African Philanthropy Leaders Call for Bolder, Locally Led Giving at the 2026 APF Conference in Cape Town

CAPE TOWN, South Africa:* African Philanthropy Forum* (APF) closed its 2026 Conference in Cape Town on 27 October with a message that ran through nearly every session: Africa’s challenges are connected, so African giving has to be connected too.

Held from 25 to 27 October under the theme Bridge the Divide; Reimagine the Future, the conference brought together philanthropists, funders, business leaders, creatives, and technologists to ask how African capital can be mobilized, how partnerships can be strengthened, and how African-led solutions can be backed with more trust and flexibility. Centered on Africa, the program also looked outward, drawing on solutions from across the Global South and asking how African philanthropy can bridge the divide.

The conference opened on Sunday evening with a reception at Cape Point Vineyards, where Executive Director Mosun Layode welcomed delegates, members and acknowledged APF Board members, including Chair Gbenga Oyebode, Wale Adeosun, and Nyimpini Mabunda. Former Board Member Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa urged guests to look past the continent’s challenges and toward its potential and to use the days ahead to turn conversations into partnerships. It was an evening of connection before two days of ideas at the Norval Foundation.

Reimagining the Future

Monday, 26 October, began with a call to build bridges across regions, languages, and funding silos. Mosun Layode and Gbenga Oyebode officially opened and welcomed all delegates to the conference.** Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka**, former Vice President of South Africa, spoke of education as a sacred right of every African child and of bringing young people into decision-making. In the first keynote, Gary Lubner, Founder of the This Day Foundation, described giving away 95 percent of his wealth during his lifetime and said it was easier and more joyful than holding it for heirs. Old money thinking, he argued, is a major barrier to giving, and generosity includes time and effort as well as cash.

The numbers framed the challenge. Delegates heard that Africa needs about $1.3 trillion in financing each year, while philanthropy contributes $5 billion to $6 billion. The task is to use that small pool to unlock far larger sources, such as pension funds and fixed-income assets, so money reaches businesses that create jobs.

In an afternoon keynote moderated by Marlene Ogawa of Synergos, Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, South Africa CEO of Naspers, and Gareth Ackerman, Non-Executive Director at Pick n Pay, kept things practical: back women entrepreneurs without taking equity, start with your own family and community, use local distributors, and make it easier to travel between African countries. One retraining program they discussed moved 7,200 of 8,000 university graduates into tech jobs. The difference between charity and philanthropy, they said, is helping people help themselves.

The day also asked hard questions about who belongs. A panel on migration, moderated by Dr Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli of Wealth4Impact, took on xenophobia, with Lungi Morrison of IFé Consulting and Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi of the Nelson Mandela Foundation arguing that South Africa’s healing after apartheid was never completed. Dr. Nwuneli ended with a hope that every African child can say, “I am proudly African.”

The conversation then looked beyond the continent. The plenary on proximate solutions from the Global South, moderated by Serah Malaba of Tiko, asked what Africa can learn from proximate leaders and funders across the Global South and how trust-based funding reaches those closest to the problem. The panel, which included Amadou Mbodj of Fundación Avina and Divya Patel, CEO of the Ishk Tolaram Foundation, urged funders to pool resources, listen to organizations’ own models, and never ask a partner to compromise its core values. Mbodj warned that funding water, security, and economic decline separately limits impact.

Alongside the plenaries, Imagination Sessions ran through the day on themes including family capital, corporate giving, and alternative funding. In the evening, satellite dinners held in partnership with Skoll, the Imago Dei Fund, and African collaboratives carried the conversations into the night.

Crossing New Bridges

Tuesday, 27 October, opened with two parallel explore sessions followed by a keynote from Gbenga Oyebode on the question “What Is Our North Star?” He put education first. “If we can get our people to get an education, then maybe we can change the paradigm,” he said, and he challenged a comfortable idea about Africa’s population: “The next real battle is: do we need to be a large number of people without jobs?” With international donor funding falling, he urged Africans to build their own base of entrepreneurs, investors, and donors. “The wake-up call is not about doing things the same way; it is about learning that the world has changed around us,” he said.

The question of who tells Africa’s story took center stage next. Chude Jideonwo, Founder of Joy, Inc., told delegates that “confident power does not wait for approval” and that Africa needs “main character energy.” In the plenary on narratives and soft power, moderated by Vimbai Masiyiwa of Batoka Africa, he said philanthropy has fed the deficit narrative about Africa, though not out of malice, and urged funders to give creators real creative freedom. “Storytelling is not an add-on,” he said. “It is what we do at the start.” Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton series and a Goodwill Ambassador and Board Member of Landesa, spoke about her wish for women to “own the pond,” and Matthew Ilube, Trustee of the African Gifted Foundation, urged decision makers to “have young people in mind.”

Parallel Bridge Sessions ran through the day. The Bridge Sessions looked at education and AI, gender justice and technology, film and the creative economy, and health and climate. In the AI plenary, moderated by Nyimpini Mabunda, panelists agreed the technology can ease due diligence but should not replace human judgment. Toyin Akinniyi of Luminate warned that using AI to decide who gets funded “will not work,” and Janade du Plessis of Launch Africa Ventures called on philanthropists to “invest in the plumbing” and push for policy and regulation. Nyimpini offered a note of humility: “If anyone tells you they are an expert in AI, they are lying; we are all figuring it out.”

The closing keynote on legacy paired Nomfundo Ncuphuka, a Masters of African Philanthropy candidate at Wits Business School and CAPSI, with Dr. Judy Dlamini, Founder and Chairperson of the Female Academic Leaders Fellowship. Dr Dlamini asked a question she brings to every room: who is missing from the table? She called for first-loss capital for young entrepreneurs and room for young people to fail. “If I were funding young entrepreneurs, I would actively seek out those who have failed,” she said. “We can’t imagine the future on their behalf. We have to imagine it with them.”

Unmuted: Your Turn to Give

A fireside session closed the program, and then the conference turned from conversation to action. Through StartPoint, APF launched the Unmuted Campaign, which aims to raise $1 million for African-led organizations. Launching it, APF Board Member Swithin Munyantwali, Co-Founder of the International Law Institute African Centre for Legal Excellence, spoke about why visibility and support matter for the people already making change in their communities. The campaign will start in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.

The organizations supported through Unmuted are African-led NGOs that have been trained, vetted, and confirmed by an independent advisory committee, so every donor can give knowing their money is going to committed, credible work. The night ended with delegates motivated to do more than they are already doing.

That energy does not have to stay in Cape Town. Whether you give $5, $10, or $10,000, you can help scale the African organizations that are already doing good work in our societies. Donate today at unmuted.startpointafrica.org and help Africa fund its own future.

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