AfCFTA’s Wamkele Mene to Headline PMI Global Summit in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN — The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, will headline the PMI Global Summit Series taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 14–15 September 2026, according to organiser Project Management Institute (PMI) Sub-Saharan Africa.
The event will convene leaders from government, development banks, technology, energy, and infrastructure under the theme “Africa Delivers M.O.R.E. Together,” as reported by GBC Ghana Online.
Mene’s participation is expected to give “particular resonance” to the theme, according to the report, which noted that AfCFTA’s ambition to create a more integrated continental market could “fundamentally reshape how African economies trade with one another.”
The summit will feature a mix of opening panels, case-study conversations, and focused sessions on sectors from energy and finance to infrastructure and artificial intelligence.
Key sessions and speakers
Mteto Nyathi, chair of South African state utility Eskom, will bring his leadership experience to a conversation on delivering energy access. Olugbenga Agboola, founder and CEO of payments company Flutterwave, will discuss the financial and digital systems required to unlock African trade.
Infrastructure will be examined with Willem Botha, head of projects at engineering consultancy Zutari, among the leaders scrutinising projects for a more connected continent.
The summit’s AI focus will feature a case-study conversation led by Ziaad Suleman, CEO for South Africa and Botswana at Cassava Technologies, titled “Building Africa’s Own AI Future.” Other speakers on the topic include Karin van Rooyen of PM.Ideas and Sabrina Walter, founder of Women For Change.
The opening panel, “The African Integration Story: Progress, Partnership, and Possibility,” will bring together Dagmawit Moges Bekele, director of the Peace Fund Secretariat at the African Union Commission; Rudi Dicks, head of the project management office in the private office of South Africa’s president; and Dr Matthew Prempeh, a former energy and education minister in Ghana. Armand Nzeyimana, director for development impact and results at the African Development Bank, will moderate.
A dedicated session on establishing and strengthening project management offices (PMOs) in the public sector will feature Sitati Olando, acting head of Kenya’s Government Delivery Unit; Stella Maris Nambaziira, head of PMO at the Uganda Revenue Authority; Ben Peters of the City of Cape Town; and William Mpye of the South African Revenue Service. Americo Pinto, a PMO expert, will moderate.
Focus on delivery
The summit’s emphasis reflects a wider push for project management capacity as a driver of development, with the continent’s ambitions under the African Union’s Agenda 2063 framework and national plans in mind.
George Asamani, managing director of PMI Sub-Saharan Africa, underscored the urgency of converting plans into outcomes. "Africa is not short of ambition. You can see it in the African Union’s Agenda 2063 flagship projects and in the bold development visions of countries across the continent," he said.
"What matters now is delivery," Asamani added. "Project management is ultimately about closing the distance between what we say we want to achieve and what people actually experience."
The event builds on last year’s PMI summit in Kigali, which attracted more than 1,000 project professionals, industry leaders, and government officials, according to GBC Ghana Online.