Africa Day 2026: 5,000 young people expected at Sciences Po Paris to meet African recruiters
More than 5,000 students and young professionals are expected on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at Sciences Po Paris, on Rue Saint-Guillaume, for the third edition of Africa Day. The event is organized by the French-African Foundation in partnership with the pan-African group AXIAN and Sciences Po.
The announced program features around a hundred international figures, some thirty round-table discussions, "career talks," mentoring workshops, and a recruitment fair open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Among the organizations coming to recruit are the AXIAN group, the Congolese bank Rawbank, Africa Currency Network, the Moroccan firm OCP, Concerto, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jeune Afrique magazine, and Diaspora Connect.
Making the continent a career choice
The goal is explicit: to convince young people trained in Europe, often from the diaspora, that their professional trajectory can be built in Africa. The sectors highlighted are energy, digital technology, finance, and infrastructure, driven by the rapid adoption of technologies and the rise in investments in African tech, notes Financial Afrik.
"Africa is not a distant promise," asserts Nachouat Meghouar, Director General of the French-African Foundation, as quoted by Afrimag, describing a continent that is already a "formidable space for creation." For AXIAN CEO Hassanein Hiridjee, the transformation of the continent requires, above all, "investing in women and men." The group is expected to use the day to present its NextGen Leadership program, designed to circulate young talent across its operations in several African countries.
The bet on the circulation of skills
This type of meeting shifts the debate on "brain drain." The question is no longer just about retaining African graduates, but about offering them positions, salaries, and prospects that make returning or moving back and forth possible. Companies on the continent, for their part, find a talent pool they do not always have the means to seek out locally.
It remains to be seen what the real effects will be. A fair does not create jobs on its own, and the success of Africa Day will be measured by the contracts signed in the months that follow, not by the number of badges distributed in Paris. The signal, however, is clear: African recruiters are now coming to Europe to find their executives, rather than the other way around.
This article was written in French with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited below, then translated from French automatically. Read the original.
