Last month, we announced the five women selected for the WiM Africa Cannes Lions ERA Pass 2026 programme. Since then, we held our first group call with the cohort — and it was exactly the kind of conversation that reminds us why this initiative matters.
There was excitement, honesty, a little bit of screaming, and a lot of intention.
Each of the women comes to Cannes with a different story, a different career journey, and a different reason for wanting to be there. What connects them is a shared desire to learn, connect, grow, and bring something meaningful back to their communities and industries.
Nengi Akinola
Nengi is a marketing professional with over 14 years’ experience and currently leads marketing for an iGaming and sports entertainment company in Nigeria.
For her, Cannes Lions is an opportunity to deepen her understanding of sports marketing, especially as the Festival introduces more programming around sport, culture and entertainment. Having attended Cannes before through a scholarship, she is approaching this year differently — with a clear intention to document the experience, curate her learnings, and share them back with her community.
As a woman working in sports marketing, a space where women remain underrepresented, particularly in Africa, Nengi is keen to use Cannes to build her expertise, expand her network and help open up the space for others.
Zinhle Zulu
Zinhle is Head of Brand and Sponsorships at African Bank in South Africa.
Her excitement on the call was impossible to miss. For Zinhle, being selected by WiM Africa felt deeply personal. After years of wanting the opportunity to attend Cannes through previous roles, being recognised by a platform focused on African women in marketing meant something different.
Zinhle spoke about her journey into marketing, her love of understanding why people choose brands, and her commitment to contributing to a legacy “for Africans, by Africans” through her work at African Bank.
At Cannes, she wants to gather insights that can help shape stronger strategies, unlock new thinking in her current role, and contribute to the continued growth of African-led brands.
Hlengiwe Shakung
Hlengiwe is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is Digital Communications Manager at Tiko, a nonprofit using technology to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services for underserved girls across Africa.
Born and raised in Eswatini, she describes herself as someone who often feels she represents both countries — and, in many ways, the continent.
Hlengiwe is passionate about using marketing and digital storytelling for purpose. At Cannes, she is looking to learn how leading organisations use content, data, emerging platforms and AI to build trust, shift behaviour and strengthen partnerships.
Beyond her professional work, she is also an advocate for women living with hormonal health conditions, including endometriosis, PCOS and fibroids, through her platform as The African Endo Warrior. Her goal is to take away fresh approaches to storytelling that centre lived experience with dignity, depth and impact.
Siki Msuseni
Siki is a qualified marketer, trained PR specialist and founder of a PR agency in Cape Town, South Africa.
Her Cannes story began in 2017, while working at King James, when she first heard about the Festival after the agency won at Cannes Lions. Until then, the Loeries had been the pinnacle in her mind. Since that moment, Cannes became something she quietly followed, studied and hoped to experience one day.
Siki grounded her story in the African proverb: “Until the lion learns how to write, the story will always glorify the hunter.”
For her, Cannes is about learning how to tell African stories with greater nuance, insight and confidence. She wants to explore how human behaviour, data and insight drive powerful creative work — and document the journey for the younger version of herself who first heard about Cannes in that agency bar in 2017.
Eniola Ogunmekan
Eniola, Senior Group Head at Insight Publicis in Nigeria, was originally selected as part of the 2025 cohort but was unable to attend due to visa challenges. We are delighted that she now has the opportunity to experience Cannes Lions this year.
A storyteller at heart, Eniola sees Cannes as a chance to step away from familiar, templated approaches and absorb new, more dynamic ways of thinking about creativity, campaigns and impact.
She is going into the Festival “like a sponge” — ready to learn from panels, experiential work, global campaigns and the many conversations that happen across the week. Her aim is to return more inspired, more informed and better equipped to bring fresh ideas into her work and wider creative community.
Why This Matters
For WiM Africa, the ERA Pass programme is not just about access to a Festival pass. It is about visibility, confidence, connection and possibility.
It is about African women seeing themselves in global creative spaces — and knowing they belong there.
Over the coming weeks, we will be supporting the cohort with practical guidance, visa support, community connections and our WiM Africa Cannes guide to help them make the most of the Festival.
We cannot wait to follow their journey.
Cannes Lions 2026, here they come.
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