Absa announced that its Experience Design Collab (XDC) 2026 will take place on 30 September at The Forum Alice Lane in Sandton, Johannesburg, running from 8am to 4pm. The event, now in its third year, is themed “Designing for Trust: The Currency of the Future”.
The programme builds on an internal XD Jam held in July, where emerging Absa designers presented real business cases, and culminates in a public conference that brings together business leaders, designers, technologists and customer-experience practitioners.
Why trust matters for businesses
According to the announcement, the shift from purely technological solutions to designs that earn customer trust reflects a broader trend across Africa’s digital markets. As organisations adopt AI, automation and data-driven decision-making, trust is becoming the key factor that determines whether customers adopt and stay with digital products and services.
Sivan Lapidus, executive head of design at Absa Personal and Private Banking, said: “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.”
Lapidus added that experience design is moving from a creative support role to a strategic business capability that can unlock commercial value and build lasting customer relationships. By sharing case studies and facilitating cross-industry collaboration, XDC aims to help organisations, including small and medium-size enterprises, embed trust into every digital interaction.
For SMEs that rely on digital channels to reach customers, the conference offers practical insights into how design thinking can be turned into a measurable advantage. The event also serves as a platform for emerging talent and for companies looking to strengthen internal design capability.
More details are available on the Bizcommunity announcement and on Absa’s website. For related coverage see our SME & Entrepreneurship section.
The 2026 edition marks a notable evolution for the Experience Design Collab, moving from earlier themes that celebrated design excellence to a focus on how human-centred design can deliver measurable business outcomes, strengthen relationships and create long-term commercial value, according to the event’s briefing. Organisers stress that the shift reflects a broader realisation that technology alone no longer secures customer loyalty. By foregrounding trust as a strategic imperative, the programme aims to show participants concrete ways to translate design thinking into revenue-generating results, a message that resonates across Africa’s varied cultural and market contexts.
Two complementary events now frame the XDC agenda, expanding participation beyond the flagship conference. The first, an internal XD Jam held in July, gave emerging Abda designers and process engineers a stage to present real business case studies, hone public-speaking skills and demonstrate design’s role in tackling complex organisational challenges. The second, the public XD Collab on 30 September, brings together business leaders, experience designers, innovation specialists and customer-experience practitioners to explore tangible value creation through thought leadership and cross-industry collaboration.
Since its launch, the platform has steadily grown into a recognised forum for elevating conversations around human-centred design, drawing increasing interest from senior executives who now view experience design as a strategic capability rather than a purely creative support function. Attendance has risen each year, and the event’s reputation for showcasing successful projects has helped position it as a catalyst for broader industry adoption of design-driven strategies across the continent.
Absa’s continued investment in internal design capability is evident in the way XDC nurtures emerging talent and encourages cross-disciplinary learning. Participants can engage in workshops that blend design theory with practical business applications, while mentors from various business units share insights on embedding design thinking into everyday processes. This approach not only strengthens collaboration within the bank but also contributes to the wider experience-design ecosystem by seeding new ideas and best-practice frameworks.
The conference also serves as an open platform where practical lessons are exchanged and the design community can collectively shape the future of trusted digital experiences. Sessions are structured to move beyond showcasing sleek interfaces, instead highlighting how deliberate design decisions embed trust into every interaction, product and service. By framing trust as a design outcome rather than an incidental benefit, organisers hope to inspire organisations to embed it at the core of their digital strategies.
In practice, the XDC format follows a clear process: an internal jam session identifies promising case studies, which are then refined and prepared for presentation at the public collab. Organisers schedule speakers, allocate time slots and coordinate cross-industry panels, ensuring that each session delivers actionable insights. The final day concludes with a synthesis of key takeaways, which participants can apply to their own projects as they navigate rapid technological change across Africa’s digital markets.
