The 2026 BigFive Summit
Tue Mar 24, 17:30 - Thu Mar 26, 16:00
Innovation City Cape Town
ABOUT
Join us 24-26 March 2026 at Innovation City Cape Town, for a deep dive into
"The business of African tech."
The BigFive Summit (24-26 March 2025) is Africa's leading B2B technology event. Since its inception in May 2019, the Summit's core audience has been the community that is building, investing in, and taking to market the technology solutions that help African businesses thrive.
The BigFive Summit offers a unique opportunity for aggregators of African businesses (banks, telecoms, digital agencies, media platforms) to interact with the builders of innovative B2B technology solutions (startups) and those funding the innovation (VCs).
Why participate in the BigFive Summit?
- Learn. The BigFive Summit is information-rich and tightly curated to ensure the audience absorbs new information and gets its questions answered.
- Network. The BigFive Summit is a rare opportunity to spend two days elbow-to-elbow with investors, senior corporate leaders, and innovative tech founders.
- Grow. Attending the BigFive Summit is an investment in your personal and professional growth by keeping up on industry trends and making new connections.
PAST BIGFIVE SUMMIT HIGHLIGHTS
The 2025 BigFive Summit made a clear promise -- two days of real talk about the future of tech in Africa. As always, this Summit delivered. From Zach George talking about how Silicon Valley has over-glamorized venture capital to Egla Ntumba shining a light on the loneliness of the start-up journey. These and so many other voices were candid, insightful, informative, and best of all, engaging.
The reel shares some of the best moments from the 2025 Summit. And it provides a glimpse into what you can expect from the 2026 edition.
Here is a partial list of the companies that have participated in the BigFive Summit over the years as speakers, sponsors, and delegates.
BIGFIVE SUMMIT AGENDA
The 2026 BigFive Summit
24-26 March, 2026, Innovation City Cape Town
Preliminary Agenda
Day 1 Tuesday, 24 March 2026
1700 - 1930 Opening Networking Event + State of African Tech Mini-Summit
Innovation City Cape Town
This evening event is part of the overall 2026 BigFive Summit programme, but can also be enjoyed as a self-contained event.
1700 - 1745 Registration & Badge Collection, followed by Drinks & Networking
1745 - 1800 Welcome to the BigFive Summit
1800 - 1830 Panel Discussion 1: The State of African Tech
1830 - 1900 Panel Discussion 2: Topic TBD
1900 - 1930 Wrap-up and more networking
Day 2 Wednesday, 25 March 2026
Innovation City Cape Town
0800 - 0930 Badge collection, coffee and networking
0930 - 0945 Welcome to the 2026 BigFive Summit
0945-1015 Keynote Address
1015 - 1100 Panel Discussion
1100 - 1130 Featured Talk
1130- 1215 Panel Discussion
1215- 1300 Panel Discussion
1300 - 1430 Networking Lunch
1430 - 1500 Fireside Chat
1500- 1545 Panel discussion
1545- 1630 African B2B Tech Startup Showcase
1830-2100 Invitation-only dinner event (venue TBA)
Day 3 Thursday, 25 March 2026
Special Workshop
“AI: The powerful force-multiplier for African SMEs”
Innovation City Cape Town
0830 - 0930 Badge collection, coffee and networking
0930-0945 Welcome to the Workshop
0945 - 1015 Keynote Address
1015-1045 Panel Discussion
1045-1115 Fireside Chat
1115-1145 Panel Discussion
1145-1200 Discussion & Summit Closing Remarks
END OF AI WORKSHOP
END OF THE 2026 BIGFIVE SUMMIT
THE BIGFIVE SUMMIT IN PICTURES
SPONSORSHIP & EXHIBITION
DOWNLOAD THE 2026 BIG5 SUMMIT PROSPECTUS
Why join the BigFive Summit?
Since our first event in 2019, the BigFive Summit has served the community that builds, invests in, and takes to market new technology solutions that help African businesses thrive.
The BigFive Summit offers a unique opportunity for aggregators of African businesses (banks, telecoms, digital agencies, media platforms) to interact with the builders of B2B tech (startups) and those funding the innovation (VCs).
- Learn The BigFive Summit is information-rich and tightly curated to ensure the audience absorbs new information and gets their questions answered.
- Network The BigFive Summit is a rare opportunity to spend two days elbow-to-elbow with investors, senior corporate leaders, and innovative tech founders.
- Grow Attending the BigFive Summit is an investment in your personal and professional growth by keeping abreast of industry trends and forging new connections.
Sponsoring the BigFive Summit is a great way to position your brand as a leading driver of B2B digital transformation in Africa.
Every BigFive Summit sponsor receives the following benefits
Prominent branding -- before, during & after the summit
The BigFive Summit is not possible without its sponsors. Therefore, our sponsors’ images and logos are omnipresent in the event space – on screens, roll-up banners, and on individual items from coffee cups to serviettes. No one ever leaves a BigFive Digital event without knowing who its sponsors were and what they each do.
BigFive Digital promotes its sponsors in the lead-up to the event through social media – on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook, and other platforms. BigFive will also issue a press release no later than 28 days before the Summit to announce our lead speakers and sponsors.
Unless they opt out, each 2026 Sponsor joins a rotation of sponsor messages on the BigFive Daily Minute video newsletter on LinkedIn and Instagram, and in the Africa B2B Tech Report newsletter on Substack. Sponsors will be included in this rotation from the time they agree to sponsor the 2026 Summit through the end of the 2026 calendar year.
If a sponsorship includes a speaking role, the full session featuring the speaker is recorded and shared on YouTube following the Summit. In addition, excerpts of sessions will be shared as YouTube Shorts and clips on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and other social channels. Sponsors will be permitted to opt out of having their presence shared with the public post-event. Panel discussions and fireside chats may also be repurposed after the event as episodes of the BIG5D Podcast.
Business development support
Delegate list
Every Summit sponsor receives a copy of the Summit delegate list (with full details, including contact information), one week before the event. A final delegate list is shared with sponsors 24 hours in advance of the summit. Because Summit delegates tend to make a late decision to attend, it is necessary to wait until very close to the Summit start date to share the delegate list.
Business development curation
Platinum and Gold sponsors receive concierge-level business development support. This means curated introductions, both in advance of the Summit and on-site at the event.
Thought-leadership opportunities
Access to our stage is an explicit benefit of sponsorship at the Platinum and Gold levels. For other sponsors, opportunities to participate in panel discussions are offered based on availability and alignment.
Every session at the BigFive Summit is professionally recorded. And every keynote, fireside chat, and panel discussion is posted on the BigFive Digital YouTube channel after the event. Upon request, we will provide the raw video footage to a sponsor of their Summit session, which they can use for their own content marketing purposes.
We also selectively repurpose on-stage content from the Summit in the following ways.
- As episodes of the BigFiveD Podcast
- As YouTube Shorts
- As social media clips on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram
Please download our Summit Sponsorship Prospectus for details on the available sponsorship tiers, their benefits, and the required investment.
DOWNLOAD THE 2026 BIG5 SUMMIT PROSPECTUS