The Africa CEO Forum is the largest annual gathering of the African private sector, bringing together more than 2,500 CEOs, investors, heads of state and ministers from over 75 countries for two days of executive dialogue, deal-making and strategic debate on African business and investment, conducted in English and French.
The Africa CEO Forum is the largest annual convening of the African private sector, founded in 2012 by Jeune Afrique Media Group and permanently co-hosted with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group. Held each May over two days, it brings together more than 2,500 CEOs, investors, development finance professionals, heads of state and government ministers from over 75 countries. The forum operates bilingually in English and French, reflecting its pan-African and international audience. It is the single event on the African business circuit where sitting heads of state regularly share the stage with global corporate executives and institutional investors.
The Africa CEO Forum was designed to fill a specific gap: a high-level annual gathering where the African private sector sets its own agenda rather than being a recipient of development-finance narratives. Each edition is anchored by a single strategic theme that frames all plenary and executive-dialogue sessions. Past themes have addressed the state-private sector relationship, scaling African businesses and broadening ownership structures. The 2026 edition, held in Kigali under the theme "The Scale Imperative: Why Africa Must Embrace Shared Ownership," centred on how African companies can grow beyond their home markets by building cross-border ownership and financing structures rather than remaining confined to national champions.
The programme is structured around executive plenary sessions featuring heads of state and global CEOs, sector-focused breakout dialogues, and heavily curated networking and deal-making sessions. The Africa CEO Forum Awards, which recognise outstanding African business leaders and companies, are a fixture of the event. The format is deliberately intimate relative to the participants' seniority: access is controlled and the event is not a large exhibition hall, but a closed executive summit where the density of decision-makers is the core value proposition.
The forum brings together a tightly curated group of senior decision-makers from across the African continent and the international investor and corporate community:
The mix is deliberately weighted toward private-sector principals rather than civil society or academia, signalling that the forum positions itself as a deal-oriented platform rather than a policy discussion club.
The 2026 edition was organised around the theme of shared ownership and scale, probing why African companies struggle to cross borders, what ownership structures unlock continental growth, and how public and private stakeholders can align on regulatory and financial conditions that enable scaling. Sessions addressed cross-border consolidation, pan-African capital markets, sovereign and institutional co-investment, and the role of trade blocs such as the AfCFTA in creating viable larger markets.
Beyond the annual theme, recurring subject areas across editions include energy transition and Africa's resource endowment, digital infrastructure and fintech, agribusiness and food security, private equity dealflow and exits, and the governance of state-owned enterprises in competition with private capital. The Africa CEO Forum Awards ceremony and the dedicated deal-room sessions are perennial fixtures that give the event a commercial rhythm alongside its content programme.
The 2026 edition in Kigali confirmed the participation of Presidents Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Nigeria), as well as Prime Ministers Maria Benvinda Levi (Mozambique), Robert Beugré Mambé (Côte d'Ivoire) and Amadou Oury Bah (Guinea), according to the organiser. On the corporate side, confirmed speakers included Aliko Dangote (Dangote Industries), Patrick Pouyanne (TotalEnergies) and Christel Heydemann (Orange). The full speaker list for 2026 counted 40-plus confirmed participants. The roster for 2027 has not been announced.
The Africa CEO Forum held its inaugural edition in Geneva in November 2012 and ran its early editions in Switzerland before relocating to the African continent, with Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire hosting for the first time in 2016. The event has since rotated between African cities: Abidjan has been a recurring host (2016, 2018, 2025), while Kigali has hosted in 2019, 2024 and 2026. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 edition was held in digital format. The 2026 edition was approximately the fourteenth edition of the forum. No host city or dates for 2027 have been publicly confirmed as of June 2026.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank Group, is a permanent co-organiser of the Africa CEO Forum. The partnership means IFC co-brands, co-programmes and co-funds the event alongside Jeune Afrique Media Group. This gives the forum institutional credibility in development-finance circles and brings IFC's portfolio companies and investees into the participant community.
The Africa CEO Forum is deliberately private-sector in orientation. Heads of state attend as guests and contributors to a business agenda, not as the central focus. It is not a diplomatic or intergovernmental forum. Unlike Davos, it is exclusively focused on Africa and is conducted in both English and French. Its attendance is smaller and more selective, and deal-making is an explicit purpose of the format.
The forum operates bilingually in English and French, with simultaneous interpretation available across sessions. This reflects the linguistic reality of African business across Anglophone and Francophone markets and the dual readership of Jeune Afrique Media Group.
The Africa CEO Forum is not the right platform for:
The Kigali Convention Centre is Rwanda's flagship international conference facility, located in the heart of Kigali at the KG 2 Roundabout. The venue is a purpose-built convention centre capable of hosting large plenary sessions, multiple breakout rooms and networking areas simultaneously. Rwanda has positioned Kigali as a preferred destination for high-level African business events, and the convention centre is well served by Kigali International Airport (a major African hub with direct connections to major African and European cities). The 2026 Africa CEO Forum was the third edition held in Kigali, after 2019 and 2024.
Jeune Afrique Media Group (JAMG) is the largest pan-African media group, best known for publishing Jeune Afrique, the reference weekly news magazine for African politics, economics and business since 1960. Based in Paris, the group operates magazine, digital, data and events divisions focused on the African continent, covering both Francophone and Anglophone markets.
JAMG co-organises the Africa CEO Forum in permanent partnership with the IFC. The group brings to the event its editorial network and relationships with the African business and political community built over six decades of coverage. The IFC partnership provides institutional weight, development-finance credibility and access to the World Bank Group's portfolio of African private-sector investments. Together, the two co-organisers shape a programme that sits at the intersection of African private-sector ambition and international development-finance priorities.
The Africa CEO Forum occupies a structural position no other event replicates: the only annual summit where sitting African heads of state, global multinationals and development-finance principals converge on a private-sector agenda set by Africa's own media-and-institutions establishment.
The Africa CEO Forum operates as a paid, commercially managed event. Registration is handled via the organiser's dedicated event portal (jeuneafrique.mediactive-events.com) and is not an open-access conference: attendance is curated to ensure the seniority and relevance of participants. Pricing is not publicly listed on the main website, and delegates typically register through a direct application and invoicing process.
Sponsorship and partnership packages are available for companies wishing to associate their brand with the forum. Press accreditation is managed separately through the organiser's press team. There is no indication of a complimentary or scholarship track for attendees, and the event is firmly positioned as a senior executive commercial conference.
Registration is managed through the organiser's event portal at jeuneafrique.mediactive-events.com. Given the curated nature of the event, prospective attendees are advised to contact register@theafricaceoforum.com directly to confirm eligibility and obtain pricing. Demand from the African business community is high, and early engagement with the organiser is recommended.
Yes. The forum regularly draws international participants from Europe, the Middle East and beyond, particularly from companies with African investment mandates or operational presence. The bilingual English-French format facilitates participation from both Anglophone and Francophone markets and from international attendees whose primary language is neither.
Sponsorship enquiries should be directed to partners@theafricaceoforum.com. Press and media accreditation requests should be addressed to press@theafricaceoforum.com. Both are listed on the official website.
| Official website | https://www.theafricaceoforum.com/ |
| 2026 edition page | https://www.theafricaceoforum.com/forum-2026/en/ |
| Organiser (Jeune Afrique) | https://www.jeuneafrique.com/ |
| IFC partnership page | https://www.ifc.org/en/where-we-work/africa/the-africa-ceo-forum |
| https://www.linkedin.com/company/africa-ceo-forum | |
| Registration portal | https://jeuneafrique.mediactive-events.com |