{"id":24131,"date":"2026-02-23T16:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/meetings-africa-opens-with-focus-on-global-connectivity-investment-africas-economic-agenda\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:52","slug":"meetings-africa-opens-with-focus-on-global-connectivity-investment-africas-economic-agenda","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/meetings-africa-opens-with-focus-on-global-connectivity-investment-africas-economic-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Meetings Africa opens with focus on global connectivity, investment, Africa\u2019s economic agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><span data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">The gathering at the Sandton Convention Centre brought together industry leaders from across Africa and the world to explore how international meetings and conferences can drive development, investment and global visibility for African destinations.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Delivering the keynote address, Nozipo Tshabalala, Chief Executive of The Conversation Strategists, reflected on how meaningful dialogue at global gatherings can translate into tangible development outcomes. She highlighted examples where international engagements have led to investments in education, health and community resilience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cSpaces have indeed had measurable outcomes. I have seen investments in education where countries built more schools, enrolled more children and improved quality. I have seen investments in health care that went beyond the construction of hospitals, saving lives and lifting communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>However, Tshabalala cautioned that not all conversations generate impact. \u201cI have also watched historic opportunities stall. Tough conversations slide down the agenda as more fashionable topics take over. Entire groups are marginalised because they lack influence in that moment,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Industry experts at BONDay said global trends were reshaping the business\u2011events sector. Dr Senthil Gopinath, Chief Executive of the International Congress and Convention Association ( ICCA), pointed to the explosive rise of artificial intelligence (AI) as a dominant theme at global meetings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cIn the last 18 months, the ICCA database shows that 864 new meetings were created under the topic of AI. Many more include AI as a secondary theme. This shows the sheer scale of the meetings segment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Speakers also stressed how strategically hosting meetings can accelerate economic priorities. Bruce Redor, partner for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at GainingEdge, said destinations that understand how to link meetings to sectoral growth gain the most.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cDestinations succeed when they use international events to push forward their economic agenda. If a country wants to grow its high\u2011tech sector, bringing in an international conference from that field helps connect local expertise and global networks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Meetings Africa continues this week until Wednesday with exhibition showcases, sector dialogues and bilateral engagements aimed at positioning Africa as a competitive player in the global business\u2011events landscape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24132,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-24131","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Day one of Meetings Africa 2026 concluded in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday with the Business Opportunity Networking Day, known as BONDay, setting the stage for the continent\u2019s premier business\u2011events showcase.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Day one of Meetings Africa 2026 concluded in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday with the Business Opportunity Networking Day, known as BONDay, setting the stage for the continent\u2019s premier business\u2011events showcase.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26905,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24131\/revisions\/26905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=24131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}