Three days
that move things.
From the "Last Mile 48h" Hackathon on October 19 to the signing of the Abidjan Declaration on October 23 at noon: five days of intensity designed to deliver operational value to every attendee. The programme below is provisional and will be refined as confirmations come in.
HackathonOctober 19 — 20, 2026
SummitOctober 21 — 23, 2026
FormatFR / EN simultaneous
Legend of the five verticals · one common thread
HEALTHTECH
Digital health
FINTECH
Economic inclusion
AGRITECH
Food security
EDTECH
Human capital
IMMOTECH
Housing & territories
IA & DATA
Cross-cutting thread
Hackathon
Last Mile 48h.
October 19 — 20, 2026
Sixty developers, designers, agronomists, finance professionals, urban planners and healthcare workers spend 48 hours tackling six concrete challenges set by ministries, NGOs and corporates. Continuous mentoring, final on the summit's main stage on October 21. Cash prizes and incubation programme up for grabs.
19 oct · 09h00
Hackathon kick-off
Presentation of the 6 challenges, team formation.
19 oct · 10h00
Challenge 1 — Maternal health
Improve prenatal monitoring in rural areas.
19 oct · 10h00
Challenge 2 — Health micro-insurance
Triggered by mobile money.
19 oct · 10h00
Challenge 3 — Agronomic advisory in local language
Via SMS and voice.
19 oct · 10h00
Challenge 4 — Learning platform
For low-bandwidth territories.
19 oct · 10h00
Challenge 5 — Digital land registry for informal neighbourhoods
Rental platform and provisional titles.
19 oct · 10h00
Challenge 6 — Interoperable digital identity
Multi-service, cross-sector.
19 oct · 19h00
Mentor and participant dinner
Networking and first exchanges.
20 oct · 09h00
Team work
Continuous mentoring sessions.
20 oct · 18h00
Submission of finalised prototypes
21 oct · 16h45
Final on the summit main stage
Presentation by the 6 finalist teams.
Tuesday October 21, 2026
Vision and state of the African last mile.
Opening ceremony, launch of the Africa Last Mile Index 2026, panels dedicated to the five verticals, Hackathon final and opening cocktail.
08h00 — 09h30
Welcome, accreditation, arrival coffee
First encounters in the exhibition area.
09h30 — 10h30
Official opening ceremony
Addresses by the Ministers of Health, Digital, Agriculture, Education, the Mayor of Abidjan and the President of EVIAL Group.
10h30 — 11h15
Inaugural keynote
"The last mile, Africa's systemic challenge for 2030" — speaker to be confirmed.
11h15 — 11h45
Official launch — Africa Last Mile Index 2026
Public presentation of the first pan-African cross-sector digital maturity index.
11h45 — 12h15
Coffee break and exhibition tour
12h15 — 13h30
Plenary 1 — State of the African last mile
"What the data say" — Cross-cutting panel bringing together a leader for each vertical.
13h30 — 14h45
Networking lunch
Exhibition area open.
14h45 — 16h15
Parallel sessions — 5 dedicated rooms
See details below.
16h15 — 16h45
Coffee break
16h45 — 18h00
Hackathon final
Presentation by the 6 finalist teams (10-min pitch + 3-min Q&A) before an international jury.
17h45 — 18h15
Deliberation and Hackathon awards
1st, 2nd, 3rd + audience favourite prize.
18h15 — 18h30
Day 1 closing remarks
By the President of EVIAL Group.
19h30 — 22h00
Opening cocktail
Hosted by the Platinum sponsor, open to all accredited attendees.
Parallel sessions · 2:45 pm — 4:15 pm
Salle A · 14h45
HealthTech panel
"Telemedicine and diagnostic AI: where does French-speaking Africa stand?" with a hospital CEO, a telemedicine startup, the WHO and a software publisher.
Salle B · 14h45
FinTech panel
"Mobile money and essential services: the invisible gateway of the last mile" with Wave, Orange Money, BCEAO, a micro-insurance operator.
Salle C · 14h45
AgriTech panel
"Connected agriculture and smallholder farmers" with OCP Africa, AGRA, an agronomic advisory startup and the FAO.
Salle D · 14h45
EdTech panel
"Learning everywhere: digital vocational training for territories" with Mastercard Foundation, Andela, a ministry and an EdTech startup.
Salle E · 14h45
Habitat panel
"Housing 100 million more Africans by 2035: affordable housing, digital land registry and inclusive cities" with UN-Habitat, Shelter Afrique, a Ministry of Construction, an African proptech and a modular construction industrialist.
Wednesday October 22, 2026
Innovation, convergence and investment.
Sovereign AI keynote, plenary on convergence between verticals, cross-cutting sessions, Investor Corner, scientific presentations and gala dinner.
08h30 — 09h00
Welcome and coffee
09h00 — 09h45
Keynote 2 — African sovereign AI
"The invisible layer of the last mile" by a leading figure in African AI.
09h45 — 11h00
Plenary 2 — Convergences between verticals
"When health meets finance, when agriculture meets education" — Roundtable of 4 leaders showcasing concrete intersection use cases.
11h00 — 11h30
Coffee break and networking
11h30 — 13h00
Cross-cutting parallel sessions
Four topics that span multiple verticals — see details below.
13h00 — 14h30
Networking lunch
In the exhibition area.
14h30 — 17h30
Investor Corner
15 startups pitch (3 per vertical × 5 verticals, 8 min + 4-min Q&A) before 25 pan-African and international investors. Intimate format by invitation.
14h30 — 17h00
Scientific abstract presentations
In parallel — 5 rooms, 12-minute oral presentations.
17h00 — 18h00
Scientific poster sessions
With authors present to discuss.
18h00 — 19h00
Individual B2B meetings
Via the summit platform.
19h30 — 23h00
Gala dinner
Diamond sponsor. By invitation and VIP badges. Speech by the official patron, honorary awards, Ivorian cultural performance.
Cross-cutting sessions · 11:30 am — 1:00 pm
Salle A · 11h30
AI & local languages
"Recognise, translate, speak African" — Demonstrations of models trained on Wolof, Bambara, Baoulé, Lingala.
Salle B · 11h30
Data sovereignty and ECOWAS compliance
Practical legal workshop with a law firm, a regulator and a DPO from a regional operator.
Salle C · 11h30
Sustainable last-mile business models
How to fund solutions sustainably? With Proparco, a pan-African VC and an operator at break-even.
Salle D · 11h30
Women and the last mile
"Key actors and primary beneficiaries" — With UN Women, women leaders from the verticals, gender impact studies.
Day 2 · 2:30 pm — 6:05 pm
15 startups (3 per vertical × 5 verticals) pitch for 8 minutes before 25 pan-African and international investors, followed by 4 minutes of Q&A. Intimate format by invitation, followed by one-to-one meetings.
14h30 — 15h15
3 HealthTech startups
45 minutes of pitches.
15h15 — 16h00
3 FinTech startups
45 minutes of pitches.
16h00 — 16h15
Break
16h15 — 17h00
3 AgriTech startups
45 minutes of pitches.
17h00 — 17h45
3 EdTech & ImmoTech startups
45 minutes of pitches.
Thursday October 23, 2026
Decisions, workshops and commitments.
Closed-door Policy Roundtable in parallel with hands-on workshops, public signing of the Abidjan Declaration, closing plenary and announcement of ALMS 2027.
08h30 — 09h00
Welcome and coffee
09h00 — 12h00
Policy Roundtable (closed-door)
"Cross-sector ECOWAS digital interoperability" — Closed-door dialogue between Ministers, WHO Africa, AfDB, ECOWAS Commission, Smart Africa, GSMA and donors.
09h00 — 10h30
Workshop 1 — HealthTech
"Building a national telemedicine strategy" — Run by a consultant and a national programme director.
09h00 — 10h30
Workshop 2 — FinTech
"Launching a micro-insurance product triggered by mobile money" — Practical case with an operator.
10h30 — 10h45
Coffee break
10h45 — 12h00
Workshop 3 — AgriTech
"Setting up a digital agronomic advisory service for 100,000 farmers".
10h45 — 12h00
Workshop 4 — EdTech
"Designing a hybrid vocational training pathway for territories".
12h00 — 13h00
Public reading of the Policy Roundtable
Synthesis and OFFICIAL SIGNING of the Abidjan Declaration on cross-sector ECOWAS digital interoperability.
13h00 — 14h30
Networking lunch
14h30 — 15h45
Closing plenary — On to 2027
"Commitments and roadmaps" — Synthesis of the three days, announcements of concrete partner commitments.
15h45 — 16h30
Closing ceremony
Abstract awards (oral and poster) + Official announcement of the ALMS 2027 edition.
16h30 — 18h00
Closing cocktail
Final exchanges and networking.
Highlights
at a glance.
Plenaries
Opening ceremony, State of the last mile, Convergences, Policy Roundtable readout + Abidjan Declaration, On to 2027 closing.
Keynotes
"The last mile, Africa's systemic challenge for 2030" and "African sovereign AI: the invisible layer".
Parallel sessions
5 panels dedicated to the verticals (D1) and 4 cross-cutting sessions (D2 morning).
Hands-on workshops
National telemedicine strategy, mobile money micro-insurance, digital agronomic advisory, hybrid training pathway.
Scientific presentations
Selected abstracts presented in parallel sessions on D2 afternoon (12 min per presentation) + ~50 posters.
Investor Corner pitches
3 startups per vertical × 5 verticals before 25 investors, by invitation.
Exhibition booths
Continuous space open from D1 morning to D3 afternoon + 24/7 B2B meeting platform.
Deliverables
Africa Last Mile Index 2026 + Abidjan Declaration signed by Ministers and donors.
All plenaries and keynotes will benefit from simultaneous French/English interpretation. Parallel sessions will be held in the speaker's language (mostly French).
Reserve your seat
now.
Early Bird rates available until September 30, 2026. The final programme will be published in September 2026.