Doja Cat’s next era of pop domination is running straight through Kigali. Global Citizen has tapped her to headline the 2026 edition of Move Afrika, a touring circuit built to boost Africa’s creative economy, with Move Afrika: Kigali set for March 17 at BK Arena before the tour heads to Pretoria on March 20.
For the first time in her career, the Grammy‑winning star will bring her full high‑energy live show to African soil, in a project explicitly framed around job creation, local hiring and putting African cities on the global touring map rather than treating them as “special one‑offs.” As Global Citizen puts it, Rwanda and South Africa aren’t side‑quests here; they’re co‑stars in a story about using touring to fuel everything from stage design and styling work to hospitality, transport and media.
Behind the music, Move Afrika is designed as an engine for fashion, beauty and cultural exchange as much as a concert brand. The tour model prioritises local crews and suppliers, meaning hair stylists, makeup artists, costumiers and production teams in Kigali get hands‑on experience delivering a world‑standard pop show, not just watching it roll in and out.
@glblctzn We said what we said. In just 3 weeks, @Doja Cat will meet us in Kigali, Rwanda to 'Paint the Town Red' at MoveAfrika. The only question left is, will you be joining us?? 🤔
♬ original sound - Global Citizen
Doja has already framed the run as a statement about African creativity “not coming, already here,” and the visuals around Kigali and Pretoria are expected to lean into that, blending her hyper‑styled aesthetic with regional references and collaborators. In practical terms, that looks like new work for designers and glam squads, new receipts for local businesses, and a bigger spotlight on East and Southern Africa’s creative class than a typical tour stop would ever offer. For full details on dates, tickets and the tour’s goals, Global Citizen’s announcement is available here.
If Doja Cat in Kigali is the headline, the Africa Live Entertainment Conference (ALEC) in Johannesburg is the strategy meeting happening in the background. Set for March 5–7, 2026, ALEC brings together promoters, booking agents, artists, managers, venue operators, tourism officials and investors to talk about how live shows, festivals and nightlife can function as serious economic infrastructure across the continent, not just culture for culture’s sake.
In partnership with the African Tourism Board, the conference leans hard into the idea that concerts and club nights shape how cities are branded, how many flights they attract and how many jobs are created in everything from staging and sound to PR, fashion styling and beauty services.
Across three days of keynotes, panels, workshops, networking and curated cultural experiences, ALEC’s agenda centres on artist mobility within Africa, venue development, ticketing tech and sponsorship models—essentially the nuts and bolts that make a Kigali‑style arena moment repeatable from Lagos to Nairobi and beyond. For a breakdown of dates, themes and partners, you can read more on ALEC’s launch here.