Olu of Warri, Olori Atuwatse III Lead Continental Vision As Botswana Host Elevate Africa 2025

Elevate Africa was founded by Ogiame Atuwatse III, CFR, the 21st Olu of Warri, and Her Royal Majesty, Olori Atuwatse III, to do something both simple and hard: bring serious people into one room and ask them to build. Not talk about building. Build. The signature convening gathers leaders, investors, policymakers, and creators, then moves them through keynotes, working breakouts, and what the organisers call power rooms, where deals and frameworks are shaped without theatre. The point is impact, not optics.

Last year’s inaugural edition in Abuja set the template. It was a clean agenda with a results-first tone and a cross-sector guest list. Among the voices were Kim Schofield, Member of the Georgia House of Representatives, Maryam Hassan Bukar, Poetvocate and UN SDG Award Finalist 2024, Adebola Williams, investor across technology, film and media, Debola Deji-Kurunmi of Immerse Coaching Company, Her Excellency Amb. Prof. Olufolake Abdulrazaq, First Lady of Kwara State, Her Excellency Hajia Nana Shettima representing the First Lady of Nigeria, Her Excellency Atifete Jahjaga, former President of Kosovo, David Adeleke, known as Davido, and Stephanie Busari, Senior Editor, CNN Africa. It felt less like a conference and more like a working session with public seats.

This October, the convening travels to Botswana for its second act. The choice is deliberate. Botswana’s reputation for fiscal prudence, low corruption, and consistent policy gives the meeting a grounded stage. Over the past decade the country has posted steady growth and maintained one of the continent’s lowest debt-to-GDP ratios, a rare combination that signals reliability. In other words, a good place to write a blueprint.

‘Botswana is a nation defined by strong governance, remarkably low corruption, and consistent, predictable policies,’ says Daniel Ikuenobe, CEO of Elevate Africa. ‘It wasn’t chosen on impulse. It was studied, examined, and recognised as the ideal setting for this convening.’ The emphasis is on systems that last, structures that can scale, and the shared stability without which no ambitious plan survives the first shock.

The programme in Gaborone follows that logic. Expect strategic leadership dialogues that force specifics, not platitudes. Expect sector-by-sector sessions where public agencies meet private operators across finance, technology, the creative industries, and human capital. Expect rooms where African leadership and international allies face the same table and stay there long enough to agree on next steps.

The 2025 speaker slate reflects the breadth of that task. Among those expected are H. E. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, former President of Mauritius, Hon. Emma Theofelus, Minister of ICT, Namibia, Hon. Kadiva Hamutumwa, Governor of Ohangwena Region, Namibia, and Hon. Taa Wongbe, Member of the ECOWAS Parliament, Liberia. They are joined by Sam Shivute, Commissioner, Namibia Revenue Agency, development economist and policy adviser Namhla Mniki, Dr Vumik Msweli, CEO, Head Africa Foundation, and actor and producer Hakeem Kae-Kazim. The mix is intentional. It puts policy, execution, capital, and culture in conversation, then asks them to leave with shared commitments.

Creative industries remain a live wire in the Elevate Africa ecosystem. ‘Threads of Africa’, the platform’s virtual fashion design competition, returns as a showcase of sustainable design thinking. Designers from across the continent submit pieces that prioritise eco-friendly materials, ethical production, and practical innovation. It is not an afterthought. It is an argument that creativity is infrastructure too, a job creator with supply chains and export potential when treated with seriousness.

Underneath the sessions runs the original Elevate Africa brief: equip the next generation. The organisation’s initiatives focus on education, entrepreneurship, and leadership development, bridging the space between training and real work. The approach aligns with Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063 and insists that continental ambition must be expressed in employable skills, investable ventures, and leaders who can hold a room together without noise.

Abuja 2024 showed what is possible when that mindset meets momentum. Gaborone 2025 is set to push further. Less spectacle, more structure. Less talk about change, more engineering of it. If the first edition announced intent, this one asks to be judged on groundwork laid and partnerships built to outlive the news cycle.

Elevate Africa Convening 2025: Africa, The Next Chapter

Venue: Royal Aria Convention Centre, Gaborone, Botswana

Dates: 30–31 October 2025

Theme: AFRICA BUILDING ITSELF: THROUGH SYSTEMS, STRUCTURE, AND SHARED STABILITY 

Botswana is ready. So is the blueprint. The rest is execution.