India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum

EVENT INFORMATION

Cape Town, South Africa

info@india-africa.org

13^th - 15^th July 2026

India Africa trade and commerce goes back to a thousand years when Indian merchants using strong and predictable monsoon winds, regularly sailed to the east coast of Africa in search of mangrove poles, elephant tusks, and gold and precious stones to sell them in the bazaars of Calicut and Surat.

During colonial times, indentured labour was brought in from India to work on the railways as well as on sugar and other plantations in Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar and Southern Africa.

In time, Indian diaspora, with deep family roots, became a key driver of export of African commodities such as tea, coffee and cotton and the import of manufactured goods and grains such as rice, pulses and textiles.

Why India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum?

There is a growing realization that despite deep historical, commercial, and cultural ties, the entrepreneurial ecosystems between India and Africa remain to be connected in a meaningful way. Doing so presents a tremendous opportunity to harness the creative capacity of entrepreneurs in both regions to work together to solve common and pressing problems and accelerate trade and investment in the process. This is the mission of the India-Africa Entrepreneurship Forum (IAEF). Africa's fifty-four states produced a combined GDP in excess of US$3.2 trillion - almost the same as India. The economic growth of the continent that is estimated to be 3.2 percent in 2023 also houses six of the world's fastest-growing economies.

With 57,000 startups valued at $450B, India is the Third largest entrepreneurial ecosystem in the world. Over 650 African startups on the other hand, received total funding of $5.2B in 2022 (a 1700 precent increase since 2015) raising the combined valuation of about 900 startups to roughly $50B.

This gap presents an unprecedented opportunity for Indian and African entrepreneurs to partner with each other in their co-creating, co-founding activities, providing bilateral knowledge, funding and market opportunity to its early stage enterprises, thereby strengthening existing efforts in increasing trade and development between the two economies.

Collaboration between startups and large but entrepreneurial businesses, on the other hand can increase the reach and impact of innovation, according to Accenture Africa research, which increasingly correlates with higher economic performance at enterprise and economy-wide levels. By leveraging the power of ecosystems and open innovation, African economies can accelerate progress, unlocking Africa's abundance for all.

It is in this context, India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum (IAEF), has evolved to become the go-to platform that connects entrepreneurs and investors actively involved in the India Africa corridor. These dynamic ecosystems and subsystems have much in common, and much to gain from interacting.

Target Sectors & Roundtable Discussions

Indian and African ventures will dialogue across these seven sectors through panels, workshops and B2B meetings.

Healthcare, Pharma, BioTech & MedTech
AI, Digital Public Infrastructure & Digital Transformation
Travel, Hospitality & Tourism
Agritech & Biotech
Logistics, FMCG & International eCommerce
Space & Defence / DeepTech
Renewable Energy & Climate Solutions

Baljinder Sharma

Convenor

Vuyisa Qabaka

Co-Convenor

Programme

13^th–15^th July 2026 — Cape Town, South Africa

Time	Sessions
Day 1: Monday 13^th July 2026 — Pre-Summit Day & Welcome Cocktail · Catalysing the Corridor Venue: Hasso Plattner d-school AFRIKA, UCT Middle Campus, Rondebosch
8:00 – 8:10 AM	Welcome of Delegates by Satya Narayanan R., Chairman, CL Educate
8:00 – 11:00 AM	Launch of the India-Africa Human Capacity Corridor Building India-Africa Skill Corridors That Actually Place People Into Productive Employment Visit the HCC launch page →
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM	Launch of Rubanomics Africa Forum www.rubanomics.world →
12:30 – 1:00 PM	Working Lunch
1:00 – 1:15 PM	Session Introduction & Context Setting by Manish Panchal, Strategist and Author of "Define Your Orbit"
1:15 – 2:00 PM	The Jobs Conundrum — Open House Discussion Moderated by Pradeep Gupta, Chairman, CyberMedia Online
2:00 – 2:45 PM	Co-Creating Entrepreneurial Ventures India–Africa — Panel Discussion Rene Parker (Chair, AfriLabs) · Anirudh Damani (Founder, Artha Fund) · Zach George (Co-Founder, Launch Africa Ventures) · Bradley Edwards (VP Customer Service, DHL Express SSA)
2:45 – 3:00 PM	The IIT Ecosystem — Lessons for Emerging Economies global.iitm.ac.in →
3:00 – 4:00 PM	Book Launch by Kanwal Rekhi followed by Panel Discussion The Groundbreaker: Entrepreneurship, the American Dream, and the Rise of Modern India Moderated by Rashid Toefy, Deputy Director-General: Economic Operations, Western Cape Government
4:10 – 5:00 PM	Book Launch by Harish Mehta followed by Panel Discussion, moderated by AJ Patel The Maverick Effect: The Inside Story of India's IT Revolution Panelists: Lance Greyling (Former Member of South African Parliament & Director, Enterprise and Investment, City of Cape Town) · Busisa Moyo (Founder, Yakha Africa) · Clayton Williams (CEO, CapeBPO) Followed by an announcement of the Bangalore Tech Summit by Madan Padaki
5:00 – 6:00 PM	Break
6:00 – 6:10 PM	Building Bridges of Trust — Strengthening India–Africa Financial Partnerships for Sustainable Growth by V. Chandrasekaran, Chairman, CARE Ratings
6:10 – 7:00 PM	Lessons from the Trenches — A Fireside Chat with Successful Entrepreneurs Hosted by Prof. Logan Rangasamy, Interim Head of School, Wits Business School Sahil Affriya (Founder, Shiprazor) · Ananth Gudipati (Founder, Flowcart) · Arun Iyer (Co-Founder, AlphaDirect)
7:00 – 8:00 PM	Cocktails

Time	Sessions
Day 2: Tuesday 14^th July 2026 — Official Summit Inauguration Venue: The Westin, Cape Town
8:00 – 9:00 AM	Registration of Delegates
9:00 – 9:10 AM	Opening Remarks by Sushil Jiwarajka, Chairman, Infrastructure Corporation of Africa
9:10 – 9:20 AM	Address by Venessa Dewing, VP Sales, DHL Express SSA
9:20 – 9:35 AM	Keynote Speech by Ethiopis Tafara, Regional Vice President, Africa — International Finance Corporation
9:35 – 9:45 AM	Address by His Excellency Mr Prabhat Kumar, High Commissioner of India to South Africa
9:45 – 9:55 AM	Address by Alan Richard Winde, Premier of the Western Cape, South Africa
9:55 – 10:05 AM	Keynote Speech by Vimal Shah, Chairman, BIDCO East Africa
10:05 – 10:15 AM	Tea Break & Networking
Plenaries
10:15 – 10:20 AM	Session Brief & Context Setting by Balakrishnan Madhavan, Board Member, India Africa Forum
10:20 – 11:00 AM	Panel: What Financial Architecture Does the India–Africa Corridor Actually Need? Chele Moyo (Mauritius Commercial Bank) · Anita George (Founder, ProsperETÉ Investment Advisors) · Shyamasish Acharya (Indian EXIM Bank) · Neeraj Vij (AfDB)
11:00 – 11:10 AM	Address by Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth
11:10 – 11:50 AM	Panel: Africa for Africans — How to Engage with India? Vijay Kumar (CEO, Vedanta Zinc International) · Archi Troko (Director, Africans for Africa Fund) · Padmaja Ruparel (CEO, IAN Group) · Nihar Patnaik (CEO, Hetero South Africa) Moderated by Janade Du Plessis, Launch Africa Ventures
11:50 AM – 12:30 PM	Panel: India's Strategic Interest — How to Engage with Africa Sanjay Nekkanti (CEO, Dhruva Space) · Dr Swarup Mishra (MediHeal Group) · Satya Narayanan R. (Founder, CL Educate) · Saurav Chatterjee (CEO, CARE Ratings Africa) Moderated by Prof. Logan Rangasamy, Interim Head of School, Wits Business School
12:30 – 1:30 PM	Networking Lunch
2:00 – 4:30 PM	Sectoral Roundtable Discussions & Workshops Agri & BioTech — led by Bala Kutty (Wesgro Boardroom 2) AI, DPI & JanAI — Shubham & Madan Padaki (WomHub, Green Point) Digital Transformation, BPO & GCC (in partnership with CapeBPO) — Keshav, WNS (Remotely, By Invitation) Health, Pharma & MedTech — Chi Chi & Taheer (The Westin, Room 2) Logistics, FMCG & International eCommerce — Mohit (The Westin, Room 1) Tourism & Hospitality — Rajiv (The CDI, V&A) Space & Defence — Baljinder, with Vinod Kumar (iSpace) & Amarjeet Singh remotely (Wesgro Boardroom 1) Green Economy & ClimateTech (in partnership with GreenCape) — Anita George & Yumnaa (GreenCape)
5:00 – 5:15 PM	Break
5:15 – 5:20 PM	Welcome Address
5:20 – 5:30 PM	Keynote Speech 1
5:30 – 5:40 PM	Keynote Speech 2
5:40 – 6:30 PM	Panel: AI for Impact — Pathway to Progress? Madan Padaki (Founder, GenAI) · Juspreet Singh (Chief Marketing Officer, Prisma AI) · Suchit Nanda (Advisor, Reliance Foundation) Moderated by Shubham Saraff, Founder, STAIR
6:30 – 7:00 PM	India and Its Diaspora — Partners in Progress: Release of Report Introduction by Sreekumar Nair, India CEO & Managing Director — Global East, Indiaspora Keynote Speech by Hon. Prithvirajsing Roopun, Former President, Republic of Mauritius
7:00 – 7:30 PM	Africa's Top 100 Entrepreneurs of Indian Origin: Release of Report Jointly released by AJ Patel (Founder, TiE Global) & Dr Manish Shah (Chairman, Kingsway Group) In the presence of His Excellency Mr Prabhat Kumar, High Commissioner of India to South Africa Keynote Speech by Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, Founder, Gift of the Givers
7:30 – 7:40 PM	Vote of Thanks by Baljinder Sharma
7:40 – 9:30 PM	Sega Dance, Cocktails & Gala Dinner

Time	Sessions
Day 3: Wednesday 15^th July 2026 — Closing Session Venue: Simons Restaurant, Groot Constantia
10:00 – 10:30 AM	Welcome & Opening Address by Themba Zondi, Director, Amicorp Cape Town
10:30 – 11:15 AM	Panel: Investment Planning — Offshore versus Onshore Ravi Teji (MCB) · Shainav Gupta (Amicorp) Moderated by Sandeep Khapre, CEO, BDO East Africa
11:15 – 11:25 AM	Presentation by Prof. Dilip Garach, Garach Corporation
11:25 AM – 12:30 PM	Panel: Investing in South Africa — Opportunities & Challenges Prof. Rajen Pillay (CEO, Garuda Capital) · Gagan Gupta (Kamal Group) · Ashutosh Kumar (CEO, SBI South Africa) · Noor Kapdi (Chairman, Dentons Africa) Moderated by Chander Nakul
12:30 – 2:00 PM	Wine & Lunch @ Simons Restaurant, Groot Constantia
2:00 PM	Event Ends