Nigeria
It was the maiden edition of ACFTA Fest 2026 — a landmark three-day Pan-African celebration bringing together the continent’s vibrant cultures, bold innovators and sporting legends under one roof in Abuja, Nigeria.
Designed to rotate annually across African nations, the forum aims to empower up to 1.5 million young people through entrepreneurship, arts and sports.
The platform is Africa’s first true cross-sector Pan-African festival, blending business, innovation, culture and sport into one unforgettable experience.
At the heart of the event was a focus on nurturing young talent and turning ideas into viable businesses.
Engr Mandi Anyangwe, Project Lead, ACFTA Fest 2026: “We have identified that there are a lot of youths and students with brilliant innovative ideas but there is no structural framework to bring them to life, So ACFTA FEST will be listening to these students, for example, we have a pitch competition at Abuja university to show them an example of what we can do. So students can bring projects they have been working on and we can talk to them and teach them how they can commercialize aspects of it”.
The festival also hosted a high-level dialogue, bringing together entrepreneurs, policymakers and stakeholders under the African Continental Free Trade Area framework to explore how to scale startups across the continent.
Dr Mechie Nkengla, AI and Data Executive: “With 54 distinct markets, it is an incredible opportunity for us to drive economic growth, drive ourselves out of poverty, drive ourselves to accountability and success”.
Frankie Powell, Global Speaker and Trainer: “So if we are going to innovate, something will bring the whole continent together and bring transformation to the continent”.
Dr Ifeoma Ezike, Assistant Director, Monetary Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria: “When you have a unified system, it means that everybody is coming together to pursue a common goal which is to develop Africa through trade, sport, culture and a lot of innovations”.
ACFTA Fest positions itself as a unifying platform — harnessing trade, talent and creativity to drive Africa’s next wave of growth.
Michael Dibie, Africanews, Abuja, Nigeria.
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