From Digital Inclusion to AI-Native Enterprise: A Roadmap for MSMEs in the Global South
Artificial intelligence could deliver one of the biggest productivity gains in the history of small business. But simply giving a company an AI tool does not change how it operates. For micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, real transformation begins when owners and their teams gain the skills and support they need to redesign their business processes around what AI can do.
The II Global Digital Forum will take place in Moscow from Oct. 8 to 10, bringing together representatives of government agencies, technology companies, universities and international organizations to discuss digital transformation and international cooperation. Mr. Ganta Srinath Reddy, a technology entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of The AI SCHOOL and DeepAnnotate.ai, told IT Russia why micro, small and medium-sized enterprises should be at the center of the global conversation about artificial intelligence and what he hopes to accomplish in Moscow.
– Most AI conversations today are about governments, big corporations and tech giants. That's understandable. But I think we're leaving out the group that matters most to ordinary people: micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
Around the world, MSMEs make up about 90% of all businesses, provide 60 to 70% of jobs and generate roughly half of GDP. In India the numbers are just as striking. MSMEs contribute 31.1% of our GDP and 48.58% of our exports, and they employ more than 389 million people. Formalisation is moving fast too: registrations on the government's Udyam platforms crossed 87 million this year. When this sector moves, the whole economy moves.
If AI only makes big companies bigger, we've missed the point. The real test is whether it makes small companies stronger.
Right now, though, small businesses are falling behind on AI. Even in Europe, only 17% of small enterprises used AI in 2025, compared with 55% of large ones. In India, a 2026 study found that 57% of MSMEs believe AI will speed up their growth, but only 25% have actually built it into their operations. That gap between belief and action is exactly where I want to work.
So the next challenge isn't getting small businesses to try AI. It's helping them become AI-native.
Digital inclusion got small businesses online. Becoming AI-native will get them ahead.
What do I mean by that? An AI-native business isn't one where someone occasionally asks a chatbot a question. It's a business that looks at every function, including sales, customer service, finance, procurement, operations and decision-making, and asks honestly: where could AI make us faster, cheaper or better?
Picture a small auto-parts maker using AI to plan production and catch defects before a batch ships. Or a neighbourhood retailer that knows which products will run out next week. Or a ten-person accounting firm that automates routine paperwork and spends its time on clients instead. None of this is science fiction. The tools exist today.
The problem is that most MSMEs don't have a technology team or a budget to experiment. In one recent Indian survey of small retailers and neighbourhood businesses, about a quarter said they simply didn't know which AI features would help them. They need practical skills, affordable help with implementation, and solutions tied to real business problems rather than demos.
That's where governments, universities, technology companies and industry bodies can work together. India has already taken this conversation to the BRICS level, hosting the first BRICS MSME Forum in June. And many countries at this Forum share our profile: economies built on small firms, young workforces and fast-growing digital infrastructure.
In Moscow, I want to meet partners who are ready to move from talking to doing. My proposal is simple. Pick a group of MSMEs. Find where AI can make a measurable difference in each business. Help them implement it. Then track the results over six months: costs, output, quality and sales.
If it works for 50 or 100 businesses, we'll have the evidence to take it to thousands.
I'm open about the form this takes. It could be AI skills programmes, technology projects, joint initiatives or cross-border partnerships. What matters is that something real gets built.
For me, the biggest opportunity in AI isn't creating more AI companies. It's making the businesses we already have more productive and more competitive. If MSMEs become AI-native, the benefits won't stop at the factory gate or the shop counter. They'll show up in jobs, exports, productivity and the growth of entire economies.
AI will truly change the world on the day it changes the corner shop, the workshop and the family business, because that is where most of the world works.
