A Foundation Built on Collaboration
The initiative is powered by two WDO Members: Three C Group GmbH, the organization behind the globally recognized 3C Awards portfolio, and Africa Design School, the first design school in West Africa.

Three C Group GmbH, through its 3C Awards brands, curates and promotes design excellence across lighting, furniture, sports, interior, and architecture. With submissions from over 65 countries annually and more than 100 international expert jury members, the 3C Awards has become a recognized mark of quality for contemporary design achievement. In addition to recognition, the organization provides networking opportunities, supports exhibitions, and promotes the appreciation of design through education, outreach, and media exposure, creating market access for both rising and established professionals worldwide.

Africa Design School adds an equally important transformative dimension: established in 2019 in Cotonou and initiated by WDO Educational Member L’École de design Nantes Atlantique with the support of the Sèmè City Development Agency, the school was created to respond to Africa’s developing economic and social challenges. It trains designers to international standards whilst including contextual relevance, digital culture, sustainable city thinking, and user-centred innovation into its curriculum.

Together, these WDO Member organizations combine global curatorial expertise, international communication reach, and award infrastructure with strong regional educational leadership and cultural grounding. This partnership shows that AIDA Awards are not only a recognition platform but also a structured ecosystem that promotes long-term design development and international visibility for African creatives.

The programme is further supported and sponsored by L’École de design Nantes Atlantique, another WDO Member institution widely respected for its focus on research, pedagogy, and intercultural collaboration. Its involvement reinforces the academic depth of the initiative and deepens the exchange between European and African design communities.

Through this alliance, AIDA Awards demonstrates how cross-continental collaboration can create concrete pathways for talent development, professional exposure, and global design integration, all adding to a better-balanced and open international design field.

The AIDA Awards Jury
The relationship between AIDA Awards and the global design ecosystem is also reflected in the composition of its international jury, which includes respected stakeholders from across WDO’s global community, contributing professional expertise, research insight, and leadership experience.

Among them is Mugendi K. M’Rithaa, WDO President Emeritus and Senator, industrial designer, educator, and researcher at Machakos University (Kenya). A transdisciplinary design leader educated in Kenya, the United States, India, and South Africa, Professor M’Rithaa holds degrees in design, industrial design, higher education, and a doctorate in universal design.

He has taught across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, with a strong focus on socially conscious design, including human-centred design, climate action, social innovation, inclusive design, and indigenous knowledge systems. A founding member and Simba Fellow of the Pan-Afrikan Design Institute (PADI), he serves in advisory roles with the Interior Designers’ Association of Kenya, Open Design Afrika, Nairobi Design Week, and UNESCO’s International Centre for Creativity and Sustainable Development (ICCSD).

As WDO President Emeritus and Senator, and the organization’s first African President (2015–2017), Professor M’Rithaa has played an important role in positioning African design within international conversation. His promotion of Ubuntu philosophy and design thinking as catalysts for sustainable development continues to influence policy, education, and professional practice worldwide.

Also serving on the jury is Seun Olatunji, Founder and Design Strategist at OLAT Design Consultancy. Seun works at the intersection of strategy and creativity, helping organizations translate deep customer knowledge into sustainable, user-centred solutions.

Based on the principles of design thinking, his approach merges desirability, feasibility, and viability to develop products, services, and systems that address real-life challenges. Seun is also the author of A Virtual Training Guide to Becoming a Professional Graphic Designer and co-creator of the award-winning documentary The Pride and Glory of Nigeria, produced in collaboration with FrameAfric, which explores the symbolism and cultural significance of Nigeria’s national flag.

Contributing to a Broader Design Ecosystem
While AIDA Awards are an independent international programme, their collaboration with WDO Member organizations and respected design leaders is a clear example of commitment to supporting design education, encouraging responsible practice, and fostering meaningful creative growth.

At a time when designers are responding to sustainability pressures, digital acceleration, and new economic realities, collaboration across regions has become increasingly important. Working with institutions and professionals affiliated with World Design Organization enables AIDA Awards to contribute to a broader, more connected design community.

These partnerships create strong opportunities for exchange: between educators and practitioners, between emerging talent and established leaders, and between African designers and the global network, helping them expand visibility, deepen dialogue, and guarantee that the creativity of the African continent is represented as an active and influential voice within the global design landscape.

Through this cross-continental engagement, AIDA Awards continues to grow beyond recognition alone, building a platform that supports long-term development, professional connections, and sustained impact.

Designers, institutions, and creative leaders interested in contributing to this evolving dialogue are invited to learn more and engage with the programme at africainternationaldesignawards.com.

The Africa International Design Awards (AIDA) proudly unveils the full and final jury panel for its 2026 edition of 40 distinguished members representing 18 nationalities – an extraordinary gathering of leading designers, cultural thinkers, architects, creatives and educators from across Africa and the diaspora.

The AIDA Awards Jury for 2026 brings together a formidable collective of creative minds whose experience across design, architecture, fashion, art, and cultural advocacy is truly unmatched. Led by Bibi Seck (Birsel + Seck) as Head of Jury, the panel includes voices such as Coline-Lee Toumson (Cultural & Artistic Affairs Advisor, Republic of Benin), Jomo Tariku (Designer, Jomo Furniture, LLC), Lani Adeoye (Founder & Designer, Studio Lani), Francis Nicaise Tchiakpe – Tchif (Visual Artist), Naeem Biviji & Bethan Rayner (Designers & Makers, Studio Propolis Ltd), Titi Ogufere (CEO, Africa Design Network), Renée Rossouw (Founder, Renée Rossouw Studio), Saki Mafundikwa (Founder & Director, Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts – ZIVA), Margot Molyneux (Founder, South Africa Design PTY Ltd), Clayton Swartz (Creative Director, LePub Johannesburg), Selly Raby Kane (Founder & Artistic Lead, SRK), Issa Diabaté (Managing Director, Koffi & Diabaté Group), Beatrace Oola (Founder, Fashion Africa Now / CEO, APYA Productions), Ousmane Mbaye (Founder, Ousmane Mbaye Design), Noukpo Houndeffo (Co-Founder & Principal, Atelier Houndeffo – AHAAM), Brandt Botes (Head of Design, Dentsu Creative SA) and Ramata Diallo (Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Africa Fashion Tour).

The jury panel also inncldes the names like Martin Döller (Founder & Creative Director, One to One by Martin Döller), Roberta Annan (Founder, African Fashion Foundation), Kefil Saka (Executive Director, Africa Design School), Priscilla Chigariro (Founder, Zimbabwe Fashion Week Trust), Luc-Emmanuel Koutouan Aboussou (Group Creative Director, Publicis Groupe Africa), Isaro Lise Katangulia (Founder, Ilia Studio & African Female Architects network), Voninkazo Randrianarisolo (Founder & CEO, EZAAKA), Emuron Alemu (Chief Creative Officer, The Quollective Africa), Mugendi K. M’Rithaa (Industrial-Design Educator, Machakos University), Faty Ly (Ceramic Designer & Artist, FATYLABS), Seun Olatunji (Founder & Design Strategist, OLAT Design Consultancy), Tshepo Mas (Art Director, TshepoMas Pty Ltd), Rhoda Aguonigho (Executive Director, Lhaude Africa), Charles O. Job (Designer & Architect, Charles Job Design & Architecture), Mitiku Woldesenbet Gebremichale (Senior Architect & Urban Designer/Planner, UN-Habitat), Mariam Hazem & Hend Riad (Co-Founders & Chief Designers, Reform Studio), Garreth van Niekerk and Alan Hayward (Executive Creative Directors, Decorex Africa and 100% Design Africa), Des Laubscher (Co-Founder & CEO, Greenside Design Center, College of Design), Garreth van Niekerk and Alan Hayward ( Executive Creative Directors, Decorex Africa and 100% Design Africa ) Juliet Kavishe (Executive Board Member, Pan Afrikan Design Institute – PADI), Alain Soreil (Principal, L’École Duperré Paris), and Cédrix Tsambang (Founder & CEO, Chorus Architecture).

The jury’s multidisciplinary composition reflects AIDA Awards’ ambition to assess submissions not only on aesthetic and technical merit but also on cultural resonance, sustainability, social impact, and innovation. Submissions will be reviewed across the four main award categories: Spatial Design, Product Design, Fashion Design and Communication Design.

“Design is not only a form, but it’s also identity, history, hope and purpose,” says Astrid Hébert, Founder of the AIDA Awards. “With this extraordinary jury, we are giving voice to creators whose work stitches heritage with vision, craftsmanship with innovation, and community with global perspective.”

The AIDA Awards are made possible through a growing ecosystem of exceptional partners and supporters who share a commitment to elevating African design on the global stage. At the heart of the initiative stands the Africa Design School (ADS), alongside proud sponsor L’École de Design Nantes Atlantique. We are honored to collaborate with key industry players including Pan Afrikan Design Institute (PADI), African Fashion Foundation, Africa Fashion Tour, Africa Female Architects, ASFW Addis – Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week (ASFW), Design Week South Africa, and Design Week Lagos, all contributing to the program’s reach and cultural impact across the continent and beyond.

AIDA Awards invites creative professionals, studios, emerging talents, and students worldwide whose work engages with Africa’s cultures, communities, or contexts to submit their projects. Entries are open until 31 March 2026. For submission guidelines and more information, visit the official website at elitus.hr/africainternationaldesignawards/.

COTONOU, Benin – 17 September 2025 – The African International Design Awards (AIDA Awards) announced an exciting partnership with the Design Education Forum of Southern Africa (DEFSA). This is a partnership bringing a meaningful impact, one that promises to celebrate design education alongside industry-wide recognition.

The program launched during the African Design Week in Cotonou (22–26 July 2025) was the introduction of a new movement. As a collaborative project between 3C Awards Group and the Africa Design School, AIDA Awards set out to uplift African creativity in four core disciplines: Spatial, Product, Communication, and Fashion design.

Under the leadership of a jury that included visionaries like Bibi Seck of Birsel + Seck and Senegalese designers Ousmane Mbaye, the event will celebrate design rooted in cultural context and practical innovation, while demonstrating that Africa’s design talent is not just emerging, it is ready to be seen and heard.

The Awards now partnered with DEFSA, a powerful force in design education across Southern Africa. Known for its biennial conferences and academic research influence, DEFSA brings networks of educators, researchers, and students together around themes of disruption, culture, and futures. Its next hybrid conference, DESIGN+ Disruptions, Realities, Futures, will take place at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha this September.

Bringing AIDA Awards and DEFSA together connects the people teaching the next generation with a global stage that acknowledges their creative work. Whether through panels, student spotting, journal inclusion, or shared storytelling, this alliance helps design education “step out from behind the curtain.”

Astrid Hébert, co-founder of AIDA Awards, commented: “With DEFSA by our side, we’re taking what begins in classrooms: ideas, sketches, emerging voices, and connecting them to stages that celebrate creativity, culture, and vision. We’re creating a bridge between education and recognition, and giving the next generation of African designers not just exposure, but the real momentum they deserve.”

With a call for entries open until 31 March 2026, the Awards invite professionals, independent designers, and students alike to submit projects that blend culture, sustainability, and creativity via elitus.hr/africainternationaldesignawards/. Meanwhile, DEFSA continues to lead vital conversations on the future of design education and research across Southern Africa, from Gqeberha and far beyond. Learn more about their work at defsa.org.za.

A new global platform celebrating African Design and Innovation across four disciplines: Spatial, Product, Communication and Fashion Design. 

COTONOU, BENIN – July 21 2025 – The Africa International Design Awards (AIDA Awards) will officially launch tomorrow, on July 22 in Cotonou as a new global platform celebrating African design across four key disciplines: Spatial Design, Product Design, Communication Design, and Fashion Design. Founded by the 3C Awards Group in collaboration with the Africa Design School in Benin, AIDA Awards aims to showcase innovative projects deeply rooted in African culture and dedicated to addressing the continent’s unique social, economic, and environmental challenges.

The Africa Design School, the first design school in West Africa, will help establish the educational and cultural context for the awards. In contrast, the 3C Group, a leading organization that curates and promotes design globally, brings it’s expertise and network. Together, these founding organizations ensure AIDA Awards is grounded in African creativity and international standards.

AIDA’s jurors are a diverse and internationally acclaimed group of leaders, representing expertise across disciplines and geographies. With Bibi Seck, Co-founder of Birsel + Seck, as Head of Jury, and Senegalese designers, Ousmane Mbaye of Ousmane Mbaye Design and Faty Ly, Ceramic Designer & Ceramic artist of FATYLABS, the panel brings together decades of experience in product and furniture design.

South African interior architect Juliet Kavishe, past Vice President of the International Council of Design and Executive Board member of the Pan-African Design Institute (PADI) adds strong academic with Des Laubscher, Co-Founder and CEO of Greenside Design Center, College of Design in Johannesburg. Issa Diabaté, Ivorian architect and Managing Director of Koffi & Diabaté Group, is also bringing his visionary approach to sustainable architecture and deep commitment to shaping Africa’s urban future to the jury panel.

On the digital and communication front, Nigeria’s Seun Olatunji, a design strategist specializing in human-centered innovation founder of OLAT Design Consultancy, and South African illustrator Tshepo Mas, celebrated for his vibrant visual storytelling, lend expertise in UX and graphic design. As creative leaders of the continent, Emuron Alemu, Chief Creative Officer of The Quollective Africa, Brandt Botes, Head of Design Dentsu Creative; Clayton Swartz, Creative Director at LePub, part of Publicis Group in South Africa and Ghana – Based, Luc-Emmanuel Koutouan Aboussou, Groupe Creative Director of Publicis Groupe Africa are also joining the Jury board bringing a 360 degrees vision of design services.

In Fashion, Ghanaian entrepreneur Roberta Annan, founder of the African Fashion Foundation a Pan-African Institution that fosters opportunities for emerging fashion entrepreneurs and start-ups across the continent bring global fashion and branding experience. Rhoda Aguonigho, founder of Lhaude Africa in Nigeria and Internationally based, Zimbabwe-born Priscilla Chigariro, founder of Zimbabwe Fashion Week and Ugandan innovator Beatrace Oola, award-winning founder of Fashion Africa Now, are leading voices in shaping transformative ecosystems within global fashion.

At the same time, Charles O’Job, a Lagos-born designer and professor in Switzerland, contributes award-winning insights in architectural and furniture design while Mariam Hazem and Hend Riad, Chief Designers and Co-Founders of Reform Studio in Egypt will carfully review the Product and Fashion submissions. These distinguished jurors, and many more to be discovered on the AIDA Awards website, exemplify AIDA’s mission to elevate African creativity through diversity, expertise, and global recognition. Together, they reflect the depth and reach of African design and its role in shaping a sustainable and innovative future.

The AIDA Awards is envisioned as more than just an awards program – “a movement” to uplift African design at large. It will nurture emerging talent and underscore design’s critical role in sustainable development and social innovation. In recent years, African designers have increasingly adopted sustainable practices, utilizing eco-friendly materials, traditional low-impact techniques, and local craftsmanship to drive economic development and preserve their communities’ cultural heritage. By spotlighting this work, AIDA Awards will inspire new ideas and collaborations, demonstrating how African creativity provides solutions to the continent’s challenges.

“AIDA Awards was born from a simple idea: to stand alongside Africa’s designers and help their work be seen,” said Astrid Hébert, Director of 3C Awards Group. “Together with the Africa Design School, we built this platform to honor the ingenuity already shaping the continent, ideas deeply rooted in culture, responding to real challenges, and imagining new futures. Our role is to listen, to celebrate, and to help these stories reach the audiences they deserve.“

The Africa International Design Awards (AIDA) will launch alongside African Design Week 2025 in Cotonou (July 22–26) organized by the Africa Design School, with the inaugural ceremony on July 22 as a highlight of the week’s exhibitions and talks.

The program will open at the end of July 2025 until March 31st 2026, welcoming professionals, independent designers, and students alike. The launch and awards ceremony are expected to attract international press and industry attention, positioning Benin as a rising hub for African creative industries.

To enter, participants can visit elitus.hr/africainternationaldesignawards/ to discover the full jury list, review the guidelines, register, and upload their projects. Early submissions are encouraged to maximize visibility and take full advantage of AIDA’s global platform, which offers recognition, networking opportunities, and lasting visibility for outstanding design rooted in Africa.

COTONOU, BENIN – August 5, 2025 – The Africa International Design Awards (AIDA Awards) proudly celebrated their successful launch on July 22nd during African Design Week 2025 in Cotonou, Benin. This inaugural edition marks the beginning of a bold and much-anticipated initiative dedicated to honoring African creativity and design excellence across the continent and the diaspora.

The opening ceremony was truly inspirational, featuring renowned designers including Bibi Seck, founder of Birsel + Seck and Head of the AIDA Awards Jury, and jurors Ousmane Mbaye, founder of Ousmane Mbaye Design Brand and Alain Soreil—a celebrated painter and Principal of L’École Duperré in Paris. They were joined by Jean-François Ancel, Deputy General Director and Kefil Saka, Executive Director of the Africa Design School, as well as Astrid Hébert, co-founder of the 3C Awards Group.

The ceremony was held and presided over by Claude Borna, Managing Director and Chief Innovation Officer of Sèmè City—an innovation and knowledge hub in Benin, dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship, research, and education across Africa by uniting universities, startups, and research institutions within a dynamic, future-focused ecosystem.

The launch of the Africa International Design Awards (AIDA Awards),  was followed by a panel discussion that offered an exceptional dialogue between Bibi Seck and Ousmane Mbaye, who shared their personal design journeys and reflected on how design awards have contributed to their visibility and professional recognition. Astrid Hébert, co-founder of 3C Awards and program director, reaffirmed AIDA’s Awards mission: to spotlight Architects and designers not only for their creations but for how their work shapes culture, find solutions to the continent challenges,  and inspires transformation.

The four-day event marking the inaugural African Design Week was a great success, featuring panel discussions, exhibitions, and social gatherings that brought together over 900 participants.

Highlights included the inspiring work of Africa Design School students, who showcased their creativity, the presence of professionals who traveled from across the continent and beyond, and the many vibrant conversations that reaffirmed the importance of this platform. At its core, design emerged as a powerful tool for connection, innovation, and transformation.

AIDA Awards welcome architects, designers, and creatives across disciplines, architecture, interior design, product and furniture design, fashion, graphics, and innovation, to share their work and be part of a growing celebration of African design. Submit your project at elitus.hr/africainternationaldesignawards/ and help shape the future of design across the continent and beyond.

This is just the beginning. The movement starts now.