NextBillion - A WDI Publication

The Pulse of Fintech
Africa’s Premier Gathering for Fintech Visionaries
The Africa Fintech Meetup is a one-day premier gathering of fintech leaders, decision-makers, regulators, startups, and financial institutions, uniting to advance digital finance across the continent.

The 2026 edition in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will serve as a platform to catalyze regional dialogue, knowledge sharing, and networking at the intersection of technology and financial services.

Driving Dialogue.Transforming Finance.
December 2nd, 2026 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

This premier event brings together East Africa’s fintech elite; from regulators and banks to tech entrepreneurs and global investors, creating high-impact branding, collaboration, and business development opportunities in a premium setting.

Target attendees include senior bankers, fintech startup founders, regulators, investors, and other financial-services professionals.

Welcome to the 2026 U.S.-Africa Business Summit

About the Summit

The 18th U.S.-Africa Business Summit will be held in Mauritius, one of Africa’s most stable, business-friendly, and globally connected economies. With a strong regulatory environment, a leading financial services sector, and world-class infrastructure, Mauritius offers an ideal setting to connect U.S. and African leaders, catalyze new commercial opportunities, and amplify partnerships across the continent.

Building on the success of last year’s Summit—which generated over $4 billion in deals and convened 12 African Heads of State and Government, 3 heads of African agencies, 41 ministers, 400+ U.S. and African officials, 230+ speakers, and more than 2,800 attendees—the 2026 Summit will provide a dynamic platform for high-level engagement and deal-making. Mauritius, a strategic gateway for investment into Africa and the Indian Ocean region, will host discussions and networking across key sectors such as financial services, ICT, renewable energy, the blue economy, manufacturing, and tourism. The Summit will bring together senior government officials, CEOs, and investors to advance the next phase of U.S.-Africa trade and investment.

About Africa EV Mobility Expo Kenya 2026
The Africa EV Mobility Expo Kenya 2025, the leading event for electric vehicles will be held from 4-6 December 2026 at Kenyatta International Convention Centre – KICC. This event brings together top local, regional, and global manufacturers and suppliers to showcase the latest in electric vehicle technology.

Discover the innovations transforming transportation and energy. With hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors, including buyers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs from Kenya and surrounding regions, this is the premier platform to stay updated on the latest in the EV industry.

Explore cutting-edge electric vehicle solutions, connect with industry leaders, and uncover new business opportunities. Join us at Africa EV Mobility Expo Kenya 2025 and shape the future of sustainable transportation and energy.

On December 9, the FinEquity Africa community will convene virtually to examine the persistent barriers that continue to limit women’s financial inclusion in the region. Women in Sub Saharan Africa remain 12 percentage points less likely than men to own a financial account, a gap that has more than doubled over the past decade, even as developing economies globally have made progress. Limited digital access, restrictive social and gender norms, and financial products that do not reflect women’s needs continue to constrain meaningful inclusion.

This year’s session will place particular emphasis on young women, exploring the challenges they face as they enter the financial system, build livelihoods, and make critical economic decisions. The discussion will focus on how practitioners, funders, policymakers, and other stakeholders can work together to ensure that young women are not left behind, and that financial inclusion strengthens economic agency and resilience across generations.

Originally planned as an in-person convening in Nairobi, the event will now bring the full FinEquity Africa community together online. Drawing on the latest evidence, including the Global Findex 2025, participants will explore what is working, where gaps remain. A dedicated workshop will offer space to identify priorities, share practical experiences, and explore partnerships and actionable solutions to address persistent barriers, particularly those affecting young women.

The Governments of Kenya, Norway and the United States, together with the International Energy Agency, will convene the second major international Summit dedicated to advancing clean cooking access for the 1 billion people in Africa who currently lack it.

The Summit will build on the momentum generated by the landmark 2024 Paris Summit, where a historic USD 2.2 billion was committed by governments and the private sector. The next event aims to mobilise further financial and political commitments, bringing together governments, industry leaders, investors, development partners, and civil society to accelerate progress towards universal access.

You are invited to submit a paper to the fourth Research Conference on Accelerating Growth for Women Entrepreneurs in Developing Economies, jointly organized by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank Group, World Bank Group, American University, Imperial College London, and Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL).

The conference aims to promote new research and evidence on entrepreneurship, with a focus on women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (WSMEs), start-ups, and micro-enterprises with growth potential. Papers using sex-disaggregated data are particularly encouraged.

In addition to academic sessions, the conference will feature a keynote address by Seema Jayachandran, Kenneth J. Boudreaux ’65 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Policy-oriented sessions will provide a platform for academics, practitioners, and policymakers to network and discuss the application of research findings to project design and implementation. These discussions will strengthen the connection between research and policy, helping to generate new evidence and define key objectives and milestones for the future.

Summary
The 22nd Annual Global Microfinance & Financial Inclusion Forum is a leading international microfinance conference bringing together senior executives from microfinance institutions (MFIs), development finance institutions (DFIs), banks, impact investors, regulators, NGOs, fintech companies, and multilateral organizations. Taking place in Barcelona, Spain, on 23–24 March 2027, the forum explores the future of financial inclusion, responsible finance, digital transformation, and sustainable development. Through expert keynotes, panel discussions, and networking opportunities, attendees will gain practical insights into AI in microfinance, impact investing, open banking, financial health, climate finance, cybersecurity, gender inclusion, and strategies for expanding financial access to underserved communities.

DAY 1
Rebalancing Client Protection with Market Growth
Capital Flows into Microfinance: Where Will Growth Capital Come From in 2027?
Building Trust in Microfinance through Risk-Based Supervision
AI ROI in Microfinance
Scaling Entrepreneurship and Affordable Housing Through Partnerships, Capacity Building & Tailored Finance
The Changing Face of Funding: Surviving and Thriving as Development Aid Shifts
Upgrading Core Operations: Practical Approaches to Systems Transformation
Navigating MFI and Open Banking Integration
Modernizing Cross-Border Payments for Small Businesses
Financial Inclusion Beyond Credit: Savings, Payments & Long-Term Resilience
The “Human + Tech” Strategy: Reaching the Last-Mile Consumer Safely

DAY 2
Moving Beyond Repayment to Financial Health
Building Rural Resilience: De-Risking Smallholder Agriculture Finance
Climate-Smart Protection: Making Microinsurance Work at Scale
Liquid Assets: Structuring Sustainable Funding for Water and Sanitation
Market Survival and Financial Access in Conflict Zones
Safeguarding Financial Autonomy: Operational Design to Prevent Economic Coercion
Poverty Elimination: From Financial Inclusion to Poverty Elimination
Digital Trust: Fraud Prevention and Cybersecurity in Inclusive Finance
Closing the Gender Gap: Designing Products for Active Female Participation

About EAIF 2027

The leading investment event for the renewable electrification sector in Africa is returning to Nairobi, Kenya, from 20 to 23 April 2027, with a refreshed format focusing on energy access, productive uses of energy, commercial and industrial electrification, and renewables for integrated grids.

Building on a successful track record since 2016, EAIF 2027 is expected to welcome 700 participants in person and more than 800 online, bringing together a global community of over 1,500 investors, industry leaders, utilities, policymakers and energy professionals.

EAIF 2026 is organised by the Alliance for Renewable Electrification (ARE), and supported by GET.invest, a European programme that mobilises investment in clean energy, co-funded by the European Union, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria.

Save the date and stay tuned for more information on the programme, speakers and registration. If you’d like to partner with us for this next edition, please contact hello@renewelec.org.