In Africa, when someone utters the word ‘space’, we very often think of Earth Observation, Satellite Communications, and sometimes even lunar exploration. Yet, the majority of smartphone owners use satellite navigation every day without realising it.
So, the question is: what is Africa doing or planning for satellite Navigation?
Among the few organisations invested in this sector is the SatNav Africa Joint Programme Office (JPO), and we had the pleasure of meeting its Director, Mr Semou Diouf, at the 2026 edition of the Newspace Africa Conference to discuss its implications for the continent’s future.
Based in Dakar, Senegal, and operating as a pan-African Programme under the Africa-EU Space Partnership Programme (AESPP), SatNav Africa JPO champions the development of satellite navigation and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) services across the continent, with aviation as its primary driver but with ambitions that reach considerably further.
Speaking during the NewSpace Africa Conference 2026 in Libreville, Gabon, Mr Diouf was characteristically direct about where Africa stands, what is coming, and why it matters.
His suggestions for the conference going forward are practical and rooted in a concern he returns to again and again: the next generation.
Mr Diouf would like to see collocated events that bring younger audiences into specific sessions, giving them targeted access to the conversations and connections that will shape the industry they are about to enter. “They are the ones who are going to build the space sector,” he said. “It is not us. We need to find ways to bring them in now.”
It is, in its way, the same argument he makes about ANGA, the Innovation Hub, precision farming, and last-mile delivery. The infrastructure being built today is not for the institutions convening in Libreville.
It is for the generations and the industries that will shape the continent in the years to come, and for the African ‘sky’, in every sense of that word, that is still being built.
Source: https://spaceinafrica.com/2026/05/08/how-satnav-africa-jpo-is-positioning-the-continent-for-the-space-navigation-era/