NAIROBI, Kenya May 14 — AfroChampions and African School of Governance have launched the Sankoree Institute of Global Negotiators (SIGN), a first-of-its-kind credentialling programme aimed at professionalising sovereign dealmaking across Africa under the broader Accra Reset agenda.
The agreement, signed on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, seeks to build a new generation of African negotiators equipped to secure stronger outcomes in mining, debt restructuring, trade agreements, health procurement, and climate finance negotiations.
SIGN will establish Africa’s first structured, practice-oriented credential for sovereign negotiators including public officials, technical advisers, and sector specialists who negotiate with multinational corporations, bilateral partners, and multilateral lenders on transactions worth billions of dollars annually.
“Its curriculum draws on African intellectual traditions, historical negotiation case studies, and AI-enabled intelligence tools to equip practitioners with the preparation that the stakes demand,” read a statement issued after the signing.
The agreement was signed by the Co-Chair of AfroChampions, Paulo Gomes and President of ASG, Francis Gatare under the patronage of President John Mahama of Ghana, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn, ex-Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo, and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The founders say SIGN was created in response to long-standing imbalances in global negotiations involving African governments.
Africa’s negotiation gap
Each year, African states negotiate mining concessions, sovereign debt restructurings, climate finance agreements, technology partnerships, and major procurement deals.
However, organisers argue that unequal levels of preparation between African delegations and their counterparts have often resulted in lost revenues, restrictive contractual clauses, and weakened policy autonomy.
“SIGN addresses this structural deficit by treating sovereign negotiation as a vocational calling or profession that requires formal training, credentialling, peer networks, and shared institutional memory,” the statement said.
Headquartered at ASG’s Kigali campus, the institute will offer hands-on “Deal Labs” based on real-world negotiation scenarios.
Participants will also have access to the OCTagon Suite, an AI-enabled intelligence platform designed to provide precedent analysis, scenario modelling, and a sovereign negotiation case library.
Graduates will earn Associate and Fellow designations, which will be revalidated every three years to maintain professional standards and strengthen a continent-wide network of credentialled negotiators.
Organisers say the programme will also establish a confidential intelligence-sharing framework among members to improve institutional learning across African governments and agencies.
SIGN is one of the flagship initiatives of the Accra Reset, a Heads-of-State-led movement advocating for greater sovereign agency across the Global South.
The initiative is supported by leaders including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and operates through several interconnected programmes focused on industrialisation, labour mobility, health governance reform, innovative finance, and critical minerals management.
Organisers say SIGN will provide the technical human capacity needed to support these broader policy ambitions.
They argue that initiatives such as Sovereign Prosperity Spheres, designed to retain greater mineral processing value within Africa, require highly trained negotiators capable of structuring equitable joint ventures and investment agreements.
Similarly, the HINGE health industrialisation initiative relies on effective procurement negotiations with pharmaceutical suppliers and global health institutions.
Institutional Backing
The African School of Governance, co-founded by Rwanda President Paul Kagame and former Etihiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn, will provide academic oversight, accreditation frameworks, and pedagogical support for the programme.
ASG also maintains partnerships with international institutions including the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
AfroChampions will contribute continental networks, policy expertise, and negotiation case studies drawn from the Sankoree Institute’s curated archive of African dealmaking experiences.
The launch of SIGN comes amid growing calls across Africa for stronger institutional capacity to negotiate fairer terms in global trade, debt restructuring, climate finance, and critical mineral agreements as countries seek to advance development priorities while safeguarding economic sovereignty.
