CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — Africa’s efforts to deepen regional trade and transform the African Continental Free Trade Area into a more integrated market will take centre stage at a business summit in Cape Town next month, as policymakers and corporate leaders examine the infrastructure and execution needed to connect the continent’s economies .
Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, is scheduled to headline the Project Management Institute’s Global Summit Series in Cape Town on 14 and 15 September, organisers said in an email on Tuesday . The summit, themed ‘Africa Delivers M.O.R.E. Together,’ will bring together officials and executives from government, development finance, technology, energy, and infrastructure to discuss how Africa can translate regional development ambitions into projects and investment .
Mene’s participation comes as African countries seek to use the AfCFTA to reduce barriers to trade and create a more integrated continental market. The agreement, which brings together 55 countries, more than 1.3 billion people, and a combined GDP of approximately $3.4 trillion, is intended to deepen economic links among African economies by expanding trade in goods and services and supporting greater movement of economic activity across borders . Yet, with intra-African trade still accounting for only around 16 to 18 per cent of the continent’s total trade, leaders have stressed that Africa’s greatest opportunity lies not beyond its borders, but within them .
The focus of the summit will extend beyond trade policy to the practical infrastructure required to make greater integration work, including transport, energy, digital connectivity, and financial systems . Africa’s ability to capture the economic benefits of greater integration will depend partly on whether governments and businesses can deliver projects capable of connecting markets, moving goods and people, and reducing the cost of doing business across borders .
Energy and infrastructure will feature prominently at the Cape Town gathering, with the Chair of Eskom, Mteto Nyathi, expected to participate in discussions on energy access. Head of Projects at Zutari, Willem Botha, will join discussions on infrastructure development, while Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola, will contribute to conversations around financial and digital systems that can support greater African trade . The combination of physical infrastructure and digital payments is increasingly important to the development of cross-border commerce, particularly as African businesses seek to reach consumers and suppliers beyond their domestic markets .
The summit will also examine Africa’s ability to develop technology infrastructure as artificial intelligence becomes a larger part of global economic activity. Chief Executive Officer for South Africa and Botswana at Cassava Technologies, Ziaad Suleman, will lead a session on “Building Africa’s Own AI Future,” focusing on the infrastructure, skills, and ecosystems needed for African countries to participate in the development of AI rather than remain primarily consumers of the technology .
A central theme of the summit will be whether governments can improve their capacity to execute large-scale projects. The opening panel, “The African Integration Story: Progress, Partnership, and Possibility,” will bring together officials involved in policy, development, and government delivery . Director of the Peace Fund Secretariat at the African Union Commission, Dagmawit Bekele; Head of the Project Management Office in the Private Office of the President of South Africa, Rudi Dicks; and former Minister for Education and former Minister for Energy in Ghana, Matthew Prempeh, are scheduled to participate. The discussion will be moderated by Director of Development Impact and Results at the African Development Bank, Armand Nzeyimana .
Managing Director of PMI Sub-Saharan Africa, George Asamani, said Africa’s challenge is increasingly one of execution rather than ambition. “Africa is not short of ambition,” Asamani said. He noted that the summit would bring together people with experience delivering complex projects to share practical approaches and lessons with project professionals across the continent . “What matters now is delivery,” Asamani said, adding that participants would examine what works, what does not, and what could be done differently .
For African governments, the issue has become increasingly important as public spending and development plans face pressure to produce measurable improvements in infrastructure and public services. “Project management is ultimately about closing the distance between what we say we want to achieve and what people actually experience,” Asamani said. “Having the right strategy and investment is important, but delivery is what turns those plans into progress” .
The summit comes at a defining moment for the continental economic trajectory, with the AfCFTA’s legal architecture now substantially in place and the emphasis shifting decisively from negotiating rules to making them work . The focus, officials have said, is now on implementation and delivering measurable benefits for African businesses, workers, and citizens through increased intra-African trade, industrialisation, and value addition .
