8^th Biennial Conference of the Africa Academy of Management

January 4-7, 2026
ESCA Ecole de Management
Casablanca, MOROCCO

‘The Art of Collaboration: Addressing Grand Challenges in Africa Through Research, Education, Practice and Policy Making’

An increasingly complex world characterized by intractable problems with implications for quality of life and ecological sustainability have been labelled societal grand challenges. In an African context, these challenges include eradication of poverty, digital transformation, ecological sustainability, entrepreneurial initiatives, and health promotion among others. The ill-defined nature of these grand challenges not only require interdisciplinary collaborations but also a mix of methodological approaches to understand these challenges. The theme of the AFAM 2026 Biennial conference ‘The Art of Collaboration: Addressing Grand Challenges in Africa Through Research, Education, Practice and Policy Making’ provides a platform for multiple stakeholders to engage in robust discussions across disciplinary boundaries, reflect on contextualized pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning, and wrestle with how to bridge the academic-practitioner divide to contextualize solutions to Africa’s grand challenges. Reflecting the broader call for relevance in management research, the theme of the conference puts the spotlight on understanding and theorizing management-related phenomena in African contexts to advance global management theory as well as develop contextualized solutions to some of these challenges.

We encourage the submission of empirical and conceptual papers that broadly align with the theme of the conference and address context-specific issues, including but not limited to:

• Inclusive Business Models for Sustainable Development in Africa
• Entrepreneurship and Youth Empowerment: Building Africa’s Future Workforce
• Leadership Philosophies and Indigenous Management Practices
• Digital Innovations and Technology Adoption in African Markets
• Policy Frameworks for Enhancing Regional Trade and Economic Integration
• Climate Resilience and Green Business Practices in African Enterprises
• Ethical Business Practices: Combating Corruption and Strengthening Transparency
• Business Education and Skill Development for Future Industries
• Informal Economies and Their Role in Urban and Rural Development
• Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs
• Religion and spirituality in African organizations
• Transforming Healthcare Systems Through Innovation and Collaboration
• Financing Innovation and Addressing Capital Constraints in African Start-ups
• Navigating for Natural Resources and Geopolitics in African Business
• Decolonization and the African University
• Context Specific Methodologies for Africa

Conference Proceedings:

Proceedings Editor: Dorothy Mpabanga, University of Botswana, Botswana (dorothym366@gmail.com )

Abstracts of papers accepted and presented at the conference will be published in Conference Proceedings. There will be a best paper award for each track. Winners will receive a certificate, and the paper will be highlighted in the conference program. Best papers will also be considered for publication in the Africa Journal of Management (AJOM) subject to the journal’s blind review process.

Please check the AJOM website at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rajm20/current

About The Host Institution:

Established in 1992, ESCA School of Management has continuously innovated, adopting global best practices in higher education to provide high-quality instruction. In 2017, ESCA became the first private management school in Morocco to be officially recognized by the state. As a further recognition of its commitment to excellence, ESCA received AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation in 2018, the first business school in Morocco and Francophone Africa to receive such a recognition. Located in the heart of the Casablanca Finance City, the school boasts a Next-Generation campus hosting students from 30 different nationalities. The school offers a wide range of postgraduate programs including Executive Master’s, MBA, Specialized Master’s as well as undergraduate programs including Professional Bachelor’s Degree and a Bachelor’s in Business Management among others. Students enrolled on these programs gain international exposure through the school’s partnerships with 121 higher education institutions worldwide. ESCA is perennially ranked as the top business school in Morocco and Francophone Africa. Additionally, it secured the 3rd spot in Africa in the esteemed Eduniversal rankings of 2023. Each year, ESCA School of Management trains over 1,100 multicultural students, equipping them to become engaged, innovative, responsible, visionary, and high-performing leaders.

Please follow these guidelines and formatting instructions to prepare your paper:

• Each paper can only be submitted to ONE track. If a proposed idea does not seem to fit any of the tracks described above, authors should contact the Program Co-Chairs: Samuel Aryee, University of Surrey (s.aryee@surrey.ac.uk) and Sherwat Elwan Ibrahim, American University in Cairo (email: sherwat@aucegypt.edu). Your submission will be directed to the most appropriate track. 
• All papers and proposals should be submitted electronically via the conference website at www.africaacademyofmanagement.org
• Submitted papers must NOT have been previously published and if under review, must NOT appear in print before the AFAM 2026 Conference.
• Paper submissions will be blind reviewed. Authors should therefore remove all author-identifying information, including acknowledgments from the text, and document properties.
• The paper (title page, abstract, main text, figures, tables, references, etc) must be in one document created in a PDF format.
• The maximum length of a paper must be 40 pages (including tables, appendices and references). The paper format should follow the Africa Journal of Management’s style guide)
• No changes in the paper title, abstract, authorship, and actual paper can occur after the submission deadline
• Once a submission is accepted, all panelists in a PDW/Caucus/Symposia, and at least one author of a co-authored paper must register for the conference. Otherwise their submissions will not be included in the Conference Program or Proceedings.   
• Those submitting work to the conference are expected to serve as reviewers. They are to register both as author and reviewer on the conference website.
• The submission portal opens on February 15^th, 2025, and closes at midnight on May 15^th, 2025. 

AFAM Conference Guidelines for Presentations

Full papers have been allocated 90 minute sessions and presenters should share the time and leave room for discussion. It is intended that presenters and the chair/discussant for each session will have read each other's papers in advance and should arrange to send the papers to each other.

Full paper presentations will be made using a laptop and data projector. You will be asked to bring your presentation to the event on a memory stick, for use on the day, along with sufficient copies of a slide handout for your audience.

The structure of the Professional Development Workshop (PDW) sessions will be as agreed upon by the Track and Conference Chairs for 90mins. PDW sessions are designed to be interactive. It is advisable that all PDW sessions should stick to the times allocated so that they do not run into scheduled sessions.  

Presenters can also submit Symposium Proposals. A symposium proposal should include an overview of the session and a summary of the presentations for each presenter. The proposal can also include a discussant. Symposium sessions will be 90 minutes.

Poster presenters can begin setting up 30 minutes before the start of their scheduled posters session.  Staff members will be available during set-up to provide authors with materials for mounting data and illustrations. All posters must remain on display for the duration of the poster session.

Posters must be attended by the author/s for the first 40mins of the poster session, at minimum.
 Once your poster session concludes you can begin to remove your poster. Tear-down must be completed no later than 30 minutes after the poster session has ended. Posters left up after the tear-down period will be removed for disposal. AFAM is not responsible for any lost or damaged posters.

You must provide an abstract of your paper and illustrations in a size and format suitable for poster display. It is also suggested that you prepare brief statements of the purpose of your work, your experimental methodology and design, and the major results of your findings and their implications.


Abstracts and illustrations must be readable from distances of 3 ft. or more. Text should be printed from a laser printer, in a font size large enough to read from that distance. Keep illustrations simple. Limited use of color, however, can add emphasis. Any photograph should be a minimum of 8 in. x 10 in. Minimum size for all other illustrations is 9 in. x 12 in. 

The rooms allocated for Full Papers and Professional Development Workshops Presentations will have a laptop, data projector and screen available. Please note: delegates will need to bring their presentation on a USB data stick and arrive early to upload their presentation onto the laptop. This is to ensure presentations are uploaded successfully and to allow enough time for any technical difficulties that may arise. Delegates can also bring any materials they wish to distribute to other delegates during their presentation. AFAM suggests bringing 20 copies for distribution. 

Please see below the session timings allocated for every delegate’s presentation

Please see below the session timings allocated for every delegate’s presentation.

Technical Information

All rooms, which have a laptop, data projector, and screen available, will be installed with the following packages from Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Delegates therefore must ensure the file type of the presentation is fully compatible with Microsoft Office.

Laptop and Printing Facilities

Please note: those that want to use Apple Macs and iPads will need to have their connecting cables as these would not be supplied by the conference. Further, you will have to bring your own electrical adapters given that the voltage in Botswana is different. They will not be free printing, delegates will have to pay for printing.

Internet Access

There will be complementary computers set up at the media centre for internet access. Please be cautious of others and limit your time to 10 minutes or less to check your emails. Wi-Fi is available for purchase at the computer lab for $10 a day. Please ask registration for information if you would like to pursue this option.

Dear Reviewer,

The Reviewer System is now open and accepting reviewers for the 8^th Biennial Conference of the Africa Academy of Management.
 
As such, we would like to make sure that you have asked your colleagues to register in the reviewer system.  And as the quality of the program is based on reviews, we encourage you to ask your track reviewers to examine the following guidelines:

• Please be constructive in your comments to the author/s by identifying areas of strengths and weaknesses in the manuscript, and providing constructive ideas for improvement and meeting the limitations you pointed out in your review. Areas to cover in your review include the theoretical development and the technical correctness of the methodology, and the overall value-added contribution and implications the submission provides to the discipline and the community.

• Please try to judge manuscripts based on how well they stimulate thinking and discussion, and be open to diverse theoretical and methodological orientations.

• As a reviewer, you will be required to complete your assigned reviews between February 15, 2025 and July 15, 2025, so please plan your time accordingly.

Please feel free to contact us should you need any further help.

Reviewer Resources

Registration Fees:

NOTE: Make sure to enter guest(s) name and email address in the comment box on the next page. Contact us if you have more than three guests.

• Travel information will be available soon.
• The visa letter will be available soon.

The conference program will be available soon