07/09/2026
🔥 Hamburg, you showed us what happens when Business, Culture and Community come together.
On 4–5 September, more than 1,500 people and 100+ speakers, artists and changemakers joined us for the first-ever two-day AiDiA Business & Culture Fest.
After five years of building AiDiA Pitch, we took our biggest step yet. We started Day One aboard a ship in the heart of Hamburg’s harbour and moved into an unforgettable Pitch Night filled with bold ideas, ambitious visions and founders ready to shape what comes next, before closing the weekend with Ghanaian Afro-Dancehall icon and BET Award winner Stonebwoy.
And at the heart of it all: our founders.
🏆 HYNOVY won the AiDiA Founder Pitch and €30,000.
🏆 Lady D cosmetics took home the Idea Pitch win of €2,000.
Congratulations to both teams and to every founder who had the courage to put their vision on our stage.
This weekend was only possible because an ecosystem believed in it with us. Thank you to our sponsors Beiersdorf, Jung von Matt, , Handelskammer Hamburg and JACKS beauty line, our in-kind prize partners, our juries Ebony S. Morczinek, Marcus Diekmann, Thuy Ngan Trinh, Patrick Mijnals, Cephas Ndubueze, Dr. Salim Kraatz, Sarah Buge, our coaches and workshop hosts, speakers, artists, hosts, our dedicated team and volunteers.
And a special thank you to Hamburg Ministry of Economy, Labor and Innovation (Hamburg Innovativ) as well as Senator Dr. Melanie Leonhard and Irene Appiah, MdHB, for supporting visibility, entrepreneurship and economic participation.
AiDiA is about more than an event. It is about creating new markets, jobs, connections and narratives with Black and diasporic entrepreneurship visible at the centre, and everyone invited to help build what comes next.
👉🏾 What was your AiDiA 2026 highlight? Tell us in the comments. ✨
📸 More event photos coming soon
🤝🏾 Want to join us next time as a speaker, partner, exhibitor or crew member? Email us at [email protected]
