Africa Soft Power Summit Returns to Real-world Setting in Rwanda this May

The 2022 Africa Soft Power Summit will take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 26th – 27th.

Celebrating Africa’s unique creative, knowledge and digital industries, the summit will combine sessions, networking activities, and local events, as the summit celebrates its return to a real-world setting following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originally founded as a virtual event during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Africa Soft Power Summit continues its theme of promoting May as ‘Africa month’, as the Africa Soft Power Project (ASP) at large seeks to establish the continent’s creative and knowledge industries on the world stage.

Specifically, the 2022 programme will focus on ‘Africa & the Global Community: The New Face of Collaboration’, examining how Africa’s digital, creative and knowledge economies can be leveraged to benefit the continent, the global diaspora community, and beyond. Sessions will include sports, film, music, fashion, financing/ digital infrastructure, tourism/ trade and payments.

The event aligns with the playoffs and finals of the Basketball

Africa League – a sports event highlighting Africa’s expanding sports economy. Speaking on the collaboration with ASP, John Manyo-Plange, Associate Vice President, NBA Africa, and Head of Strategy & Operations, Basketball Africa League said. “Africa’s real power is in its people. Sports has a pivotal role to play in projecting that power on the continent. The excellence of our sportsmen and women is on display every day, on every pitch, field and court.

“We need to do more at home to create a robust industry, infrastructure and ultimately tap into the skills and talents of our sports stars to grow our economies. Our goal is to project that soft power globally and give meaning to the label, Made in Africa.” In addition to showcasing African talent, creativity and sports, payment is also a key focus area in this year ’s programme: “Creative talent and innovation thrive on monetisation, and monetization is unquestionably linked to payment. Payment is the trigger for trade and as such an efficient payments system will have an accelerating effect on trade.