Africa Kaizen Annual Conference was held from 2nd to 4th July 2018 in Durban, Republic of South Africa.

In Africa where improvement of productivity and strengthening of industrial competitiveness are issues, the demand for "Kaizen", a method for improving quality and productivity in Japan, is rising.

In April 2017 NEPAD and JICA launched the "Africa Kaizen Initiative" (AKI) with the aim of disseminating the Kaizen management principles in Africa.

Africa Kaizen Annual Conference holds keynote speeches, panel discussions, company visits and group work at the three-day meeting and is a place to share the significance of Kaizen implementing policy, knowledge and lessons from each country, and discuss future policy of activities. Kaizen knowledge sharing seminar had been held in Ethiopia (2016) and Kenya (2017) organized solely by JICA  and this time, following the formation of AKI the seminar is jointly organized by NEPAD Agency, JICA and PAPA.