Unisa hosts launch of powerful multisectoral forum at the G20 Africa Investment Summit

On 25 April 2025, Unisa hosted the G20 Africa Investment Summit (AIS), a high-level gathering of  G20 delegates, MECs, businesspeople, academics, royalty, and members of the diplomatic corps, themed The Road to G20 Through Research, Innovation, and Collaboration in the Intelligent Age. The event saw the highly anticipated launch of the first-of-its-kind Academia-Public-Private-Diplomatic Corps Forum.

The forum is an outcome of a high-level panel of the G20 AIS, which was set up to examine the interplay between universities, businesses and governments and how these critical stakeholders can collaborate and leverage each other to accelerate Africa’s economic development.

Attendees bearing witness to the launch of the Academia Public-Private-Diplomatic Corps Forum

The G20 AIS is a transformative platform for sustainable economic growth, regional integration, and innovation across Africa. It aims to unlock Africa’s potential by promoting cross-border investments, creating opportunities for industrialisation, and supporting inclusive development. G20 AIS is a comprehensive vehicle for advancing critical policy frameworks that promote infrastructure development, manufacturing, and industrialisation. Central to its mission is the beneficiation of Africa’s rich mineral resources, ensuring that value is created and retained within the continent.

Africa on the cusp of a new era

Following a rendition of the anthems of South Africa and the African Union by the Unisa Choir, Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor (VC), Professor Puleng LenkaBula, delivered the welcome address in a packed auditorium. She said that Unisa is proud of its global footprint in 130 countries, and therefore, she said, diplomacy at the university is a lived experience in the ideals of ensuring that education is an investment, and that access to such an investment becomes a rallying point for geographical encounters.

The VC said that investing in Africa in the global arena has become an important idea that draws from African philosophies which, she said, “states that as human beings we are inextricably bound to each other even when we reside in different geographic locations, often riddled with multiplicities of divisions that our societies sometimes create”.

Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Puleng LenkaBula

Acknowledging this historic moment for the university, the VC affirmed: “As we mark today as a historic milestone – the launch of the Academia-Public-Private-Diplomatic Corps Forum, we are looking at the possibilities of forging a new pact between intellectuals, diplomats, knowledge capital, and global experiential capital”.

Continuing, the VC argued that Africa stands at a critical juncture: “Although the continent is rich in potential, mineral resources, and youthful dividend, Africa has contradictory systems where the majority still live in poverty, and education and diplomacy are sometimes neglected. However, we appreciate that our government has become the anchor to rally our society, as it does our continent and the global arena, through hosting, for the first time in Africa, the G20 Summit later this year.”

“As universities, think-tanks and science councils,” continued the VC,  “we realise that the voices of the academy must be embodied and embraced, and that they must influence negotiations that will be undertaken when heads of state meet in Johannesburg during November 2025.”

The VC stated that Africa’s time has come to be a partner in shaping the world. “Therefore,” she said, “we need to leverage our intellectual capital to drive innovation and attract investments, and ensure that these are aligned with developmental priorities.”

Concluding, the VC said that for Unisa the summit is important in that it prioritises research, innovation and science diplomacy, and examines how the university can harness assets – whether tangible or intangible – in ensuring that the world lives with peace, prosperity, inclusivity, equality, and sustainability.

Partnerships as the new currency

Setting the context, Professor Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation, said that for Unisa and the higher education sector, this momentous occasion is pivotal in that partnerships are the new currency, and collaborations are the new gold. 

Meyiwa said that the forum is not only about the G20: “It underscores the Africa that we want, and that the higher education sector has entrusted to Unisa the launch of this forum”.

Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation

Continuing, Meyiwa said that the event’s theme speaks to Africa’s bold desire to reimagine its future, and that Unisa continues to chart new courses. She added: “Let us, as the leading African university, be committed toward advancing the inclusive development of our economies. We are aware that we have lately been shaken by geopolitical tensions. We should not allow that to happen. Instead, let us reclaim our being, our identity, and our investments.”

Concluding, Meyiwa urged the audience to rebuild anew the Pan African ecosystem of transformation, self-determination, and self-reliance, adding: “This forum seeks to strengthen and align our African Union agendas; therefore, we should stand firm as we look upon ourselves as Africans for our own sustainability”.

In her message of support, the Honourable Bitsa Lenkopane, MEC: Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism, North West Province,

lauded the forum as a key body that seeks to unite academia and both the private and public sectors in pursuit of practical solutions to socio-economic challenges facing Africa. Lenkopane added that this launch is an important milestone, especially as South Africa prepares to host the historical G20 Summit later this year. “It gives us credence as a potential player among the multilateral institutions and in global diplomacy,” she concluded.

Bitsa Lenkopane, MEC: Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism, North West Province

A panel discussion led by Professor Eunice Seekoe, Acting Vice-Principal: Teaching, Learning, Community Engagement and Student Support, saw participation by the VC, Lenkopane, and Sello Mphaga, Divisional Head, International Relations and Urban 20 Liaison, City of Tshwane, among others.

Discussions focused on challenges hindering Africa’s growth, investment in artificial intelligence, collaboration efforts between academia, government, business and international partners, governance, economic development and growth, social development, climate change and environmental sustainability, and innovations and partnerships aligning with the need to create sustainable solutions in the intelligent age.

Further messages of support and responses were delivered by His Majesty, King Sibusiso Matyeke, Prime Minister of the Khoisan Kingdom, George Sebulela, President of the African United Business Confederation,  Lerato Okeyo, Chairperson of the Thuto Trust, Advocate Thembelihle Mapitsa, Executive Manager of Corporate Services, Moses Kotane Research Institute, Moleboheng Mokobocho from the Office of the Prime Minister of Lesotho, Sindi Zilwa, pioneering chartered accountant, entrepreneur and author, and Professor Kerstin Jordaan, Unisa College of Economic and Management Sciences.  

In his vote of thanks, Professor Les Labuschagne, Executive Director: Research, Innovation and Commercialisation at Unisa, said that the launch is an exciting venture that will bring about the change that is wanted. Continuing, he said that these partnerships mark a key milestone between Unisa partnering with public, private and diplomatic institutions in order to realise Africa’s rightful place in the global space. He added: “All sectors of the university have to work together in order to make this forum go forward in fulfilling its mandate, and produce tangible progress in areas of mutual interest and strategic importance.”

The highly successful G20 Africa Investment Summit was facilitated with infectious energy and enthusiasm by programme director Dr Sindiswa Mzamo, President of the Circle of Global Business Women.

Unisa’s launch of this initiative, the first of its kind among higher education institutions in South Africa and supported by the Department of Higher Education and Training, will undoubtedly further strengthen ties with public and private institutions to pivot job creation, advance transformation, support entrepreneurship, and unlock vast career opportunities for students. In addition, this collaboration seeks to strengthen intercontinental trade and scholarship, also within the African Continental Free Trade Area and Unisa’s globally established networks.

* By Godfrey Madibane, Acting Journalist, Department of Institutional Advancement

** Photography by Shooheima Champion, Multimedia Centre