Antony Mlelwa is building a case for blockchain adoption in Africa that starts with understanding, not promotion. Based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Mlelwa is rolling out a series of community workshops across East Africa and will appear at Crypto Expo Dubai this year. His message: explain the financial risks before celebrating the opportunities, and prioritize education over market hype.
Workshops in East Africa
The initiative includes hands-on sessions in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. Mlelwa's team is working with local community centers and tech hubs to reach people who've heard about crypto but don't yet grasp the basics — or the dangers. The workshops cover wallet security, scam recognition, and how to evaluate a project's fundamentals. No get-rich-quick pitches. Just the mechanics and the warnings.
Crypto Expo Dubai appearance
Mlelwa is also scheduled to speak at Crypto Expo Dubai, one of the region's larger industry gatherings. His talk will focus on what he calls 'responsible adoption' — the idea that blockchain's potential in Africa depends on users who know what they're getting into. The Expo gives him a platform to push that message to a global audience of investors, developers, and regulators.
Why education-first matters now
The timing isn't accidental. Crypto adoption in Africa has grown fast, but so have scams and losses. Mlelwa argues that skipping the education step leads to burned users and a tarnished reputation for the technology. By teaching risk first, he hopes to build a base of informed users who can actually benefit from blockchain — not just chase the next token.
Next up: a workshop series in Mwanza, Tanzania, scheduled for late August. Mlelwa's team is also developing a Swahili-language guide to blockchain basics, aimed at reaching communities where English isn't the first language.
