The University of Johannesburg (UJ)’s South Africa-Swiss Bilateral Research Chair in Blockchain Technology, hosted the 2025 edition of the AI Blockchain, and Economic Justice in Africa summit.
The summit hosted at the Johannesburg Business School (JBS) was a call to action for academia, society, and industry to leverage the technologies provided by AI and Blockchain to empower the continent.
Organised under the theme ‘Designing Dignified Futures’, the conversations in the room were rooted in the realities of the African continent’s economic and technological crossroads.
Professor Nnamdi Nwulu, the incumbent SARChI, opened the summit by framing the discussion around three interconnected issues; AI disruption, block chain tokenisation, and South Africa’s dual economy being the coexistence of formal and informal sectors.
He warned that universities have just five years to get this right: “If we fail, we risk locking out an entire generation from meaningful participation in the economy”.
Professor Nwulu drew the connection between high rates of youth unemployment while employers lament the lack of qualified candidates. This disconnect, he explained, isn’t accidental. He added; “Universities are teaching fast-paced technological skills that don’t align with real-world demands.” He added; “We must restrategise the curriculum, the context, and even our concept of work itself needs rethinking.”
He laid out three overlapping imperatives that universities must address, local structural realities, global tech trajectories, and epistemic justice. “When AI systems are trained on data that excludes African languages, contexts and ways of knowing, we’re not just missing out on economic opportunities, but we are participating in our own economic colonization,” he said.
Prof. Nwulu further said that universities have a unique role to play in bridging the divide between formal and informal economies. One local case study that he used was the Port of Cape Town’s digital transformation. This, he said, offered a practical example of how technological transitions in key infrastructure can deliver efficiency gains while also surfacing social challenges.
AI is now reshaping entry-level employment opportunities in the technology sector. This has serious implications for graduates and early-career professionals. As Prof. Nwulu asked, “How can we better prepare our students to navigate this challenge and not prepare them for jobs that won’t exist when they graduate?” His call to action was, we must rethink context of youth unemployment and informal sector realities, curriculum that is adaptive, tokenised, and AI-integrated, and work which focuses on livelihood systems and not just job titles.
Professor Steven Sidley, Head of Blockchain and the Crypto Verse at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for the Future of Knowledge, delivered a keynote that traced the historical and technological roots of tokenisation. He asked a provocative question, “Who gets included and who gets excluded?”
Further in his presentation Prof Sidley included examples that resonated deeply with the audience. “Everyone in this room has a bank account,” he said, “But, we are not all treated the same.” He argued that the banking system is fundamentally discriminatory and that tokenisation offers a way to flatten that discrimination. “You are treated as well by the mathematics of tokenisation as you are by the human beings in banks who treat you according to how profitable you are to them.”
James Caw, founder of Simple Bitcoin Services and Solutions, gave a keynote on strategic bitcoin reserves and their role in media transition. Caw reframed bitcoin not just as digital currency, but as an asset that represents multiple truths.
“Bitcoin is the first money of truth,” he said. “It cannot be forged, edited, or erased. For the AI movement, this is critical because it doesn’t rely on political promises, central bank credibility, or commercial bank solvency. Every rule is enforced by code, mathematics, and energy,” Caw added.
He referenced innovator, Henry Ford’s, vision- “If we create money powered by energy instead of trust, we can change the world”. He concluded by calling bitcoin ‘moral money’ which is a signal to citizens and a tool to preserve wealth for the next generation, and he said that is what Africa needs.
The second part of the summit featured an engaging audience-led segment, divided into three dynamic breakaway sessions. These sessions provided a platform for both attendees and panel speakers to collaboratively explore strategies aimed at preparing the next generation of students for the rapidly evolving world of work. Contributions came from students who offered unique perspectives and actionable ideas.
Following the discussions, each group presented their recommendations to the audience. The feedback from the student’s stood out for its bold and forward-thinking proposals. They each introduced projects to tackle pressing issues such as data colonisation in marginalised communities. Students emphasised the importance of using artificial intelligence as a tool for empowerment and proposing initiatives to educate these communities about AI, its applications, and potential risks. Another key focus was on Bitcoin and blockchain technologies, highlighting how individuals in marginalised communities could benefit from decentralised financial systems.
Pretty Kubyane, founder and developer of the eFama app, captured the spirit of innovation and inclusivity with her powerful statement, “What will make blockchain work in Africa is not that it is new, but that we have seen this before in systems that were inclusive, decentralised, trusted, and kept value within the community. Today, a new Africa calls us to build on that legacy and create the Africa we want.”
Watch the full event below:
