Cape Town, South Africa – The 2026 Africa Energy Indaba will start its conference with a high-level plenary panel on “Energy Access and Energy Poverty – Mission 300M,” tackling one of the continent’s most pressing energy challenges.
Despite ongoing electrification efforts, hundreds of millions of Africans still lack access to reliable and affordable electricity. Governments report progress in new grid connections, but rapid population growth continues to widen the gap, affecting healthcare, education, industrialisation, and long-term economic growth.
The Opening Plenary will focus on how the Mission 300M initiative, aimed at connecting 300 million Africans to electricity, can move from planning to accelerated implementation. Discussions will cover unlocking capital, reforming regulatory frameworks, scaling distributed energy solutions, and strengthening regional power integration to achieve measurable results.
Speakers at the panel include Ethen Singh, CEO of Edison Power; Hon. Dr. Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, Uganda’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Development; Andrew Herscowitz, CEO of M300 Accelerator; Cassandra Siemens, eGRID Regional Manager at Hatch, who will host the panel; Nontokozo Hadebe, Group Executive for Strategy and Sustainability at Eskom; H.E. James Opiyo Wandayi, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Energy and Petroleum; and H.E. João Baptista Borges, Angola’s Minister of Energy and Water.
The panel will bring together ministers, utilities, investors, private sector leaders, and development partners to set the agenda for Africa’s energy investment platform. Key topics include accelerating Mission 300M targets, bridging financing gaps for grid and off-grid solutions, aligning electrification with population growth, and strengthening public-private partnerships.
“Africa cannot industrialise in the dark,” said Liz Hart, Managing Director of the Africa Energy Indaba. “Mission 300M represents a historic opportunity, but ambition must now translate into accelerated delivery. This plenary will bring together the decision-makers and investors capable of moving from policy discussion to implementation at scale.”
The 18th Africa Energy Indaba will host over 5,000 participants from more than 40 countries, including government officials, utilities, investors, project developers, multilateral institutions, and technology providers. The Opening Plenary will launch three days of strategic dialogue, investment engagement, and project development discussions from 3 to 5 March 2026 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
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