JOHANNESBURG — Magda Wierzycka, founder and CEO of Sygnia, South Africa’s second-largest asset manager, will reveal a venture capital fund on Tuesday targeting entrepreneurs developing AI-based technologies.

The initiative addresses a critical gap in local funding, according to Wierzycka. South Africa boasts intellectual capital on par with the UK and US, she said, but lacks structured investment to support it. Founders often pitch to offshore funds, which scoop up their companies for minimal stakes like $500,000, she added.

Wierzycka recently returned to South Africa after six years running a UK venture capital firm. Sygnia, known for its tech-savvy approach, will seed the fund with its own capital before opening it to institutional investors. The company plans a national competition under nondisclosure agreements to scout promising teams—three people in a room with strong ideas and technical skills, she described.

Top universities fuel the talent pool: Stellenbosch University, University of Cape Town, Wits University and University of Pretoria. Wierzycka wants the fund operational and seeded within six months. Beyond cash, Sygnia will provide guidance on licensing, marketing and turning concepts into revenue-generating businesses.

Her push comes amid rapid AI advances she calls an ‘agentic economy,’ where AI agents handle human tasks. Wierzycka left the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year wishing for a giant delete button to halt its trajectory. The dangers outweigh benefits for humanity, she said, predicting massive white-collar job losses in fields like law, accounting and finance.

Still, South Africa cannot opt out. Other nations pour money into AI, and locals risk exporting engineers only to import the resulting systems, Wierzycka warned. Without local investment, the country will depend on giants like Meta, Google, OpenAI, Nvidia and Microsoft—eight entities dictating terms for eight billion people.

Government intervention is essential, she argued. Wierzycka called for regulations requiring pension funds to allocate 0.5% of assets to innovation-focused venture funds. That’s ‘Mickey Mouse money’ with huge return potential, she said.

Unemployment looms large in South Africa, yet Wierzycka sees AI investment as vital. Job displacement is inevitable globally; the focus must shift to reskilling. ‘AI is a necessity,’ she said. ‘We must be doing it’ to join the global conversation, attract investment and avoid paying dollars for imported tech.

Sygnia’s move positions South Africa to build its own AI infrastructure. Wierzycka emphasized supporting small teams owning their intellectual property, helping them scale into market-ready companies.