The City of Cape Town has thrown its weight behind Converge Africa 2026, the digital commerce conference returning to the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from 4 to 6 May, in a signal that the metro intends to double down on its positioning as a gateway for cross-border digital trade.
The backing was announced on Tuesday by VUKA Group, the event’s organiser, alongside supporting partner Invest Cape Town, the city’s investment promotion brand.
A city anchoring a regional play
Cape Town has increasingly positioned itself as a hub for e-commerce, fintech, and payments infrastructure businesses. The support for Converge Africa is part of that broader pitch.
The City eagerly welcomes the return of Converge Africa to Cape Town. Communities all across the continent are exceptionally active in the e-commerce space, whether as businesses or consumers. Cape Town is the ideal place for this gathering and its engagements between tech entrepreneurs and thought-leaders in the public and private sector.
Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, City of Cape Town
Converge Africa is expecting more than 1,400 attendees from 700-plus organisations, with a theme centred on frictionless and cross-border digital commerce. The programme is built around five pillars: payments and fintech, eCommerce, digital marketing, fulfilment and logistics, and digital security.
Speaker line-up
Confirmed speakers include Ajay Moti, head of global card networks at Booking.com; Hannes Wessels, general manager for South Africa at Binance; Kerissa Varma, chief security advisor for Africa at Microsoft; Joshua Suckerman, digital product manager for API marketplace and payments at Absa; Zain Naidoo, head of digital marketing at Dis-Chem Pharmacies; and Grant Paul Roy, chief customer experience officer at Superbalist.
Additional contributions are expected from leaders at Pick n Pay, Nedbank, Vodacom, Spur Group, and Kimberly-Clark.
Corporate and public-sector buildup
The City’s endorsement follows a series of corporate announcements around the event. Amazon South Africa signed on as a Diamond partner, and the Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency (SEDFA), the state-owned MSME financier, previously confirmed backing for the event’s MSME Pavilion as part of a drive to connect small businesses with payments, logistics, and digital commerce providers.
The conference format combines an exhibition floor, content stages, workshops, and networking on a single site, which organisers say is designed to facilitate deal-making across the payments, logistics, and retail value chains that make up the continent’s estimated $75 billion digital economy.
Registration is open through the Converge Africa website.
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