Collaboration dominant theme as Africa Soft Power Summit gears up for Kigali

Kigali, Rwanda is set to host the Africa Soft Power Summit, a fresh take on showcasing the continent’s growing influence on the world stage.

The summit, which will be held from May 23 to 27 this year, will attract speakers and delegates from across the continent and around the world.

It will celebrate Africa’s creative, knowledge and digital industries, combining sessions, networking activities and local events.

The announcement was made at the ‘Live in Lagos’ partners mixer to introduce this year’s edition of the summit.

Speaking at the event, Nkiru Balonwu, Founder, Africa Soft Power Group, noted that the summit is in line with the group’s goal: ensuring that the continent is part of the wider global conversation around key intersectional issues, such as business, economics, gender, security and more.

She said: “In addition to leveraging the power of the African creative and cultural industries to deliver tangible opportunities for our young people domestically, we know that these sectors can help retell the narrative about modern Africa on the world stage, and allow it to contribute a unique and insightful voice across both the public and private sectors globally.”

Collaboration was a reoccurring theme at the event, which saw the likes of BellaNaija, Business of Photography, African Women on Board, ASP Global, TechCabal and EXP Agency spotlighted as partners.

“It’s important to tell these stories about who we are and who our partners are. We can’t win if we are small-minded. We have to unite to propel Africa forward,” said Nkiru, as she informed guests that more partner activations would be held in cities, including Dakar, Nairobi and Los Angeles.

Her position was shared by Uche Pedro, Founder, BellaNaija, who also acknowledged how Africa’s creative industries have broken boundaries post-COVID. “We have to own our space. It has to be led by us (Africans), and Africa Soft Power and the summit is such a big part of leading from within the continent.”

“Ego has always been the biggest challenge. If you lock ego out of the room in Africa, we will move a lot forward and the fact that this is called ‘Africa Soft Power’ is in itself a realisation that we have to work together,” said Obi Asika, Founder, Iba Ajie, Co-founder, Social Media Week and a founding member, ASP Advisory Council.