Vukosi Marivate

Vukosi Marivate
Born
Ga-Rankuwa, South Africa
NationalitySouth African
Known forDeep Learning Indaba; Masakhane Research Foundation; Data Science for Social Impact
AwardsUP EBIT Exceptional Young Researcher Award
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of the Witwatersrand (BEng); Rutgers University (PhD)
Doctoral advisorMichael Littman
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Pretoria

Vukosi Marivate (born in Ga-Rankuwa, South Africa) is a South African computer scientist who holds the ABSA-UP Chair of Data Science and serves as Professor of Computer Science at the University of Pretoria (UP).[1] He is known for his pioneering work in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), especially in natural language processing (NLP) for African and other low-resource languages. He is a co-founder of the Deep Learning Indaba, Lelapa AI, the Masakhane Research Foundation, and leads the Data Science for Social Impact research group at UP.[2]

Early life and education

Vukosi Marivate was born in Ga-Rankuwa, a township north of Pretoria, South Africa. He completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering (Information Option) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where he undertook his Master’s under the supervision of Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala.[3] In 2009, he began doctoral studies (PhD) at Rutgers University in New Jersey as a Fulbright Science and Technology Scholar, supervised by Prof. Michael Littman, earning his PhD in Computer Science.[3]

Academic career

Marivate joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pretoria, where he rose to the rank of Professor and holds the ABSA-UP Chair of Data Science.[4][5] He leads the Data Science for Social Impact research group, applying ML and AI techniques to societal challenges such as public safety, energy, and utilities, with a special focus on enhancing methods, tools, and datasets for low-resource and local African languages.[4][5]

He has served as a participant and speaker at national and international consortia, including the DS-I Africa Consortium’s Second Meeting in 2022[6], and has been profiled by the World Economic Forum and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.[7]

Research and initiatives

Marivate’s research centres on the intersection of ML/AI and NLP, striving to make AI technologies inclusive of African languages such as isiZulu, Sepedi, and Setswana. He is:

  • Co-founder and CTO of Lelapa AI, an African startup developing AI solutions by Africans for Africans.[5]
  • Co-founder and chief investigator of the Masakhane Research Foundation, which builds NLP technologies for African languages.[6]
  • Co-founder of the Deep Learning Indaba, a premier grassroots ML/AI conference empowering African researchers.[4]
  • Principal Investigator of the Data Science for Social Impact research group at UP.[5]

Through these roles, he has contributed to open-science datasets, models, and tools, and he actively collaborates with industry and government to translate research into real-world impact.

AI research

His research focuses on ML and AI methods that address societal challenges, with a special emphasis on NLP for African languages.[8] In particular, he works to improve models and data availability for low-resource African languages. For example, he co-founded the Masakhane research community to build NLP tools and datasets for languages such as isiZulu, Sepedi and Setswana[2], and the Deep Learning Indaba conference to strengthen the African AI research community.[8] His approach consistently highlights inclusion and ethics: in a 2025 panel he discussed how licensing and data access should balance innovation with protecting community interests in African language datasets.[6] Overall, Marivate’s work is characterised by bridging cutting-edge AI research with local African contexts, ensuring that AI systems are inclusive of Africa’s languages and needs.[2][8]

Lelapa AI

Marivate is a co‑founder of Lelapa AI, an African AI startup. Lelapa’s mission is “to use African talent and perspectives to build distinctly African solutions for African problems.”[9] In practice, Lelapa describes itself as a “socially grounded Africa‑centric AI research & product lab” that develops technology for African businesses, governments and non‑profits.[10] The company explicitly aims to attract top African AI talent back to the continent by working on problems local researchers care about.[10]

Early Lelapa projects have included an AI chatbot for financial services and literacy, and a translation tool to connect mothers with healthcare professionals. The startup is also building NLP models for under-resourced southern African languages, supporting communication and education in local language. Marivate serves as one of Lelapa’s co-founders (alongside several other AI leaders), and he has said the company’s goal is to ensure “African needs and values [are] at the forefront of AI advancements.”[2][10]

Awards and recognition

  • UP EBIT Exceptional Young Researcher Award for outstanding contributions to data science and AI research.[11]
  • Fulbright Science and Technology Scholarship recipient during his PhD studies at Rutgers University.[3]
  • Named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum for his work in AI and NLP (implied by his WEF profile listing).[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Vukosi Marivate, 34 | Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans". Retrieved 8 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "UP's Prof Vukosi Marivate marks six years as ABSA Chair of Data Science | University of Pretoria". www.up.ac.za. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  3. ^ a b c "About Me – Vukosi Marivate's Website". Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d "Vukosi Marivate". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 10 July 2025. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d "Prof Vukosi Marivate – MACE". Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "Prof Vukosi Marivate Biography | DS-I Africa". dsi-africa.org. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  7. ^ "Vukosi Marivate". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  8. ^ a b c "How African NLP Experts Are Navigating the Challenges of Copyright, Innovation, and Access". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  9. ^ "Lelapa | About Us". Lelapa. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  10. ^ a b c Johnson, Khari. "One Startup's Plan to Help Africa Lure Back Its AI Talent". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  11. ^ Venter, Zelda (1 January 2025). "Celebrating Professor Vukosi Marivate's impact on data science at UP". IOL. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
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