How finance, policy, technology, creativity, market access and enterprise intersect, and how these intersections shape investment, scale, ownership and long-term value.
With investors, policymakers, operators, founders, creatives and diaspora leaders shaping how capital, ideas, culture and markets move across Africa and the world.
Africa-led approaches to the questions that matter now: who owns creative value, how businesses scale, how capital is allocated, how innovation becomes infrastructure, and how inclusion becomes market power.
The people, industries and cultural assets driving Africa’s global influence, and their growing role as engines of economic growth, narrative power and value creation.
#MagicalKenya: Explore Nairobi & Beyond
Over seven years and across multiple convenings, Africa Soft Power has brought together heads of state, institutional leaders, global creatives, and sector pioneers.
VP of Marketing Technology & Consumer Products, NFL
Fmr. President of Ghana
CEO, NBA Africa
VP, Public Policy for Africa, Middle East and Türkiye, Meta
The Africa Soft Power Summit brings together a distinguished, cross-sector speaker faculty spanning government, finance, technology, the creative industry, media, culture, and civil society.
For attendance enquiries and information on delegate passes:
asp@theafricasoftpowerproject.com
For partnership and sponsorship discussions, email: michael@africaasoftpower.com,
cynthia@africasoftpower.com
Access to summit sessions across the Remarkable African Women’s Leadership Conference and the Creative & Innovative Industries Conference, the ASP Gala & Awards, official excursions and entry to associated programme elements. Ticket types and levels of participation vary vary; full details are outlined at the point of purchase.
Registration is completed online via the official ticketing link on the summit website. Early- bird and delegate options are available for a limited period.
Yes. Organisations purchasing multiple passes can access delegate packages, with added recognition as Participating Organisations. Bespoke options are available on request.
Speaker participation is primarily by invitation. However, expressions of interest are welcomed and reviewed by the programme team as the agenda is developed.
The summit sits at the intersection of finance, technology, creative industries, policy, and women’s leadership, with a strong emphasis on how these sectors shape Africa’s global influence.
Yes. The programme is designed to facilitate meaningful connection through curated networking moments, receptions, side events, and social programming across the summit days.
Sponsorship and partnership opportunities are available at multiple levels, including bespoke packages. Interested organisations can contact the team directly for a partnership discussion.
Sign up to the mailing list, follow Africa Soft Power channels on social media, and check the website regularly for programme announcements, speaker updates, and ticket releases.
How finance, policy, technology, and the creative industries intersect — and how these intersections shape investment, scale, and long-term value.
With the investors, policymakers, operators, and creatives shaping how capital, ideas, and markets move across the continent and the diaspora.
Innovative, Africa-led approaches to the questions that matter most — from how talent scales to how cultural value converts into economic growth.
Celebrate the industries and cultural assets driving Africa’s global influence – and their growing role as engines of economic growth and value creation.
As global economic systems recalibrate, shaped by shifting capital flows, rapid technological change, political change, and new forms of cultural and digital value, Africa’s opportunity lies not in any single sector, but in how its systems work together. Finance, creativity, and human capital are often treated as separate domains; yet it is their alignment that determines whether value is created and sustained.
This year’s theme positions Africa’s growth as a compounding process — where capital, ideas, talent, and markets reinforce one another over time. It asks how financial systems can better support innovation and creative industries; how cultural and digital economies translate into scalable businesses and meaningful jobs; and how human capital, particularly women and youth, is integrated not just as participants, but as drivers of value.
The Africa Soft Power Summit 2026 unfolds across a connected programme of conferences, cultural moments, and city-based experiences:
Welcome to the Africa Soft Power’s 2026 Summit. The Summit begins with an evening gathering that sets the tone for the days ahead. Meet your fellow speakers, participants, and partners for an evening of casual conversation and introductions at one of Nairobi’s most talked about restaurants.
The first full day of the Summit examines power: who holds it, who accesses it, who builds with it, and how it shapes Africa’s economic future.
Powered by African Women on Board, the day explores how capital is allocated, how markets function, how creative and digital sectors grow, and how demand and purchasing power reshape industries. Conversations center inclusion through SMEs, women’s leadership, creative and innovation ecosystems, and financial access within the wider architecture of finance, enterprise and market participation.
The second full day of the Summit examines how Africa’s creative, technological and cultural influence becomes investable value.
From AI and data ownership to diaspora capital, creator economics, and investment agendas, the programme asks what it takes to move from visibility to ownership, from cultural influence to market power, from global attention to durable economic value. Leaders from technology, finance, media, sports, art, entertainment and policy will join the conversations to discuss necessary topics such as AI and data sovereignty, diaspora capital and its untapped compounding potential, the value of the creator economy, institutional support for creative and innovative industries, and what the investment agenda is.
The Summit’s red-carpet finale celebrates the talent, enterprise, leadership and vision shaping Africa’s creative economy and global influence.
Everything about the evening is a celebration of African culture and achievements. The fashion-forward event features award presentations, a live fashion exhibition, and live performances. It is where the Summit ideas are brought to life through recognition, entertainment, style and cultural presence.
A celebration of Remarkable African Women who are redefining their industries and shaping culture across film, literature, beauty, business and beyond. The evening spotlights trailblazers, pairing each woman’s story and work with wines chosen by a sommelier to reflect her journey, impact and vision. It is an intimate gathering for recognition, conversation and connection away from the formal summit setting.
An intimate gathering in celebration of remarkable women shaping culture, business, creativity and leadership across the continent and beyond.
Away from the formal summit setting, this is an elegant evening bringing together guests across industries for honest conversation and meaningful connection.
An intimate, high-level evening with Dye Lab, one of Africa’s most compelling fashion brands, exploring how locally rooted design excellence can power global scale. The evening opens with a fireside conversation with the founder, unpacking the journey of building a brand that balances creative identity with commercial growth.
Guests will then step into the latest collection – an immersive encounter with the craftsmanship, design, and storytelling behind the brand, with opportunities to acquire pieces.
This is a rare look at how culture becomes a competitive advantage and a scalable investment opportunity. How a locally rooted African brand builds toward long-term scale, institutional relevance, and global reach. More than a showcase, this is an example of ASP’s wider proposition: creating the conditions for strategic access, sharper visibility, and new pathways into capital, partnership, and market expansion
Come for the insight, connections, and future-facing conversations. Stay for a curated journey into Nairobi and beyond. From private safaris and close encounters with wildlife to cultural immersions and bespoke city experiences, delegates are invited into a deeper, more exclusive perspective of one of Africa’s most rewarding capitals.
Nairobi becomes more than the host city. It becomes part of the Summit experience: a living expression of African innovation, creativity, enterprise, conservation and cultural energy.
Step into the Dye Lab pop-up and shop a collection where heritage dyeing and printing techniques meet modern silhouettes made for real life. Culture you can carry home.
Welcome
CEO, Khama Digital Content Hub
Designing Power: Women’s Leadership as Economic Infrastructure
From hair and skincare to aesthetic procedures, African women are driving one of the fastest-growing consumer markets on the continent. Yet much of the value, from brands to manufacturing to standards, is captured elsewhere, while regulation struggles to keep pace with a rapidly expanding industry. This session examines who owns and profits from Africa’s beauty economy, how global standards shape local consumption and identity, the rise of aesthetics clinics, the policy gaps, and what it will take to build African-owned brands and infrastructure.
CEO, MTN Benin
Managing Partner, Chui Ventures
GMD & CEO, Nation Media Group
Founder, NDG Agency; Biden-Harris Administration Appointee & Fmr. Chief Diversity Officer, USAID
Beauty and Power: Who Profits from African Women’s Bodies?
From hair and skincare to aesthetic procedures, African women are driving one of the fastest-growing consumer markets on the continent. Yet much of the value, from brands to manufacturing to standards, is captured elsewhere, while regulation struggles to keep pace with a rapidly expanding industry. This session examines who owns and profits from Africa’s beauty economy, how global standards shape local consumption and identity, the rise of aesthetics clinics, the policy gaps, and what it will take to build African-owned brands and infrastructure.
Chairperson, Bidco Africa
Head of Entrepreneur Experience, Endeavor Kenya
CEO, Uncover
Technical Adviser to Nigeria’s Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain
From Presence to Participation: African Women and the Economics of Access
Across sectors, visibility does not always translate into economic power. Participation remains uneven, with gaps in access to capital, markets, and decision-making. This session examines what meaningful participation looks like. This session examines what meaningful participation looks like. Who is building, who is earning, and how does access translate into ownership and influence within Africa’s economic systems?
Managing Director, CcHUB
MD, Microsoft Africa Development Center & Engineering Director, Microsoft
MD /CEO Access Bank Kenya PLC
Director/Chief-of-Staff, United Nations Office at Nairobi
The Female Economy: Africa’s Most Undervalued Growth Engine
Women drive consumption, production and enterprise across Africa’s largest markets, yet the capital, infrastructure and data systems built around them consistently underprice the opportunity. From beauty and retail to agri-processing and digital commerce, female-led demand and supply chains are generating returns that rarely register at the scale they deserve. This session examines where value is being created, why it remains undercapitalised, and what it would take for investors, corporates and policymakers to treat the female economy as core growth infrastructure rather than a niche segment.
Co-Founder, The Audrey Silva Company; Actor & Filmmaker
Founder, Creative Strategist, Dye Lab
CEO, MTN South Sudan
CEO, Khama Digital Content Hub
Opening
Chairman, NGX Group
The AI Scramble: Who Owns Africa’s Data, Talent and Digital Future?
The global AI economy is being built on somebody’s infrastructure, trained on somebody’s data and governed by somebody’s rules. Those who control these layers capture most of the value. This session examines Africa’s position in that economy over the next decade: where the continent buys, where it builds and where it partners. It also examines how public and private capital can be aligned behind those choices to ensure ownership, competitiveness and value remain on the continent.
Managing Director, Google Africa
CEO, iXAfrica Data Centres
Founder & CEO, Amini
MD, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya
Group CEO, EXP
From Remittances to Power: How the African Diaspora is Rewiring Global Influence
Remittances to Africa exceed billions annually, often outpacing foreign direct investment and shaping the economic lifeblood of key markets like Kenya. But while these flows are significant, most are still consumed rather than invested, and much of their long-term value leaks out of the continent.
At the same time, the African diaspora is not only sending money – it is driving global demand for African culture, funding creative industries, and shaping how Africa is perceived and valued worldwide. This session explores how remittances can evolve from simple transfers into a broader system of diaspora capital – connecting payments, identity, platforms, and cultural production. Bringing together leaders across fintech, telecoms, banking, and regulation, the conversation will examine what it takes to convert financial flows into ownership, investment, and sustained influence, and how Africa can ensure that the value generated by its global diaspora compounds back into the continent.
Chief Financial Services Officer, Safaricom
VP, Remittances, LemFi
CEO, Sparkle MFB
Director, Banking and Payment Services, Central Bank of Kenya
Change Agent, Leadership Coach, Author
Creators as Economic Power: How Influencers, Artists and Storytellers Are Shaping Africa’s Global Position
African creators are no longer only cultural exporters. They are shaping how the continent is perceived, valued and engaged with by markets, audiences and institutions worldwide. Influencers move consumer behaviour, artists set the terms of cultural exchange, and storytellers define the narratives that brands, investors and governments build on. But influence only becomes power when it is owned. Licensing structures, IP rights, catalogue valuation and platform economics determine whether creators capture the value they generate or watch it accrue to others. This session examines how creative influence translates into economic and geopolitical leverage, what commercial architecture is needed to convert it into durable ownership, and how African creators, platforms and institutions can hold the position the world is increasingly conceding to them.
Founder & Artistic Director, BAP Productions
Co-Founder & CEO, Wowzi
Founder/Executive Producer, Zebra Productions Kenya Ltd
Soft Power & Capital: Who Shapes Africa’s Investment Agenda?
As traditional official development assistance shrinks and DFIs re-scope, the question is no longer only where capital comes from, but who sets the terms on which it lands. African DFIs, sovereign wealth, pan-African banks, VCs, family offices and new digital rails are taking on more of the risk. With that comes more of the power to define what counts as a bankable opportunity, a credible founder or a strategic sector. This session examines how investment agendas are actually being set, whose narratives and relationships shape allocation, and what it takes for African institutions, founders and governments to move from receiving capital to directing it.
Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
CEO, Nairobi Securities Exchange Plc
CEO, ACOIE Associates
Partners are embedded within senior conversations on finance, technology, creative industries, and leadership, where ideas, policy, and capital intersect.
Engage a cross-sector audience spanning public and private institutions, including policymakers, investors, founders, and industry leaders.
Participation is designed for insight, access, and influence as well as passive visibility. Engagement is substantive, intentional, and results-oriented.
Partnerships for the Summit are designed to be flexible and collaborative, reflecting the varied strategic priorities organisations bring, from brand leadership and market insight to policy engagement and ecosystem building. Partnerships may be aligned with the core conference days,including the Remarkable African Women’s Leadership Conference and the Creative & Innovative Industries Conference, the Africa Soft Power Gala & Awards, or the wider programme of cultural and city-based experiences.
Options range from headline partnerships to strategic affiliation, with scope for bespoke packages tailored to specific objectives, audiences, and levels of engagement.
Detailed partnership tiers, benefits, and delegate options are outlined in the Partnership Deck.
For partnership and sponsorship discussions, email: michael@africaasoftpower.com, cynthia@africasoftpower.com
The Africa Soft Power Summit is designed as a live editorial environment, where policy, capital, culture, and innovation intersect in real time.
Each edition generates:
- Newsworthy insights across finance, technology, culture, climate, and geopolitics
- Africa-led framing of global issues
- Original, quotable thought leadership
- Interview-driven and analysis-ready content
Media partners and attending journalists may access:
- Curated interview opportunities with speakers and honourees
- On-site coverage of keynote sessions and cultural moments
- Closed-door briefings and background sessions (select partners)
- Post-Summit insights and reports
Media partnerships are collaborative and editorially focused, designed to support original coverage rather than surface-level access.