Stanbic IBTC’s Together4ALimb Wins Top Prize at 2026 AMC Awards; Airtel Malawi, Velocity Marketing Place

Airtel Malawi took second place in the Best Cause-Related Campaign category for Nzeru Connect, its digital inclusion initiative providing free internet connectivity and ICT facilities to schools across Malawi, while zero-rating selected educational platforms.

Third place went to Ethiopia’s Velocity Marketing for The Hangout, a networking series bringing together business leaders, founders, professionals and creatives, which also includes a platform showcasing emerging businesses.

Long-term impact

Stanbic IBTC Bank’s Together4ALimb initiative has supported 250 children living with limb loss across Nigeria since it was launched in 2015, providing prosthetics and healthcare alongside longer-term educational support.

Stanbic IBTC has invested more than ₦1 billion in the programme to date, including ₦375 million committed to education trusts. The initiative is delivered in partnership with healthcare providers including Total Health Trust and Ifean Health.

Together4ALimb has also extended its reach through the Steps by Stanbic IBTC app, which allows people to participate virtually in the programme's annual awareness walks.

Matongo Matamwandi, AMC president and chairman of the Minerals Regulation Commission of Zambia, says Together4ALimb stood out for combining immediate support with sustained investment in the children it assists.

“What makes Together4ALimb particularly powerful is that it goes beyond the immediate physical transformation. It combines healthcare and prosthetics with long-term educational support, while using technology to involve a much wider community,” says Matamwandi.

Matamwandi adds that this type of sustained, multi-layered approach demonstrates how marketing and corporate social investment can work together to deliver measurable impact and advance inclusion.

Category winners

Across the other categories, the winners were:

• Best Social Media Campaign

  Nigeria's Zuri Seasoning, a UAC Foods brand, won Best Social Media Campaign for its 30 Days of Ramadan Cooking series, which featured chefs Uwani and Fatima preparing simple post-fast meals using the brand's seasoning range.

• Best Use of Local Insights

  Tunisia's Muse Agency won Best Use of Local Insights for 12 Million Voices, a campaign for Carrefour Tunisia that turned messages, chants and words of encouragement from supporters of the national football team into an original song using artificial intelligence.

• Most Effective Campaign

  Angola's mademarketing won Most Effective Campaign for Mercury – Beyond Connection, developed around telecommunications company MSTelcom's transition to the Mercury brand and its positioning around connectivity and digital infrastructure.

• Not-for-Profit / Public Sector

  NASENI and AfriLabs took the Not-for-Profit/Public Sector category for InnovateNaija, a nationwide challenge established to identify and support home-grown Nigerian innovations in science, engineering and manufacturing. The programme carried a ₦250 million prize pool and sought innovators across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

• Tourism & Destination Marketing

  Mozambique's StandUp MÍDIA won the Tourism & Destination Marketing category for Inhambane: A Destination of Excellence, A Future of Opportunities.

  SUM served as the official communication and media production partner for the inaugural Mozambique Tourism Summit in Inhambane, developing promotional campaigns and video content aimed at showcasing the province's tourism potential to regional and international audiences.

The Awards

“This year’s judging process was exceptionally competitive, with a remarkable standard of entries received from across the continent.

“The judges were impressed by the creativity, innovation, strategic thinking and impact demonstrated in the submissions,” says Irene Gregory, executive secretary general of the AMC.

Held annually as part of the African Marketing Confederation Conference, the AMC Awards recognise marketing campaigns, agencies and organisations from across the continent.

Under the theme Africa Rising Through Marketing Leadership, Brand Power and Value Creation, delegates and speakers brainstormed how to actively shape the continent’s commercial future.

The awards recognised work from across the continent, with finalists coming from 11 countries.

The awards span sectors ranging from tourism and consumer brands to the non-profit and public sectors, recognising work for its creativity, strategic thinking, effectiveness and impact.

The ceremony was held on 24 September at the Radisson Blu Mosi-Oa-Tunya Livingstone Resort in Zambia, as part of the AMC’s 2026 Conference, which tackled the practicalities of how African brands can compete and grow in a rapidly changing global market.

The Federation of African Creative Economies

The awards formed part of the Africa Commerce Convergence Summit (ACCS), the annual pan-African gathering under which the AMC holds its flagship conference alongside other continental professional bodies.

During the gala, Ethiopia was announced as the host of the 2027 ACCS, which will take place in Addis Ababa and is expected to attract around 1,200 delegates.

The 2027 programme is expected to focus on areas including digital transformation, artificial intelligence, fintech and e-commerce, as well as the creative economies, with an emphasis on translating these into practical cross-border collaboration and new business opportunities.

Rwanda was announced as the host country for the 2028 summit. AMC’s Committee of Presidents has decided to award hosting rights two years in advance to give host countries more time to prepare for the conferences.

The 2027 ACCS will also see the incorporation of the Federation of African Creative Economies (FACE).

FACE is a newly established pan-African professional body that aims to provide a coordinated continental voice for creative practitioners, organisations, networks and businesses.

Matamwandi says, “I am really excited about integrating the creative economy with marketing, ICT and supply chain management as this can create both comparative and competitive advantages for African businesses by drawing on the continent's natural creativity”.