Africa’s digital commerce economy is growing fast, but not without friction. Fragmented retail, inconsistent data, complex payments, rising fraud risk and disconnected customer journeys continue to slow down scale for retailers, brands and marketplaces across the continent.
Converge Africa 2026 will place these challenges at the centre of its agenda, as the continent’s leading digital commerce, fintech and retail technology players gather from 4 to 6 May 2026 at the CTICC in Cape Town to define what frictionless, borderless and trusted digital trade should look like for Africa.
The event today confirms Intent HQ as Diamond Sponsor, Absa Bank as Platinum Sponsor, and BEES as Gold Sponsor, three organisations operating at different layers of the commerce stack, united by a common mission: enabling African businesses to trade smarter, faster and at scale.
Converge Africa unites leaders across Retail and eCommerce, Digital Marketing, Payments and Fintech, Digital Security, and Fulfilment, Logistics and Last Mile for three days of strategy, technology and high value meeting introductions.
The real challenge: turning African digital growth into profitable, scalable commerce
Across Africa, digital adoption is accelerating. Consumers are shopping online, mobile payments are mainstream, and informal retail is rapidly digitising. Yet many organisations are struggling to convert this growth into sustainable, profitable digital commerce.
Retailers battle with disconnected customer data and slow decision making.
Brands struggle to digitise fragmented trade networks.
Marketplaces face trust, fraud and cross border payment complexity.
Customers expect personalised, real time experiences without sacrificing privacy.
Converge Africa 2026 is designed to tackle these realities head on, bringing together the platforms, infrastructure and intelligence required to build the next generation of African digital commerce. Expect main stage keynotes, track led content, hands on workshops, an exhibition of market ready solutions, and structured networking to enable meaningful partnerships and tangible ROI.
It is within this context that Intent HQ, Absa Bank and BEES take centre stage.
“Scaling digital commerce in Africa requires more than a single solution, it requires intelligence, infrastructure and execution working together. Converge Africa brings that full commerce stack into one room. ” said Terry Southam,Group Director of Retail – Converge Africa.
Sponsor announcements and why they matter now
Intent HQ: powering real time, privacy first customer decisioning (Diamond Sponsor)
Intent HQ is the Human to AI Context Company that helps enterprises anticipate and activate real customer intent in real time, safely and at scale. Its flagship platform, IntentOne, sits between enterprise data estates and execution channels to orchestrate the moments that matter.
It detects intent signals, recommends next best actions, and activates decisions instantly across existing martech and experience stacks without replacing them. By combining always on data with on device Edge AI, Intent HQ delivers higher conversion, loyalty and lifetime value under strict privacy and security governance.
At Converge Africa, retailers and marketplaces will see live demos of IntentOne’s Customer Intent Engine, showing how to align engagement to true shopper readiness, improve decision velocity for promotions and service recovery, and prove measurable uplift with responsible AI. This speaks directly to the data fragmentation and personalisation challenges facing South African e commerce.
“We’re excited to return to Converge Africa to showcase our award-winning Agentic Customer AI. By understanding behavior and intent, we help brands deliver smarter, more inclusive digital services.”
– Jonathan Woolf, Chief Revenue Officer, Intent HQ
