CEM Africa 2026 concluded at the Century City Conference Centre following three days of strong engagement across Africa’s customer experience community.
The 14th edition welcomed 970 attendees from more than 260 companies across 20 countries, bringing together senior CX, customer service, marketing, digital, technology and transformation leaders alongside solution providers and industry partners.
The event achieved a Net Promoter Score of 69, reflecting a strong response from delegates and reinforcing the relevance of the CEM Africa platform.
Across the programme, delegates had access to 43 workshop and breakout sessions and 10 main stage content sessions, with feedback consistently highlighting the quality, relevance and practical value of the content.
Discussions tackled the issues shaping CX today, including AI adoption, trust, customer intelligence, employee experience, digital transformation, customer journeys and the growing pressure to demonstrate measurable business value.
Standout voices and timely conversations
Under the theme “Trust, Technology and the Human Future of CX in Africa”, the programme combined global perspective with distinctly African CX challenges and opportunities.
Business journalist and best-selling author Bruce Whitfield delivered “The Trust Advantage”, exploring the role of trust in reducing friction and creating stronger business outcomes.
Zahirah Variawa, Founder of The Fourth Thread, opened Day Two with “The Moments People Remember: Why the Experiences We Create Matter More Than We Think”, placing human connection firmly at the centre of customer experience.
Martin Urrutia, Head of Global Retail Experience at The LEGO Group, delivered “Experience Is the Brand”, examining how organisations can design experiences that differentiate, scale and build loyalty.
From the public sector, Rashid Toefy, Deputy Director-General at the Western Cape Government, presented “Citizen Experience by Design: Building Trust Through Better Public Services”, highlighting the importance of experience design in strengthening trust between institutions and the people they serve.
Together, these sessions reinforced one of the strongest messages to emerge from CEM Africa 2026: technology is reshaping customer engagement, but trust, relevance and human connection remain fundamental to great experience.
Engagement across every part of the event
CEM Africa 2026 was designed to encourage participation beyond the main stage.
Delegates moved throughout the venue between keynote sessions, 43 workshops and breakouts, panel discussions, solution demonstrations, the exhibition and direct conversations with technology providers and peers.
Day Zero set the tone with The Social Club: Play. Taste. Connect, live podcast discussions and opening drinks, creating an informal environment for the community to connect before the main conference programme began.
Across Days One and Two, engagement continued through the exhibition, matchmaking and smaller-format sessions, while Matchmaking and Happy Hour and the CEM Engage Party created further opportunities for delegates, speakers and partners to build relationships outside the formal programme.
The event closed with WiN CX Africa, bringing female leaders together around leadership, safety, trust and inclusion in customer and employee experience.
Strong response from partners
Sponsors and exhibitors also reported a highly positive response, with partners contributing actively to both the content programme and the wider event experience.
NiCE, Lead Sponsor of CEM Africa 2026, played a prominent but integrated role throughout the summit, bringing practical perspectives on AI-powered customer experience, enterprise AI agents and the evolving relationship between human and AI-enabled service.
The wider partner community contributed expertise across Voice of Customer, customer intelligence, automation, conversational engagement, journey orchestration, contact centres and CX measurement, helping ensure that technology conversations remained grounded in real operational and commercial challenges.
The numbers behind CEM Africa 2026
The post-event results underline both the scale of the community and the depth of engagement across the programme:
- 970 total attendance
- 260+ companies represented
- 20 countries represented
- 43 workshop and breakout sessions
- 10 main stage content sessions
- +69 Event NPS
For CEM Africa, the NPS of 69 is particularly significant. It is not simply a measure of satisfaction, but an indication that delegates found genuine value in the content, connections and overall event experience.
“The response to CEM Africa 2026 has been incredibly encouraging. What stood out was the level of engagement across every part of the event, from the main stage and workshops to the exhibition, matchmaking and networking functions. An NPS of 69 reinforces that the community is finding real value in these conversations and in the connections CEM Africa creates.” – Terry Southam, Group Director retail, VUKA Group
Momentum builds towards CEM Johannesburg Edition
With the Cape Town flagship complete, attention now turns to the CEM Johannesburg Edition, taking place on 10–11 November 2026 at NH Hotel in Sandton.
The event expands to a full two-day format in 2026, bringing together senior CX decision-makers, practitioners and solution providers around practical workshops, peer-led insight, solution discovery and purposeful business networking.
The strong response in Cape Town is already carrying forward into Johannesburg, with growing interest from delegates, speakers and commercial partners.
