Standard Bank has confirmed that global comedian and producer Trevor Noah will headline the cocktail evening of its second African Markets Conference (AMC 2026), set to take place in Cape Town from 22 to 24 February 2026.
Noah will deliver the keynote address on Sunday 22 February and participate in a fireside discussion focused on “The Power of the Creative Economy on the African Continent”. The session will examine how formalising and investing in Africa’s cultural and creative industries could unlock economic value, create employment and position the continent as a competitive force in global creative markets.
The conference, hosted by Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking, aims to mobilise global capital at scale for Africa’s development priorities. It follows the inaugural 2025 event, which sought to reposition Africa’s investment narrative from risk to resilience.
Luvuyo Masinda, Chief Executive of Corporate and Investment Banking at Standard Bank Group, said this year’s conference is designed to bridge policy ambition and market execution. He noted that Africa requires deeper capital pools, stronger liquidity and clearer regulatory frameworks to enable large-scale capital deployment.
Africa’s infrastructure financing gap remains a central concern. Estimates suggest the continent requires about $150 billion annually for infrastructure but invests roughly half that amount. Standard Bank intends to use AMC 2026 as a platform to keep African priorities central to global investment discussions.
The programme will be structured around five pillars: positioning infrastructure as an investable asset class through public-private partnerships; accelerating the energy transition; deepening capital markets and mobilising private capital; strengthening intra-African trade and investment flows through the African Continental Free Trade Area; and addressing sovereign debt sustainability.
The event is expected to attract finance ministers, central bank governors, global asset managers, development finance institutions and multilateral agencies. Senior Standard Bank executives, including Group CEO Sim Tshabalala, will lead technical sessions on market liquidity and capital market development.
Organisers say the conference is intended to move beyond dialogue and generate tangible commitments to accelerate Africa’s growth agenda.