For a young shoemaker in Kano, the problem may not be how to make shoes.The leather is available, the skill is available and the determination to build a business is available.

What may be missing is the connection to the customer hundreds of kilometres away who is ready to buy.

That disconnect between production and market is at the heart of the Global Tech Africa, GTA, Conference 2026, as the organisers take the technology and business gathering to Kano with an ambitious goal: using technology to connect producers, consumers, investors and markets across a Sahel region estimated at more than 350 million people.

The conference, organised by Futuremap Foundation in partnership with the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, MTN Nigeria and other partners, including the National Communications Commission, NCC, will hold from November 3 to 5, 2026, in Kano.

With the theme, “Connecting Africa, Accelerating Growth,” and sub-theme, “Industrialization, Market Access & the Sahel Gateway,” GTA 2026 is seeking to move the conversation about technology beyond apps, gadgets and digital innovation to the factory floor, farms, workshops, marketplaces and trade corridors where economic value is created.

Speaking at a World Press Conference in Lagos ahead of the conference, Executive Director, Futuremap Foundation, Dr Shuaib Sani Shuaib, said Kano was deliberately chosen because of its strategic position as a gateway to the Sahel and its historical importance to commerce and regional trade.

He explained that the conference was designed to address one of the fundamental challenges facing African businesses, the disconnect between those who produce and those who need what they produce.

Using the example of a young leather shoemaker in Kano, Shuaib said the producer could possess both the raw materials and technical skills but still struggle to grow because of limited access to customers.

He said: “The leather is there, the skill to make the shoe is there but then hundreds of kilometers away there is another young man that wants to buy the same shoe.

“But at the end of the day there is a disjoint between these two individuals for the fact that the producer does not know how to be able to link up to the person that is going to be buying the shoe.

“So the Global Tech Africa Conference is trying to bring the missing piece into this and is trying to use technology to be able to bridge the gap between market access and industrialization.”

That simple illustration captures the challenge the organisers hope to tackle in Kano, how to transform technology from a tool for communication into an engine for production, commerce and economic expansion.

For GTA 2026, the question is no longer simply whether Africa can produce technology.

The bigger question is whether technology can help Africa produce, sell, transport, finance and export more of what it already has.

Shuaib said the conference would focus on the digitalisation of industrial value chains, agriculture and leather production, traceability and export readiness, digital payments for cross-border trade, smart logistics, e-commerce, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.

“We also wanted to ensure that we use technology to strengthen a corridor that is not much spoken about for the fact that Sahel has been neglected in a lot of areas,” he said.

“And we believe because of the population, the market size, the resources that are there, it's high time for platforms like the Global Tech Africa Conference to be able to have a focus on that.”

The organisers believe Kano provides an opportunity to place the Sahel more prominently in conversations about Africa's technology, industrialisation and trade future.

For them, the region's large population, resources and commercial networks represent opportunities that can be unlocked when technology is deliberately connected to industry and market access.

The Kano edition builds on the experience of the 2024 Lagos conference, which attracted more than 6,000 participants, featured over 100 speakers and delivered more than 85 sessions.

According to Shuaib, the 2024 edition also facilitated trade and investment commitments valued at $5 million.

But the move to Kano represents more than a change of venue.

It signals an attempt to take the conversation into a region where industry, agriculture, commerce and cross-border trade intersect with a huge emerging market.

The organisers are targeting at least 15 industrial partnerships, 1,000 business-to-business meetings, 10 trade corridor agreements and a digital industrial accord that could serve as a reference point for digital industrialisation across Africa.

The conference is also targeting a pipeline of more than 500 potential jobs and at least three sister-city or regional trade agreements involving participating countries.

These targets reflect the organisers' emphasis on measurable business outcomes rather than discussions that end when the conference lights go off.

Project Manager, GTA, Mubarak Yusuf, said the programme had been designed to create opportunities for young people, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises to acquire knowledge, meet investors and establish business relationships.

“We are also going to be having a lot of sessions which include keynotes, fireside chat and live conversations and panels. We are expecting sessions on artificial intelligence, climate innovation, technology and industrial development,” Yusuf said.

Beyond the formal sessions, participants will have opportunities to engage through investor meetups, founder networking, investor roundtables and business engagements.

The conference will also feature decision labs, deal rooms, industrial design sprints, cross-border collaborations, trade simulations, challenge rooms and a policy lab.

Activities leading up to the main conference will include mixers, masterclasses and an innovation challenge.

Yusuf said the organisers were inviting businesses, investors, technology companies, government institutions, development partners, entrepreneurs and ecosystem organisations to participate.

“Global Tech Africa is inviting businesses, investors, technology companies, government institutions, development partners, entrepreneurs and ecosystem organizations to participate in Kano edition and contribute to a practical conversation about how technology can support industrialization and market access,” he said.

MTN: Connecting intelligence to opportunity

For MTN Nigeria, one of the partners supporting the conference, the initiative fits into a broader focus on connectivity, innovation, business growth and skills development.

Speaking at the Lagos press conference, SM Innovation, MTN Nigeria, Chinyelu Chikwendu, said the company was supporting the initiative because of its potential to advance businesses and the technology ecosystem.

Chikwendu said MTN was “always excited to be a part of anything that has to do with the progressing growth of Nigeria and Nigerian businesses.”

She said the telecommunications company currently served more than 100 million people and businesses in Nigeria and more than 300 million across Africa.

“At MTN we are connecting intelligence. We are catalyzing innovation. We are commercializing solutions through various platforms, through our various distribution channels,” she said.

She also highlighted the company's investment in capacity building and skills development through its foundation.

According to her, MTN launched its cloud accelerator programme the previous year, supporting more than 20 businesses with grants, mentorship and other resources to help them grow.

“We are really happy to be here today and we look forward to joining the organizers to drive this growth across Nigeria and across Africa,” Chikwendu said.

The bigger African opportunity

At the centre of GTA 2026 is an idea that technology becomes most meaningful when it solves real economic problems.

For a farmer, it could mean access to a wider market.

For a leather manufacturer, it could mean finding customers beyond his immediate community.

For an entrepreneur, it could mean digital payments that make cross-border transactions easier.

For an investor, it could mean discovering businesses with the capacity to scale.

And for governments, it could mean using digital infrastructure and data to make industrial and trade policies more effective.

The conference is therefore also expected to explore opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, particularly by strengthening the relationship between technology, industry and trade.

The organisers say their ambition is to build stronger connections between government and investors, founders and financiers, producers and consumers, and businesses across national borders.

As Kano prepares to host the November gathering, the shoemaker's story remains a fitting metaphor for what GTA 2026 hopes to achieve.

The raw material exists, the skills exist, and the market exists. The challenge is connecting them.

And if technology can close that gap, the organisers believe Kano could become a significant meeting point for conversations about how Africa's industries can reach Africa's markets.

By Queen Phillips

GTA 2026: Organisers Target 350m Sahel Market Through Technology

Comments (0)