The growth in population and urbanization in the African region has led to an increase in energy consumption due to the need of housing and buildings for commercial activities. As a result, it has become important that buildings are designed to be energy-efficient and sustainable. One major way to analyse and determine the efficiency of buildings is to use building energy simulation (BES) tools. These tools can provide baseline performance of buildings and offer the opportunity to test various scenarios and configurations for optimum performance towards decarbonization. However, the uptake of these tools in the African region has been slow and hindered due to factors such as lack of policy and regulations, high cost and difficulty of access, data acquisition difficulty for validations, and other hindrances. This chapter delves into the general concept of BES tools and their importance as well as the challenging factors situated within the African context. The chapter also draws from literature to discuss pathways such as establishment of policies, need for data, and context-specific software development and collaborations towards the uptake of these simulation tools in the African built environment.