Afrik Foundation has launched a blockchain-based platform on Africa Day 2025, enabling community-driven financing for renewable energy and AI projects across the continent to bridge Africa’s vast infrastructure gap

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n a significant stride towards decentralized development, the Afrik Foundation has launched a blockchain-based platform coinciding with Africa Day 2025 celebrations.

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The initiative aims to fundamentally transform infrastructure financing across the continent by empowering communities to directly influence project funding.

The new platform is currently in a public test phase, running through June 25. Africans and global users are invited to participate by voting on proposed renewable energy and artificial intelligence projects via vote.afrik.info, marking a bold step towards community-driven development.

Africa faces an enormous infrastructure gap, with the African Development Bank estimating an annual need of $130 billion to $170 billion through 2025.

Traditional financing models, often reliant on foreign aid or centralized institutions, have proven insufficient to meet this demand, leaving many communities underserved.

Developed by a consortium of African economists, technologists, and creatives, Afrik positions itself as the world’s first blockchain-powered platform that enables everyday people to influence infrastructure funding through a transparent, decentralized system.

“The next wave of African infrastructure should be designed and decided by African communities,” stated Jean-Marc Bourreau, co-founder of Afrik.

“Africa needs alternative financial models that complement traditional institutions to accelerate AI and green energy investment.”

The next wave of African infrastructure should be designed and decided by African communities. Africa needs alternative financial models that complement traditional institutions to accelerate AI and green energy investment.

Bourreau explained that the test phase is designed to actively engage communities, gather feedback, and build the platform in collaborative partnership with its intended users.

Participants in this pilot phase receive free test tokens, each allowing them to vote on a range of projects including solar energy hubs, agri-tech pilots, and AI data centres.

The platform incorporates a proximity-based weighting algorithm, granting greater influence to users located closer to proposed project sites: users within a 10-kilometre radius receive three votes per token, while those within 10 to 50 kilometres get two votes. Live voting data and other functionalities are also available for testing.

The Afrik Foundation plans a full global launch of the platform later this year. Once fully operational, the platform is envisioned as a digital asset ecosystem designed to accelerate Africa’s transition to green energy and digital self-sufficiency.

The initiative also seeks to engage the African diaspora, offering them a participatory finance tool to support infrastructure development in their countries of origin.

“Afrik reimagines how capital flows into Africa by putting decision-making power in the hands of communities, not just governments or institutions,” a statement from the foundation read.

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By combining decentralized finance, AI, and sustainable development, the Afrik Foundation aims to offer a new model for African growth that is transparent, inclusive, and community-driven.