Our Work
The Africa Soft Power Group works at the intersection of influence, narrative, and institutional credibility – advising governments, regulators, and leading organisations on how to build trust, exercise soft power,and navigate the complex dynamics between markets, policy, and perception. Across advisory mandates, research, convening, and programme delivery, the ASP’s work is grounded in the conviction that Africa’s cultural, intellectual, and human capital are central to its economic story.
The programmes and initiatives below represent a selection of ASP’s public-facing work, spanning governance, climate, creative advocacy, and investment in the next generation of African leaders.
A structured, research-informed, Africa-led/Africa-focused governance framework designed to strengthen institutional systems, address discretionary and enforcement risk, and embed greater decision discipline across the organisation. The HCGF is designed to integrate into existing organisational and HR systems, enabling alignment with performance management, reporting structures, and internal governance processes.
Critically, the HCGF is intentionally structured to support thoughtful communication, support proactive and forward-looking practices, and become part of an organization’s regular rhythm. Its data-driven approach is structured to make change visible and measurable, encouraging long-term cultural shifts rather than short-term compliance.
Now in its seventh edition, the Africa Soft Power Summit is the continent’s premier cross-sector convening at the intersection of finance, creativity, and human capital. Each year, it brings together a curated faculty of investors, policymakers, business leaders, creative industry pioneers, and diaspora voices for a programme featuring high-level dialogue, strategic connection, and celebration of African achievement.
The Summit is built on a core conviction: that Africa’s cultural and intellectual capital are not soft assets, but economic engines. Its programme is designed to generate conversations that move capital, shift narratives, and build the institutional relationships that outlast the event itself.
For Africa’s business ecosystems, the Summit is a live demonstration of what cross-sector alignment looks like in practice: finance, creativity, technology, and policy in genuine conversation, not parallel silos. For the diaspora, it is a rare point of convergence, a space where the strategic intent of African professionals and institutions around the world meets the momentum building on the continent.
Since its founding, the Summit has convened heads of government, central bank executives, leading creatives, technology investors, and cultural innovators, drawing participants from across the continent and the wider diaspora.
The Climate Change Photo Essay Prize calls upon young photographers aged 18 to 30 from Africa and the global diaspora to document the environmental shifts unfolding around them, and the ways communities are living with, adapting to, and imagining beyond them.
Launched as the flagship initiative of the ‘Road to 100 Million Climate Soldiers in Africa’s programme, co-run with African Women on Board, the Prize is built on a simple but powerful conviction: that photography can do what policy briefings cannot. It makes the personal stakes of climate change visible, immediate, and human.
Now in its third edition, the Prize has attracted over 670 photographs from more than 30 countries across two editions, with finalist works exhibited in New York, London, Lagos, and Nairobi. Each edition is judged through a rigorous blind process designed to ensure impartiality, with panels drawn from leading figures across the arts, culture, and climate sectors.
The 2026 edition carries the theme, “Lines of Survival: Living, Adapting, Imagining Tomorrow”, asking photographers to explore not only the pressures communities face, but the ingenuity with which they respond, and the futures they dare to imagine.
Project Yellow Card is African Women on Board’s long-term investment in the next generation of African leaders, a commitment that goes beyond mentorship to provide young people with the financial, programmatic, and personal development support they need to step forward with confidence.
The initiative works across three areas: direct financial support for university students, programming that advances gender equity among young men and women, and structured development of leadership and participation skills. At its centre is the Student Leader Launchpad – a series of workshops and panel discussions designed to address growing disengagement from leadership roles among students in higher education. The Launchpad brings students into direct conversation with industry and public sector leaders, broadening their understanding of what leadership looks like beyond the academic environment and equipping them with the tools to lead and participate actively in their communities.