Absa Experience Design Collab 2026 explores why trust is the currency shaping Africa’s digital future

As artificial intelligence, automation and digital technologies continue to redefine how organisations serve customers, a new challenge has appeared, earning and sustaining trust.

This is the central conversation driving the 2026 Absa Experience Design Collab (XDC), now in its third year as the bank’s flagship platform dedicated to advancing experience design, innovation and customer-centred thinking across Africa.

Taking place under the theme “Designing for Trust: The Currency of the Future,” this year’s programme marks a significant evolution for XDC. While previous editions explored the future of digital experiences and celebrated design excellence, the 2026 programme shifts the conversation towards demonstrating how human-centred design delivers measurable business outcomes, strengthens customer relationships and creates long-term commercial value.

The theme recognises that, in an increasingly digital world, technological advancement alone is no longer enough. As organisations embrace AI, automation and data-driven decision-making, trust has become the defining factor influencing whether customers adopt, engage with and remain loyal to digital products and services.

Across Africa’s diverse markets, where culture, relationships and human connection continue to shape decision-making, designing for trust has become a strategic business imperative.

This year’s programme introduces two complementary events designed to broaden participation and deepen the impact of experience design across the organisation and the wider industry.

The journey began with XD Jam in July, an internal platform that provides emerging Absa designers and process engineers with an opportunity to present real business case studies, strengthen their public speaking capabilities and showcase the role of design in solving complex organisational challenges.

The programme culminates in XD Collab on 30 September at The Forum Alice Lane in Sandton, Johannesburg from 08:00-16:00. The flagship conference brings together business leaders, experience design professionals, innovation specialists and customer experience practitioners to explore how design creates tangible business value through thought leadership, practical case studies and cross-industry collaboration.

Since its launch, XDC has steadily grown into a recognised platform for elevating conversations around human-centred design, attracting growing interest from business leaders who increasingly view experience design as a strategic capability rather than a creative support function.

Commenting on this year’s programme, Sivan Lapidus, Executive Head of Design at Absa Personal and Private Banking, says: “The future of digital transformation will not be decided solely by the technology organisations build, but by the trust they earn. In today’s environment, customers are looking for experiences that are transparent, intuitive, inclusive and genuinely centred around their needs. Design plays a critical role in creating that confidence.”

The 2026 programme also reflects Absa’s continued investment in developing internal design capability, strengthening collaboration across business units and contributing to the broader experience design ecosystem.

Beyond showcasing successful projects, XDC serves as a platform to nurture emerging talent, foster cross-disciplinary learning and position experience design as an essential capability for organisations navigating rapid technological change.

Lapidus adds: “Experience design is no longer simply about creating seamless interfaces or elegant customer journeys. It has become a strategic business capability that enables organisations to solve complex challenges, unlock commercial value and build meaningful, lasting relationships with customers. Through XDC, we are creating a platform where these conversations can happen openly, where practical lessons can be shared, and where the design community can collectively shape the future of trusted digital experiences across Africa.”

By bringing together business leaders, designers, technologists and customer experience professionals, XDC reinforces the idea that trust is not simply an outcome of good business, but a deliberate design decision embedded in every interaction, product and service.

As digital innovation accelerates across the continent, the conversations taking place at XDC 2026 aim to help organisations move beyond designing for efficiency towards designing experiences that customers genuinely believe in.