Scheduled to run from August 6 to 8, 2026 in Johannesburg, the fourth annual DLO African Women in Leadership (AWIL) Summit has confirmed that His Excellency Dr Richard A Nixon, Senior Resident Ambassador of Grenada, will join its high-profile gathering of global industry leaders, investors, policy architects, development finance bodies and innovative entrepreneurs.
Organized around the central theme “Connecting Capital to Opportunity Across Africa,” the 2026 summit is built to serve as a collaborative dialogue hub for pressing economic topics spanning cross-border investment, large-scale infrastructure development, small and medium enterprise growth, skills capacity building, and private sector partnership. It will bring together decision-makers from across African nations and global international markets to uncover commercially viable, mutually beneficial opportunities that drive inclusive growth.
Ambassador Nixon brings a unique multi-role perspective to the summit: in addition to his diplomatic post as Grenada’s Senior Resident Ambassador, he chairs the Grenada Investment Development Corporation (GIDC) and holds the appointment of Ambassador-Designate to the African Union. Throughout his decades-long diplomatic career, he has been a vocal advocate for deeper collaboration between African and Caribbean stakeholders, centering his work on investment attraction, cross-regional business alliances, and shared economic advancement. As head of the GIDC, he has led strategic efforts to position Grenada as a competitive, welcoming destination for global capital, while facilitating ongoing dialogue between international institutions and Caribbean market opportunities.
Nixon’s participation in the 2026 AWIL Summit underscores a rapidly growing interest among global investors, business leaders and development institutions in unlocking untapped commercial links between Africa and the Caribbean. While cross-regional engagement between the two blocs has been expanding gradually in recent years, stakeholders across both regions are increasingly recognizing the massive collaborative potential across high-growth sectors including renewable energy, tourism, agriculture, education, digital innovation, and entrepreneurship.
In comments ahead of the summit, Linda Mabhena-Olagunju, Founder and Convenor of the DLO African Women in Leadership Summit, highlighted the event’s core mission: “One of the central objectives of the AWIL Summit is to create tangible, meaningful commercial opportunities for women-owned enterprises by connecting them with global investors, strategic industry partners, and untapped new markets. We are thrilled to welcome Ambassador Nixon to this year’s gathering, and we look forward to productive conversations that will strengthen business collaboration and unlock new investment pathways between African and Caribbean institutions.”
During the three-day event, Nixon will deliver targeted insights on three core themes: modern investment promotion strategy, economic diplomacy as a tool for cross-regional growth, and the critical role of industry platforms like AWIL in building long-term professional relationships, facilitating cross-border knowledge exchange, and laying the groundwork for future commercial partnerships between African and Caribbean organizations.
Hosted by DLO Energy Group in strategic partnership with the United Nations Office in South Africa, the 2026 AWIL Summit brings together senior leaders from government, development finance institutions, multinational corporations, global investment funds and the broader private sector. The event’s agenda is designed to enable open idea exchange, build durable strategic networks, and identify actionable opportunities that support expanded investment, inclusive entrepreneurship, and sustainable, broad-based economic growth across the African continent.
The summit’s three-day schedule is structured to cater to diverse participant needs: Day 1 will host the main Business and Leadership Summit at Webber Wentzel in Sandton; Day 2 will feature closed-door, invitation-only executive networking experiences across Johannesburg; and Day 3 will conclude with a Creative Economy Brunch held at Johannesburg’s iconic Shepstone Gardens.