PAN-AFRICAN INDIGENOUS ECONOMIC DESIGN & DELIVERY

Africa's Indigenous economy, owned by its people.

Capital, knowledge and markets built on African Indigenous knowledge systems, governed by the people who live them.

Green hills meeting the coast.

Annual convening

Indigenomics Africa Week

When: 19–23 October 2026
Where: Online

Where projects, capital, policy and partners convene to reflect, learn and set the commitments for developing the African Indigenous Economy.

Four men in elaborate blue and white beaded traditional attire

2026 theme

One Health, One Economy: Africa's Indigenous Wellbeing Future

Four pillars

1. Sovereignty
2. Community
3. Indigenous Innovation
4. IKS Financing

Three tracks

1. Securing Natural Medicine, Food Sovereignty, and the Bioeconomy
2. Empowering and Deploying Africa's Indigenous Health Workforce
3. Leveraging Data and Technology for Africa's Wellbeing Future

Indigenomics Africa Week · Convening programme

Five days from understanding to capital.

Online · 19–23 October 2026 · All times SAST (UTC+2)

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35 sessions: 23 panels, 4 fireside conversations, 3 masterclasses, and 5 keynotes. Every day opens and closes in plenary.

Day 1

Understand

Foundations

Monday 19 October
11:00 to 17:10 SAST

7 sessions

Keynote

Indigenomics Africa: A Continental Economy Driven by Indigenous Ingenuity

Day 2

Authorise

Sovereignty

Tuesday 20 October
11:00 to 16:10 SAST

7 sessions

Keynote

Sovereignty by Design: Engineering Authority, Accountability and Collective Leadership

Day 3

Activate

Community

Wednesday 21 October
11:00 to 17:10 SAST

8 sessions

Keynote

Capable and Productive Communities: The Engine Room of the African Indigenous Economy

Day 4

Create

Indigenous Innovation

Thursday 22 October
11:00 to 16:10 SAST

7 sessions

Keynote

Tools of Practice: Building the Cutting Edge for Indigenous Continuity

Day 5

Capitalise

Financing

Friday 23 October
10:00 to 15:30 SAST

6 sessions

Keynote

Our Capital, Our Terms: A Financing Architecture for the African Indigenous Economy

65 speakers expected across the Week, based on the current line-up, subject to confirmation.

Day 1 of 5

Understand

Foundations

Monday 19 October

11:00 to 17:10 SAST

7 sessions

With an opening and a closing in plenary.

Sessions sharing a time run in parallel.

11:00–11:30
OPENING
Introducing Indigenomics Africa
11:30–12:15
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
Africa: A Continent Generating Value It Does Not Keep
12:30–13:15
FIRESIDE · ONE ECONOMY
Beyond GDP: Wellbeing Economies, the Five Capitals and Indigenomics
13:30–14:45
KEYNOTE · ONE ECONOMY
Indigenomics Africa: A Continental Economy Driven by Indigenous Ingenuity
15:00–15:45
FIRESIDE · ONE HEALTH
Health Is Wholeness: Understanding One Health from the Ground Up
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
What Economic Collective Action Means in Practice
16:00–16:45
MASTERCLASS · ONE ECONOMY
Breaking Down the Value Chain of the Indigenous Health Economy
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
Whole Health Made Real: Mpondoland’s Cannabis Legacy and Practitioner Views on Regulation
16:55–17:10
CLOSING
Reflections

17 speakers expected · Who we expect on day 1

Expected, based on the current line-up, subject to confirmation. Moderators are not counted.

Indigenous leaders and practitioners: 2
Government and public institutions: 1
Academics and researchers: 2
Enterprise and trade: 4
Finance and investment: 0
Policy, law and civil society: 3
Convening partners: 2
Affiliation to be confirmed: 3

Day 2 of 5

Authorise

Sovereignty

Tuesday 20 October

11:00 to 16:10 SAST

7 sessions

With an opening and a closing in plenary.

Sessions sharing a time run in parallel.

11:00–11:15
OPENING
The Action Word Is “Authorise”
11:30–12:15
FIRESIDE · ONE ECONOMY
What Law Can and Cannot Fix: A South African Perspective on Indigenous Laws
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
Governing Indigenously Held Natural Capital: Access, Benefit-Sharing and Biopiracy
12:30–13:45
KEYNOTE · ONE FUTURE
Sovereignty by Design: Engineering Authority, Accountability and Collective Leadership
14:00–14:45
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
Regulating Indigenous Health Practice: Councils, Standards and Integration
FIRESIDE · ONE ECONOMY
IBhunga: A New Architecture for Indigenous-Led Development
15:00–15:45
PANEL · ONE FUTURE
Data Governance Is Knowledge Governance
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
Forum Picking: Where the Indigenous Economy Gets Decided
15:55–16:10
CLOSING
Reflections

12 speakers expected · Who we expect on day 2

Expected, based on the current line-up, subject to confirmation. Moderators are not counted.

Indigenous leaders and practitioners: 5
Government and public institutions: 2
Academics and researchers: 2
Enterprise and trade: 0
Finance and investment: 0
Policy, law and civil society: 2
Convening partners: 0
Affiliation to be confirmed: 1

Day 3 of 5

Activate

Community

Wednesday 21 October

11:00 to 17:10 SAST

8 sessions

With an opening and a closing in plenary.

Sessions sharing a time run in parallel.

11:00–11:15
OPENING
The Action Word Is “Activate”
11:30–12:15
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
From Land to Lab (Part 1): Healthy Herds, Healthy Households: Livestock, Wildlife and the Community Economy
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
The Village as the Balance Sheet: Communities Mapping Their Assets and Opportunities
12:30–13:45
KEYNOTE · ONE FUTURE
Capable and Productive Communities: The Engine Room of the African Indigenous Economy
14:00–14:45
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
From Land to Lab (Part 2): Community Medicine, Food and Biodiversity
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
The Village-to-Market Path: Moving Community Products from Idea to Trade
15:00–15:45
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
Building the One Health Production Workforce: Skills, Pathways and Enterprise
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
Institutions That Trade: Cooperatives, Trusts and Circles Owned by Communities
16:00–16:45
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
Healers, Community Health Workers and the Wellbeing Workforce: Roles, Pathways and Pay
16:55–17:10
CLOSING
Reflections

18 speakers expected · Who we expect on day 3

Expected, based on the current line-up, subject to confirmation. Moderators are not counted.

Indigenous leaders and practitioners: 1
Government and public institutions: 4
Academics and researchers: 5
Enterprise and trade: 6
Finance and investment: 0
Policy, law and civil society: 0
Convening partners: 1
Affiliation to be confirmed: 1

Day 4 of 5

Create

Indigenous Innovation

Thursday 22 October

11:00 to 16:10 SAST

7 sessions

With an opening and a closing in plenary.

Sessions sharing a time run in parallel.

11:00–11:15
OPENING
The Action Word Is “Create”
11:30–12:15
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
Strengthening Informal Community-Led Indigenous Health Systems
MASTERCLASS · ONE ECONOMY
Codifying Indigenous Knowledge into Assets
12:30–13:45
KEYNOTE · ONE FUTURE
Tools of Practice: Building the Cutting Edge for Indigenous Continuity
14:00–14:45
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
Training the Indigenous Wellbeing Innovators: Embedded Pathways
PANEL · ONE FUTURE
Sovereign Health Technology: AI, Genomics and Digital Records Under Indigenous Authority
15:00–15:45
MASTERCLASS · ONE HEALTH
Indigenous Health Innovation: A One Health Community Response Model of Primary Care, Built into a Formal System
PANEL · ONE FUTURE
Innovating on Indigenous Terms
15:55–16:10
CLOSING
Reflections

13 speakers expected · Who we expect on day 4

Expected, based on the current line-up, subject to confirmation. Moderators are not counted.

Indigenous leaders and practitioners: 3
Government and public institutions: 0
Academics and researchers: 4
Enterprise and trade: 2
Finance and investment: 0
Policy, law and civil society: 1
Convening partners: 1
Affiliation to be confirmed: 2

Day 5 of 5

Capitalise

Financing

Friday 23 October

10:00 to 15:30 SAST

6 sessions

With an opening and a closing in plenary.

Sessions sharing a time run in parallel.

10:00–10:15
OPENING
The Action Word Is “Capitalise”
10:30–11:15
PANEL · ONE HEALTH
Financing the Natural Medicine and Food Economy: Blended Capital on Community Terms
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
Reading the Money: Where Value Leaks and How Capital Reaches Communities
11:30–12:45
KEYNOTE · ONE ECONOMY
Our Capital, Our Terms: A Financing Architecture for the African Indigenous Economy
13:00–13:45
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
Patient Capital Meets Indigenous Terms: What Investors Must Change
PANEL · ONE FUTURE
Financing the Data and Technology Backbone: Digital Public Infrastructure on Community Terms
14:00–14:45
PANEL · ONE ECONOMY
Trade, Not Aid: Using the AfCFTA to Reach Continental Markets
14:55–15:30
CLOSING
Call to Action

14 speakers expected · Who we expect on day 5

Expected, based on the current line-up, subject to confirmation. Moderators are not counted.

Indigenous leaders and practitioners: 1
Government and public institutions: 0
Academics and researchers: 0
Enterprise and trade: 2
Finance and investment: 3
Policy, law and civil society: 3
Convening partners: 2
Affiliation to be confirmed: 3

Indigenomics Africa Week

Speakers

1 / 17

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Zwakele Mbanjwa

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Ntombenhle Shezi

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Carol-Anne Hilton

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Mphatheleni Makaulule

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Joshua Ahimbisibwe

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Thobile Chittenden

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Bhanekazi Mpumlwana

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Dr Israa Siddig

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Dr Vivian Camacho

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Karabo Mokoena

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Oratile Mothoagae

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Nicholene Nxumalo

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Fitsum Alemayehu

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Tama Monday Yari

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Prof David Katerere

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Dr Prosper Sievu

Indigenomics Africa Week speaker poster: Thembalethu Seyisi

Why this matters

Every African family knows the ache of a child who had to leave home to build a life. We are building an Africa where everyone can stay, thrive and come home.

The wealth was never missing. It lives in our land, our knowledge and our people. When the people who hold it own it, villages become places of opportunity, not departure.

40.5m: Africans living outside the country they were born in, 19.5 million of them outside the continent; Source: UN DESA 2020, IOM World Migration Report 2024
38.8m: people in sub-Saharan Africa displaced inside their own countries, a record, most still unable to return home; Source: IDMC Global Report on Internal Displacement 2025
65%: of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land is in Africa; Source: African Development Bank, Feed Africa
US$1tn: estimated value of Africa's food and agribusiness economy by 2030; Source: African Development Bank, 2023

The case in 2 minutes

What Africa already holds

The problem, the mission and the objectives of Indigenomics Africa: from village to one continental market, with capital that stays and regenerates.

Playing silently on loop.

What Africa Already Holds. Indigenomics Africa, 2026.

Central African rainforest.

The non-extractive sequence

Think. Be. Create.

No research before recognition. No commercialisation before community ownership.

Think

Knowledge is the asset base.

Indigenous knowledge is documented and evidenced, with clear community title.

Be

Governance secures the licence.

Authority, consent and custodianship come first, giving every project legal and social standing.

Create

Enterprise and returns follow.

Ventures, products, infrastructure and markets, with communities co-owning the upside.

Golden grassland beneath the sandstone cliffs of the Drakensberg, South Africa

Drakensberg, South Africa. Photo: Bernard Dupont, CC BY-SA 2.0

From village to market

One path from the homestead to continental trade.

01
Smart village
Serviced, connected, community-governed economic nodes.
02
Regional network
Villages aggregated into supply, skills and demand.
03
Industrial and market infrastructure
Processing, manufacturing, certification and logistics.
04
Continental trade
Community-owned products into AfCFTA's 1.3-billion-person market.

Institutional architecture

Four vehicles. The counterparty structure partners need.

A year-round platform covering consent, capability, innovation and capital.

Sovereign Circle

Indigenous governance authority, consent frameworks and community sovereignty. It governs knowledge and benefit separately from investment.

Community Network

Practitioner pathways, enterprise training, workforce development and community participation.

Embo Co.lab Hub for African Indigenous Innovation

Research, validation, codification, production and digital infrastructure for community-owned industries.

Hlumisa Fund

IP pathways, blended finance, community investment vehicles and value-retention mechanisms.

Eight sectors. Five capitals.

Health is the first market entry point.

Natural capital
Human capital
Social capital
Cultural capital
Economic capital

01Indigenous health economy
02Indigenous knowledge systems
03Food, land and agroecology
04Bioeconomy and circular systems
05Blue-green and water economy
06Cultural economy, tourism and heritage
07Technology, data and ICT
08Energy and infrastructure

Year-round platform

Flagships already bringing opportunity home.

Discuss a flagship →

Researchers in white lab coats and community members gathered at a tree improvement nursery beside a greenhouse — Tree improvement research unit, Nigeria. Photo: Oloyedegk, CC BY-SA 4.0

Innovation

Embo Co.lab Hub for African Indigenous Innovation

A working hub where practitioners, researchers and builders turn Indigenous knowledge into products, ventures and tools.

Villagers in Mtanga, Tanzania, gathered around a large printed satellite map of their community — Participatory mapping, Mtanga, Tanzania. Photo: Jane Goodall Institute / Lilian Pintea via USAID, public domain

Knowledge and IP

isiNtu Sethu Codification Project

Knowledge codified in its own worldview and language, registered as community-owned IP through Community Sovereign Trusts with IPROSA.

Three smiling young women and a girl relaxing together outside wooden homes in a village — Village life. Photo: Rod Waddington, CC BY-SA 2.0

Rural infrastructure

BIGAfrica Smart Villages Initiative

Transforming rural African villages to smart villages with connectivity, energy, water, food, health and enterprise coordinated into place-based economies, with aggregated demand and a repeatable deployment model.

A woman wrapped in a painted blanket stands before a thatched rondavel on the coast, South Africa — Isangoma, South Africa. Photo: Yann Macherez, CC BY-SA 4.0

One Health · Phase 1 sector

iCamagu Health & Medicine

A social business with two verticals. iCamagu Health runs smart teaching clinics and an AI-native, Indigenous knowledge-integrated health information system. iCamagu Medicine cultivates and manufactures natural foods and medicines, making Indigenous formulations manufacturing-ready with practitioners.

Our reach

One continent, many roots.

Phase 1 begins on South Africa's Wild Coast. The platform is built to grow across all 54 nations.

Pilot and Phase 1
Network countries

Pilot and Phase 1

South Africa · Wild Coast

Pilot and Phase 1, Sunrise in the South. Wild Coast SEZ case with a signed R1.405bn pipeline. Indigenous health and wellbeing is the first sector.

People and place

The people carrying the work, so the next generation can stay.

A Maasai elder in a wide beaded collar and patterned shawl, looking into the distance — Maasai elder, East AfricaPhoto: Hamoo57, CC BY 4.0

A row of amaXhosa women elders in orange traditional dress and headwraps — amaXhosa women, South AfricaPhoto: Chell Hill, CC BY-SA 3.0

A woman farmer tending green crops on a hillside farm in Kenya — Woman farmer, KenyaPhoto: CIAT, CC BY-SA 2.0

Aerial view of the stone enclosures of Great Zimbabwe — Great Zimbabwe · Janice Bell, CC BY-SA 4.0

The earthen Great Mosque of Djenné with a man and bicycle in the foreground — Great Mosque of Djenné, Mali · Ruud Zwart, CC BY-SA 3.0

Mapungubwe Hill at sunset, Limpopo — Mapungubwe Hill, South Africa · Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Reference imagery under Creative Commons licences. Community-consented portraits with named people will replace these as the library grows.

A Sahel river bend.

Governance and partners

Africa writing its own story, in kinship with Indigenous peoples worldwide.

The Indigenomics Big Sister Collaboration Agreement, signed on 29 September 2026, sets a fifty-year vision for a continental Indigenous economic design and delivery platform.

50 years

FOUNDING PARTNER

Indigenomics Institute

Vancouver

Steward of the Indigenomics methodology, framework and global relationships.

LEAD

IPROSA

Indigenous Professions of Southern Africa NPC

Continental steward of Indigenomics Africa: community engagement, programming, partnerships and delivery.

Accountability

Joint Steering Committee

Both parties

Guides governance, annual planning and accountability.

Consent before capital

Authority and consent stay with communities.

The Sovereign Circle governs knowledge and benefit separately from investment. Free, prior and informed consent, aligned with UNDRIP, comes first. Sacred or restricted knowledge is never described or traded. Every decision is tested against one question: does it increase the share of value communities own?

COLLABORATORS

Leadership

The people convening this work.

Zwakele Mbanjwa
Chief Convenor, Indigenomics Africa
Bhanekazi Mpumlwana
CEO, IPROSA
Carol Anne Hilton
CEO, Indigenomics Institute
Hanae Bezad
Steering Committee Member
Ntombenhle Shezi
Steering Committee Member
Gerard Verhoef
Steering Committee Member

Four pathways

Where your capital and capability fit.

DFIs, investors, philanthropic funders

Nothing on this site is an offer of securities or a promise of returns. Accord participation is not a commitment to finance; each institution decides on its own mandate and due diligence.

Publications and resources

Read the evidence.

Latest updates on LinkedIn →

Briefing note
2026
Indigenomics Africa: Platform briefing note
The platform, its architecture and how institutions take part.
Coming soon
Whitepaper
2026
Makube Chosi, Kube hele: A new economic architecture for Africa's Indigenous economy
Sizing the opportunity and the governance that makes it bankable.
Coming soon
Framework
September 2026
Big Sister Collaboration Agreement: summary
The fifty-year vision shared by IPROSA and the Indigenomics Institute.
Coming soon
Programme
October 2026
Indigenomics Africa Week 2026: programme
Tracks, sessions and speakers for 19–23 October 2026, online.
Coming soon

Invitation

Help build the Africa come home to.

Start a conversation

Newsletter

Watch home grow.

Pipeline news, publications and Indigenomics Africa Week updates. A few times a year, never more.

Contact

Let's talk terms.

Email: info@iprosa.org
LinkedIn: IPROSA on LinkedIn
Website: www.iprosa.org

Africa's Indigenous economy, owned by its people.

Indigenomics Africa Week

Five days from understanding to capital.

Understand

Authorise

Activate

Create

Capitalise

Speakers

Every African family knows the ache of a child who had to leave home to build a life. We are building an Africa where everyone can stay, thrive and come home.

What Africa already holds

Think. Be. Create.

Think

Be

Create

One path from the homestead to continental trade.

Smart village

Regional network

Industrial and market infrastructure

Continental trade

Four vehicles. The counterparty structure partners need.

Sovereign Circle

Community Network

Embo Co.lab Hub for African Indigenous Innovation

Hlumisa Fund

Eight sectors. Five capitals.

Flagships already bringing opportunity home.

Embo Co.lab Hub for African Indigenous Innovation

isiNtu Sethu Codification Project

BIGAfrica Smart Villages Initiative

iCamagu Health & Medicine

One continent, many roots.

South Africa · Wild Coast

The people carrying the work, so the next generation can stay.

Africa writing its own story, in kinship with Indigenous peoples worldwide.

Indigenomics Institute

IPROSA

Joint Steering Committee

Authority and consent stay with communities.

The people convening this work.

Zwakele Mbanjwa

Bhanekazi Mpumlwana

Carol Anne Hilton

Hanae Bezad

Ntombenhle Shezi

Gerard Verhoef

Where your capital and capability fit.

Invest

Build

Partner

Trade

Read the evidence.

Indigenomics Africa: Platform briefing note

Makube Chosi, Kube hele: A new economic architecture for Africa's Indigenous economy

Big Sister Collaboration Agreement: summary

Indigenomics Africa Week 2026: programme

Help build the Africa weour childrenyouour mothersour sistersour fathersour friendsour neighboursour mothersour fathersour sonsour daughtersour deceasedour ancestorsour mindsour bodiesour heartsour leadersour effortsour bestour grandfathersour grandmothers come home to.

Watch home grow.

Let's talk terms.

Help build the Africa come home to.