The Bold New Normal Conference UK 2026 - "The Power of the Diaspora: New Mindsets, New Communities, New Shared Prosperity"
The Bold New Normal Conference comes to the United Kingdom for the first time. TBNNC UK 2026 is a landmark gathering for the African diaspora and its allies — a day of bold conversations, powerful perspectives, and practical ideas centred on what it means to live, lead, and build with purpose across two worlds.
"Prosperity is not a miracle. It is the result of intentional, bold decisions." — Lucy Quist
The theme this year is The Power of the Diaspora: New Mindsets, New Communities, New Shared Prosperity. We are asking one essential question: what happens when the African diaspora stops seeing itself as existing between two worlds — and starts operating as a bridge between them?
The diaspora carries skills, capital, networks, lived experience, and a particular form of perspective that the continent needs and that the continent can, in turn, deepen and ground. When that connection is activated deliberately — through the right mindsets, structures and communities — it becomes one of the most powerful drivers of shared prosperity on the planet.
This is a conference for people who are ready to move from conversation to contribution.
WHAT TO EXPECT
TBNNC UK 2026 will bring together leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs, changemakers and community builders for a day of:
→Keynote addresses from leaders operating at the intersection of Africa and the global stage
→Panel conversations exploring diaspora identity, investment, innovation, and impact
→Case studies of diaspora-led transformation across the key industry domains
→Networking with a curated community of professionals, founders and change agents
→A pathway into the TBNN Change Agent Network for those ready to go deeper
Full programme to be announced. Speakers to be confirmed shortly.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
→ African diaspora professionals in the UK and Europe
→ Entrepreneurs and founders building across borders
→ Corporate leaders with a heart for Africa's future
→ Policy thinkers and community organisers
→ Students and early-career professionals ready to lead
→ Allies and partners who believe in Africa's prosperity
You do not need to be African to attend. You need to believe that a bolder, more prosperous Africa benefits everyone.
HOSTED BY
Lucy Quist
Founder, The Bold New Normal · Managing Director, Barclays · Author · TEDx Speaker
Lucy Quist is a Ghanaian-born executive, author and convener with a career spanning financial services, telecommunications and global leadership. She made history as the first Ghanaian woman to lead a multinational telecommunications company, and today serves as Managing Director and Head of Transformation for Global Transaction Banking at Barclays. Her 2016 TEDx talk, "A Bold New Normal", laid the foundation for a movement that has now gathered over 1,200 people across four annual conferences on the continent. The Bold New Normal is her life's work: a platform to activate changemakers and build a continent where every person has the unfettered opportunity to thrive.
ABOUT THE BOLD NEW NORMAL
The Bold New Normal (TBNN) is a continental vehicle for transformation that leads to prosperity, where every person has the unfettered opportunity to thrive and fulfil their God-given potential.
Through our conference series, podcast, book and Change Agent Network, TBNN gathers, equips and mobilises individuals who are ready to lead change through culture, language, leadership, and infrastructure — starting with individuals and expanding to communities, nations, and across Africa.
TBNNC UK 2026 is the platform's inaugural international edition — and the beginning of a permanent diaspora chapter in the TBNN story.