Feb 13

Feb 13 The 2026 Motherland Conference at Cambridge University

This event summary was drafted by Norman Busigu (Womuhai)

Norman Busigu and members of the ACS Committee including the President and Vice President

From 6th-7th February, Cambridge University held its yearly (and landmark) two-day Motherland Conference, orchestrated by their Afro Caribbean Society (ACS) and supported by the Cambridge Union.

To commemorate this year being the 20th anniversary of their ACS, the theme of the conference was: “20 Years On, What Comes Next?” This theme was intentionally designed to celebrate African-Caribbean achievements in the western world up until now, but also to promote discussions of what the future of the black diaspora may look like on the wider world stage.

The two-day conference consisted of the following panel sessions:

- Education panel with Colleen Amos OBE (the CEO of the AMOS Bursary; distinguished educational equity advocate with 30+ years’ experience) and Michael Edoba (lawyer-turned-journalist and entrepreneur; Founder and CEO of Powerful Media).

- Celebrity Panel with The Pull Up Podcast – through their podcast, they aim to empower the black community through real conversations and storytelling in which they share cultural experiences that consistently resonate with their audiences.

- The Corporate Panel with Wanipa Ndhlovu (a commercial Lawyer), and CJ Nicholls (who holds a background in cybersecurity and digital auditing).

- The Creative Panel with myself (Norman Busigu).

After showing excerpts from my two critically acclaimed Docu-Films “Ghana: Africa’s Exciting Entry Point?” and “Nigeria: Can Its Youth Shape Its Future?”, I used this as a springboard to discuss wider themes, including:

African Entertainment and Media:

- The 2026 Grammys: Fela Kuti (the creator of Afrobeat) receiving a posthumous Grammy lifetime achievement award; the creation of the Best African Music Performance category.

- The significance of the IShowSpeed Africa Tour (20 countries in 28 days) via livestream.

- The successes of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025.

Broader questions I posed to the audience on these themes then included:

§ Is Afrobeats as a genre in stagnation?

§ Do we as Africans need to better gatekeep our own ecosystems?

§ Do we as Africans place too much focus on external validation form the western world/global north?

§ Do our governments in Africa have a responsibility to financially contribute to the development of our creative industries?

African Socio-political developments:

- The legacy of Ibrahim Traore in Burkina Faso.

- The significance of the Alliance of the Sahel States (AES) – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

- The controversial 2026 Uganda elections.

- Nigeria being the “Giant of Africa”.

Broader questions I posed to the audience on these themes then included:

§ Does the diaspora have a role play in Africa’s development? Or is it a responsibility for those on the ground mainly?

§ What are the biggest barriers to the diaspora contributing to Africa’s development e.g. obtaining visas/passports, intercontinental travel (lack of direct flight routes across Africa along with high expenses), lack of sufficiently accessible social infrastructure i.e. hospitals, roads

The event was closed off with a debate, “this house believes black capitalism is an empty dream”. A big thank you goes to Cambridge Union and all the ACS Committee members for a fantastic event.