Lagos hosts Africa's largest AI summit as Bluechip unveils YarnGPT

More than 5,000 participants - including government officials, business executives, regulators, investors and technology innovators - converged on Lagos for the third edition of the Bluechip Data and AI Summit, hosted by Bluechip Technologies Limited at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island. Themed "The Future, Now: AI-Driven Transformation for Africa," the event attracted over 4,000 physical attendees and more than 1,000 virtual participants, and featured more than 30 speakers from banking, telecommunications, energy, financial services, government and venture capital.

A major highlight was the unveiling of Bluechip Technologies' new AI-Native Enterprise Ecosystem and the launch of YarnGPT, an African-built generative AI platform designed to support local languages and accents. Managing Director and Co-Founder, Kazeem Tewogbade, said the innovations reflect the company's transition from a technology integration firm to a product-driven AI company. The AI-Native Enterprise Ecosystem is built around three integrated layers - a data ecosystem for enterprise-scale intelligence, a business operations ecosystem focused on automation and compliance, and an enterprise intelligence fabric designed to embed predictive intelligence into business decision-making.

Most AI models were built to understand the world. YarnGPT was built to understand our voices, our languages, our accents and our stories.

— Kazeem Tewogbade, MD and Co-Founder, Bluechip Technologies

YarnGPT currently supports English, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa, with plans underway to expand into additional African languages. The platform was described by organisers as a direct response to the gap left by global AI models that were not designed with African linguistic realities in mind.

Policy, investment and the path to scaling AI responsibly

The summit opened with keynote addresses from government and international AI leaders. Representing the NITDA Director General, Dr. Aristotle Onumo outlined Nigeria's emerging AI policy framework, digital transformation agenda and regulatory direction for AI adoption. International AI strategist Rosanne Werner, Founder and CEO of xcelerateiq.com, highlighted strategies for translating AI ambitions into measurable business outcomes while expressing confidence in Nigeria's growing influence within Africa's AI ecosystem.

Six major panel sessions examined AI adoption in banking and fintech, infrastructure requirements for scaling AI, regulatory and governance frameworks, workforce development, women's leadership in innovation and AI applications across energy and industrial sectors. A fireside conversation featuring investor Olumide Soyombo and venture capital leader Kola Aina focused on startup growth, investment opportunities and the future of AI financing across Africa. The summit also featured the live grand finale of the DSN x BCT LLM Agent Challenge - a national AI hackathon with a total prize pool of ₦4 million.

We are no longer debating whether AI matters to Africa. The focus has shifted to how we build, regulate, fund and scale AI responsibly for long-term impact.

— Olumide Soyombo, Co-Founder, Bluechip Technologies

Africa is not participating from the sidelines. We are actively shaping the future of this conversation.

— Kazeem Tewogbade

The summit was supported by global technology partners including Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Dell Technologies, Huawei, Salesforce, WSO2 and Data Science Nigeria. Participating institutions included Access Holdings Plc, First Bank of Nigeria, Fidelity Bank Plc, MTN Nigeria, Nigeria LNG Limited, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. Stakeholders agreed that while AI presents significant opportunities for Africa's economic growth and productivity, collaboration between governments, regulators, investors and the private sector will be critical to ensuring the continent fully harnesses its transformative potential.