
AI and Digital TransformationMachine Learning Foundations for Business Analysts
An analyst does not need to build models to be the person who decides whether one should be trusted, and that judgement rests on understanding what the model was trained on and what it was asked to predict. This course builds that judgement. Delegates work through supervised and unsupervised learning in plain terms, framing a business question as a prediction problem, and the data required to answer it. Training, validation and the specific way models fool their builders are covered. Evaluation metrics follow, including why accuracy is misleading when outcomes are rare. Overfitting, drift and the reasons a model that worked stops working are addressed. Bias and fairness are covered concretely rather than abstractly. Interpreting model output for a decision maker follows. The course closes on working with data scientists and on knowing when the answer is not a model.
Course objectives
- Explain supervised and unsupervised learning in plain terms
- Frame a business question as a prediction problem
- Judge whether the available data can answer it
- Read evaluation metrics and see past accuracy
- Recognise overfitting, drift and model decay
- Examine bias and fairness in a specific model
- Interpret output for decision makers and know when not to model
Who should attend
- Business and financial analysts
- Data and reporting officers
- IT professionals moving into analytics roles
- Product and marketing analysts
- Graduate trainees in data related functions
Course outline
- 01Deciding whether to trust a model
- 02Supervised and unsupervised learning
- 03Framing a prediction problem
- 04The data the question requires
- 05Training, validation and self deception
- 06Metrics and the accuracy trap
- 07Overfitting, drift and decay
- 08Bias, interpretation and when not to model
Scheduled sessions
| Dates | Venue | Format | Price | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 to 11 November 2026 | Lagos, Nigeria | Classroom | USD 995 per delegate | Register Now |
| 7 to 9 December 2026 | Durban, South Africa | Classroom | R14,950 per delegate | Register Now |
| 1 to 3 February 2027 | Harare, Zimbabwe | Classroom | USD 995 per delegate | Register Now |
| 22 to 24 March 2027 | Cape Town, South Africa | Classroom | R14,950 per delegate | Register Now |