The continent has entered what the African Union (AU) calls the decade of accelerated implementation, a period in which Africa’s biggest economic and development priorities must move decisively from plans into outcomes. What that will demand of the people responsible for delivering Africa’s projects will be a central conversation at the PMI® Global Summit Series Cape Town, taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on September 14 to September 15, 2026.

Headlined by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat Secretary-General H.E. Wamkele Mene, the summit will bring together leaders and practitioners from government, infrastructure, energy, technology, development finance and business under the theme Africa Delivers M.O.R.E. Together.

The AU’s second Ten-Year Implementation Plan for Agenda 2063 places the emphasis firmly on implementation. For Africa’s project management community, that creates both a professional opportunity and a much bigger responsibility, to help translate the continent’s ambitions into productive assets that will underpin its future.

Consider what implementation means in practice. Greater continental trade requires transport networks, border systems, digital infrastructure and payment platforms that connect economies more efficiently. Expanding energy access requires that generation, transmission and distribution projects move from investment decisions to functioning assets. Digital transformation requires organisations to turn rapidly evolving technologies, including AI, into solutions that create genuine value. Stronger public institutions require governments to become better at coordinating, monitoring and delivering complex programmes.

Behind each of these ambitions sits a portfolio of projects, and people responsible for making them work. That makes the Decade of Accelerated Implementation particularly consequential for Africa’s project professionals. It creates an opportunity not simply to manage a growing pipeline of projects, but to occupy a more influential place in the continent’s development trajectory.

As projects become larger, more interconnected and complex, organisations will increasingly need professionals who can navigate uncertainty, align stakeholders, manage investment and risk, lead multidisciplinary teams and connect project decisions to strategic outcomes.

The career opportunity and the continental opportunity are becoming increasingly intertwined. And nowhere is that connection more visible than in the major initiatives that will define Africa’s next decade.

Stitching Africa together

Few initiatives illustrate this more clearly than AfCFTA, which has the potential to reshape how African economies trade with one another. But a more integrated continental market will depend on the systems that make integration possible – infrastructure, energy, payment systems and the institutions capable of coordinating implementation across borders.

In that sense, integration is also a delivery challenge.

That makes Mene’s presence at the summit particularly relevant to the project management community. His keynote will provide a continental perspective on an ambition whose success will depend, in part, on Africa’s ability to execute across sectors, institutions and borders.

The conversation will continue in the opening panel, The African Integration Story: Progress, Partnership, and Possibility, featuring the AU Commission’s Dagmawit Moges Bekele; the Private Office of the President of South Africa’s Head of the Project Management Office Rudi Dicks; and former Ghanaian Minister Dr Matthew Prempeh. African Development Bank Director for Development Impact & Results Armand Nzeyimana will moderate.

The Systems that will Power Africa’s Next Decade

The summit programme will take that conversation into sectors where the implementation challenge is most immediate. Energy is one. Reliable and accessible power is fundamental to industrialisation, digitalisation and economic growth, yet delivering it at the required scale involves complex portfolios of infrastructure, investment, technology and stakeholders.

Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyathi will join Electricity Company of Ghana’s former MD Samuel Dubik Mahama; Nviron Hive co-founder Otema Yirenkyi; and PMI Global Head of Sustainability & Enablement Lucila Dotto, for “Powering Africa’s Future: Delivering Energy Access at Continental Scale”.

Connectivity will also feature prominently, with Zutari head of projects Willem Botha among those examining the projects required to build a more connected continent, while Flutterwave founder and CEO Olugbenga Agboola will bring the perspective of one of Africa’s leading technology entrepreneurs.

AI adds another dimension. Cassava Technologies CEO for South Africa and Botswana Ziaad Suleman will lead a case-study conversation on “Building Africa’s Own AI Future”, examining the infrastructure, skills and ecosystems needed for Africa to participate meaningfully in the emerging AI economy.

Strengthening the Institutions Responsible for Delivery

The Decade of Accelerated Implementation will also place greater emphasis on the ability of Africa’s institutions to execute.

Governments face the challenge of translating policies, budgets and development plans into tangible improvements in people’s lives. Project management offices and delivery units are increasingly part of the institutional machinery used to coordinate priorities, monitor implementation and strengthen accountability.

A dedicated session on “Establishing and Strengthening PMOs in the Public Sector” will bring together Sitati Olando of Kenya’s Government Delivery Unit; Stella Maris Nambaziira of the Uganda Revenue Authority; Ben Peters of the City of Cape Town; and William Mpye of the South African Revenue Service, moderated by PMO expert Americo Pinto.

Preparing for a More Consequential Role

For project professionals, the opportunity presented by this decade comes with an imperative to keep evolving.

Technical project management capability remains fundamental. But as projects become more strategically important and connected to organisational and societal outcomes, professionals also need business acumen, leadership, digital fluency, stakeholder management and the judgement to make decisions in complex environments.

The summit programme reflects this broader role, spanning infrastructure, energy, AI, sustainability, public-sector delivery, leadership and professional development. It will also feature voices including Karin van Rooyen of PM.Ideas alongside practitioners and leaders from across the continent.

The better Africa becomes at delivering projects, the greater its ability to turn the promise of the next decade into progress. And the better project professionals become at their craft, the greater the contribution they can make to that story.

The PMI Global Summit Series Cape Town offers an opportunity for the people responsible for making change happen to come together, learn from one another and strengthen the capabilities needed for the decade ahead.

Register here: https://shorturl.at/h8hFF