The Africa Soft Power Gala & Awards brought the Summit to a powerful close in Nairobi, celebrating three women whose work has shaped how Africa is seen, valued and remembered: Bolanle Austen-Peters, Faith Kipyegon and the late Koyo Kouoh.
The Africa Soft Power Gala & Awards closed the 2026 Africa Soft Power Summit in Nairobi with a night that moved beyond ceremony into tribute. Across the evening, the summit honoured three women whose lives and work reflect the deeper meaning of African soft power: not simply visibility, but the ability to build institutions, shift global imagination, expand cultural value and inspire generations.
The honourees were Austen-Peters, recipient of the ASP Architect of Culture Award; Kipyegon, recipient of the ASP Gold Standard Award; and the late Kouoh, recognised posthumously with the ASP Creative Legacy Award. Together, their stories gave the gala its emotional and intellectual centre.
Austen-Peters was honoured for a career that has helped move African storytelling from performance into infrastructure. For more than two decades, through Terra Kulture, BAP Productions and the Terra Academy for the Arts, she has built stages, trained talent and expanded the commercial possibilities of Nigerian culture. Her work across theatre and film has helped prove that African stories can command scale, sustain audiences and travel across borders without losing their local force.
