By Oni Ladonette
German football Legend Oliver Kahn is in Douala, Cameroon ahead of the second edition of the 2026 EXPerience Summit scheduled for October 1 and 2 2026 at the Best Western Hotel Douala.
Kahn, making his first visit to Africa, was formally presented alongside the summit’s programme on Thursday September 3,2026.
The two-day event will bring together business leaders, experts and emerging professionals to discuss leadership, performance and innovation.
The summit is being held under the theme “Shaping the Future through Relevant Innovations”, with organisers placing particular emphasis on how innovation can translate into better performance.
For Kahn, that conversation has a familiar starting point.
The 57-year-old spent 14 years in Bayern Munich’s goal, winning eight German league titles and the 2001 Champions League. He was Germany captain and won the Golden Ball at the 2002 World Cup after helping his country reach the final.
Away from the pitch, the sports man served as Bayern Munich’s chief executive in 2020 and remaining in the role until 2023. He has also built businesses in management, media and sports investment.
It is that experience across sport, leadership and business that organisers are bringing to the EXP Summit.
Kahn’s own experience of adapting to change came early in his career.
The introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992 changed the job of the goalkeeper. Deliberate passes from teammates could no longer simply be picked up, placing greater importance on a goalkeeper’s ability to use his feet and participate in play.
For a goalkeeper who wanted to remain at the highest level, learning the new demands was unavoidable he explained.
He used the example to make a broader point about innovation: people and organisations cannot remain attached to methods that worked in the past simply because those methods once produced success.
The environment changes. The ability to recognise that change, learn and respond becomes part of staying competitive. That idea runs through this year’s EXP Summit.
EXP summit is a place for leaders to understand change, challenge assumptions and prepare their organisation on what comes next. The edition is divided into three forums: the Leadership Forum, Expert Forum and Emerging Expertise Forum.
The first will examine leadership, teamwork and the human side of organisational performance. The Expert Forum will look at innovation across areas including finance, human resources, mobility, marketing and entertainment. The Emerging Expertise Forum will focus on creators, entrepreneurs and young professionals and the changing relationship between content, expertise and influence.
Organizers describe EXP as a year-round programme, with the summit serving as the opening event of the 2026-27 season.
English 
French