect. You know, I, I come from a village in the south of Senegal, so, ~uh, ~you know, it was having no electricity, having access to no movies.
So for me, it is a privilege to be able to sit here and then I will not tell people that there is a risk. I will tell them there are opportunities and just grab them and go. Lovely, lovely. ~Uh, ~this also inspires me. I come from a small,~ uh,~ town in India and,~ uh,~ I, I think the, there'll be a whole lot of audience inspired by this conversation.
Thank you so much I for doing this. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me.