Before Doja Cat stepped onto the Move Afrika stage in Kigali on March 17, 2026, production teams had already spent months preparing for the performance.
Crews built the stage. Technicians installed lighting and audio systems. Security teams prepared for the crowd. Transport, hospitality, and logistics providers coordinated the movement of people and equipment.
Nearly all the stage components came from local suppliers, including 880 LED panels. About 98% of the audio and lighting fixtures and 95% of the rigging were sourced locally.
More than 112 security personnel completed a bespoke program developed through a collaboration between local firm Crowd Minders and the UK’s Cohort Security Group. They then helped manage the event to international standards.
Three days later, Pretoria became Move Afrika’s first stop in Southern Africa. The show was delivered entirely with South African crew and equipment.
These achievements are about more than hosting successful concerts. They point toward a larger ambition: building a dependable touring circuit connecting African cities.
The question is no longer whether African cities can deliver world-class events. Lagos, Kigali, and Pretoria have demonstrated that they can. The question is what it will take to make that capacity repeatable across more destinations — and answering it starts with understanding how much room the market has to grow.
Africa’s Music Economy Is Growing
African artists are attracting audiences across the continent and around the world. From Afrobeats and amapiano to a wave of newer regional sounds, African music is shaping streaming charts, playlists, and dance floors worldwide.
The commercial numbers reinforce that opportunity. Recorded music revenue in sub-Saharan Africa grew by 15.2% in 2025, reaching $120 million — more than double the global growth rate of 6.4% — according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. South Africa remained the region’s largest recorded music market, accounting for 78.1% of that revenue.
Recorded music and live performance are different parts of the industry, but growth in recorded music points to a wider commercial opportunity for the sector. A growing recorded music market can also indicate opportunities for concerts, festivals, and other cultural experiences.
Live events generate value beyond the venue.
A UNESCO study of 10 arts and cultural festivals across nine Southern African countries found that they generated more than $11.7 million in economic activity and created nearly 3,000 jobs in 2024.
For every $1 invested in festival production, the study estimated that an additional $2.51 entered the local economy through sectors including tourism, hospitality, retail, and services. It also found that 61% of attendees came from outside the host area.
A concert is not only a cultural event. Its economic activity extends beyond the venue, supporting hotels, restaurants, transport operators, technical suppliers, designers, and security teams.
Unlocking those benefits consistently requires more than booking an artist and finding a venue. It requires a system.
A Tour Is Only as Strong as the Route Connecting It
A city can host an exceptional concert. A touring circuit must make that success repeatable across several destinations.
For that to happen, each city needs suitable venues, trained crews, reliable equipment, effective safety systems, and local businesses capable of supporting complex productions. Those cities must also be connected by systems that allow artists, personnel, and equipment to move efficiently between them.
Organizers must navigate permits, customs requirements, and different regulatory environments, while production teams need confidence that venues and suppliers can meet international technical standards. Promoters and investors must also believe that the route is financially viable.
Cross-border mobility remains part of the challenge. The African Union has described the free movement of people as fundamental to the continent’s economic integration, while acknowledging that implementation remains uneven.
For the touring industry, more consistent movement between markets could make it easier for artists and technical professionals to work across several countries as part of one route.
When these elements are not aligned, touring becomes more complicated and expensive. Artists may choose a small number of established markets instead of building a multi-city route across the continent.
The opportunity, then, is not to create capacity from nothing. It is to strengthen and connect the talent, infrastructure, and businesses that already exist across African cities.
This is where Move Afrika offers a useful model.
Building a Circuit City by City
Move Afrika is Global Citizen’s pan-African touring initiative, launched in Kigali in 2023 to build a long-term touring circuit while creating jobs, developing skills, and investing in local production capacity.
Rather than treating each host city as a one-off tour stop, Move Afrika works with local crews, suppliers, training organizations, and production companies year after year, building on each event to strengthen local capacity over time.
Local participation and production capacity have increased with each edition.
Since 2023, Move Afrika has generated more than 3,000 job opportunities across Kigali, Lagos, and Pretoria. Local participation in Kigali’s crew and production roles rose from 75% at the inaugural show to nearly 100% by the 2026 edition.
Pretoria’s debut carried that model into a new market, with the show delivered in partnership with Big Concerts and local vendor Mushroom Productions.
Ahead of the concert, 10 young people from Johannesburg and Pretoria, aged 18 to 26, completed a new Youth Technical Production Pathway. They received hands-on training in audio, lighting, audiovisual systems, power, and rigging before applying those skills directly to the Move Afrika production.
These numbers matter because a sustainable touring circuit is more resilient when host cities can provide more of the crews, equipment, and services each show requires.
Working with local crews and suppliers helps build a stronger production supply chain, allowing companies to reinvest in equipment and staff, raise technical standards, and make future events easier to deliver.
As local workers gain experience on international productions, organizers can increasingly draw on established expertise within the host city.
That creates continuity. Instead of rebuilding an event ecosystem from the beginning each time, organizers can work with people and businesses that already understand the technical, safety, and operational demands of a major production.
Move Afrika’s experience also makes a broader case: international collaboration and local leadership do not have to compete.
At the 2026 Kigali show, Crowd Minders worked with Cohort Security Group to develop a bespoke security training program. Rwandan teams installed locally sourced rigging alongside UK-based Unusual Rigging.
Partnerships like these can combine specialist international knowledge with local experience, helping companies and crews build the track records needed to lead increasingly ambitious productions.
“Move Afrika was designed to demonstrate that world-class entertainment can also drive real economic opportunity,” said Iphie Chuks-Adizue, Managing Director for Africa at Global Citizen. “By investing in young talent, local businesses and skills development, we’re helping ensure that the impact of these events continues long after the music stops.”
Over time, one concert can make the next easier to deliver. That is how individual destinations begin to become a route.
A Coalition Is Already Forming
Move Afrika has not built this circuit alone. Its 2026 partners included pgLang, Big Concerts, Major Tour Partner Cisco, and the Rwanda Development Board.
Rwanda hosted the Kigali event in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board, which has positioned the collaboration as part of its vision for the country to become a leading live entertainment destination that creates jobs and economic opportunities.
In Pretoria, Big Concerts helped deliver Move Afrika’s first South African edition. Heineken supported the wider 2026 program, while Gearhouse South Africa and the Gearhouse Kentse Mpahlwa Academy partnered with Global Citizen to deliver the Youth Technical Production Pathway.
These partnerships reflect support across government, business, and the music industry for developing a pan-African touring circuit.
They also demonstrate how professionally produced live events can bring together job creation, skills development, and investment in creative economies. Building a lasting circuit will depend on turning that support into consistent investment — not only in individual shows, but in the venues, workers, suppliers, and cross-border systems that make each additional stop possible.
What More African Tour Stops Could Unlock
A connected touring circuit could create opportunities for international and African artists alike.
When several cities form part of the same route, artists and promoters may be able to spread the costs and risks of entering new markets across a longer tour. More regular events could also provide steadier work for venues and production companies, while helping local promoters build the experience needed to attract global partners.
African artists could also benefit from stronger routes within the continent. Stronger regional routes could give artists building audiences in Kigali, Lagos, Johannesburg, or even Nairobi more opportunities to tour within Africa as well as internationally.
Better-connected markets could make it easier for artists to reach audiences in neighboring countries and build regional careers. The opportunities would also extend to the creatives and businesses supporting those artists.
Nigerian designer Emmanuel Okoro, founder of Emmy Kasbit, experienced that potential after dressing John Legend for Move Afrika in 2025.
“Having the opportunity to dress him in one of our garments was a life-changing experience,” Okoro said.
The collaboration contributed to increased orders, social media growth, and new opportunities for the brand. The outfit worn by Legend ultimately sold out, according to Okoro.
Experiences like Okoro’s show how a major tour stop can create opportunities beyond the music itself. Designers, stylists, dancers, filmmakers, and other local creatives can gain access to new audiences and markets when international productions work with talent in their host cities.
This aligns with a wider continental ambition. In 2025, the African Union Commission signed a partnership agreement with the Music In Africa Foundation to strengthen Africa’s music sector, develop professional capacity, and expand market access for artists and cultural entrepreneurs.
The agreement explicitly recognizes music as a driver of job creation, revenue generation, and economic development.
The World Bank has also identified access to finance, industry networks, supportive policies, and relevant training as important to the growth of Africa’s music economy.
Concert touring can be part of that vision.
Realizing it will require continued cooperation between governments, venues, promoters, investors, artists, technical companies, and training providers — alongside partners willing to invest in the systems connecting individual shows into a sustainable circuit.
Turning Successful Shows Into a Sustainable System
The next stage of growth is not simply about adding more pins to a map. It is about making each city a sustainable part of the route.
Governments can integrate live events and cultural festivals into economic, cultural, and tourism strategies. UNESCO has specifically recommended that festivals be included in national development plans because of their contribution to local economies, employment, and social development.
Governments can also work toward more consistent and efficient processes for moving artists and technical professionals between markets. The African Union has described free movement as fundamental to economic integration while acknowledging that implementation across the continent remains uneven.
Investors can support venues, production companies, and equipment providers. Training organizations and employers can create pathways into the technical and operational roles the industry needs. Event organizers can set targets for local employment and procurement while building long-term relationships with businesses in host cities.
Better data will also be essential. UNESCO has called for more consistent measurement of festivals’ economic, cultural, social, and environmental impact, alongside stronger regional collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
Evidence showing where money is spent, which jobs are created, and which businesses benefit can help governments and investors recognize live events as part of economic development — and make a stronger case for bringing more major productions to African cities.
The Global Touring Map Can Change
African artists are already shaping global music and reaching audiences around the world.
Move Afrika’s 2026 shows in Kigali and Pretoria also demonstrated the capacity of local teams to deliver complex international productions.
The task now is to connect and build on those strengths.
Move Afrika offers a glimpse of what a functioning circuit could look like: African and international artists performing in world-class venues, local companies leading production, young people entering technical careers, and more jobs and contracts remaining within host cities.
The global touring map is not fixed. It reflects where the music industry has built relationships, infrastructure, and confidence — all of which can grow through sustained investment and collaboration.
With the right partnerships in place, more African cities can become not occasional additions to the global touring map, but essential destinations on it.