Last updated: 9 September 2026

This policy explains what personal information the Africa Family Business Summit (AFBS) collects when you use this website, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. We have written it to describe what this site actually does, rather than to cover every practice a website might have.

1. Who we are

The Africa Family Business Summit (“AFBS”, “we”, “us”) is a platform and community dedicated to the continuity, governance and growth of African family businesses. We operate this website, the AFBS Network membership programme, the annual Summit and the Family Enterprise Conversations webinar series.

We are the data controller for the information described here. Our contact details are at the end of this policy.

2. What we collect, and when

We only collect information you type into a form on this site. We do not buy personal data, and we do not build profiles of visitors who simply browse the site.

When you…	We collect
Send us a message through the contact form	Your name, email address and the content of your message.
Register for a Family Enterprise Conversations webinar	Your first and last name, email address, country, and your organisation or industry. We also record which edition you registered for.
Apply to join the AFBS Network	Your name, email address, country, industry, organisation and, optionally, your phone number and role, plus the statement you write in support of your application.
Register for the Summit	Your name, contact details, organisation and the registration options you select. If you pay online, payment is handled by our payment provider — see section 4.
Log in to the member portal	A session cookie that keeps you signed in. See our Cookie Policy.

3. Why we collect it

• To reply to you. If you send a message, we use your details to answer it.
• To run the events you sign up for. Webinar and Summit registrations are used to send you joining details, reminders, and materials for that event.
• To administer membership. Applications are reviewed, and approved members are set up with a portal account and directory profile.
• To understand our reach. We report on participation in aggregate — for example, how many countries have been represented across the webinar series. These figures are counts only and never identify an individual.
• To keep you informed, where you have asked us to. You can unsubscribe from any AFBS mailing at any time using the link in the email or by writing to us.

Our lawful bases are your consent (for updates and marketing), the performance of a contract (delivering an event or membership you signed up for), and our legitimate interests in running and improving the community.

4. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it for anyone else's marketing. We share it only where it is necessary to run our services:

• Our email provider, to deliver the messages you have asked for.
• Our webinar platform (Zoom), when you register for a session, so that you can be admitted to it. Their handling of your data is governed by their own privacy policy.
• Our payment provider, where you pay for a ticket or membership. Card details are entered directly with the provider — AFBS never sees or stores your card number.
• Our web host, which stores the site and its database on our behalf.
• Where the law requires it, or to establish or defend legal claims.

5. The Member Directory

If your membership application is approved, your professional profile — name, organisation, country, role and any optional fields you complete — is visible to other approved, signed-in AFBS Network members through the Member Directory.

Your email address and phone number are not listed publicly in the directory by default. You can ask us to restrict or remove your profile at any time. The full terms are in our Terms & Conditions.

6. How long we keep it

• Contact messages: kept while we deal with your enquiry and for a reasonable period afterwards, then deleted.
• Event and webinar registrations: retained as part of our record of the event, and used to report participation in aggregate.
• Membership records: kept for as long as you are a member, and for a period afterwards to handle renewals and any legal or financial obligations.
• Financial records: kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires.

You can ask us to delete your information sooner — see below.

7. Your rights and choices

You can ask us to:

• tell you what personal data we hold about you, and give you a copy;
• correct anything that is wrong or out of date;
• delete your data, where we have no continuing reason to keep it;
• stop using it for a particular purpose, such as marketing;
• remove or restrict your Member Directory profile; or
• withdraw a consent you previously gave, at any time.

Write to info@afbsummit.org and we will respond. We may ask you to confirm your identity first, so that we do not disclose your information to someone else. If you are unhappy with our response, you may complain to the Data Protection Commission of Ghana or to the data protection authority where you live.

8. How we protect it

The site is served over an encrypted HTTPS connection. Member and administrative areas are password-protected and available only to authorised people, and access to the underlying database is restricted. No system can be guaranteed completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect what you give us and to limit who can see it.

9. Children

This website and our programmes are intended for business owners, successors, advisors and professionals. They are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us their details, contact us and we will delete them.

10. Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle personal information, we will update this page and change the date at the top. Where a change is significant, we will tell members and registrants directly.