Privacy Policy Made clear.

This Privacy Policy explains how Africa Geek Circle Network collects, uses, stores and protects personal information when you visit this website, submit an enquiry, participate in our programmes, attend our events, engage with our media platforms or otherwise interact with us.

“Africa Geek Circle Network”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the relevant Africa Geek Circle Network entity responsible for the service or interaction. We have incorporated entities in the United Kingdom and Nigeria and operate across our connected platforms, including The Geek Circle, Builders Summit and Seed.

Information you provide directly

• Your name, email address, telephone number, organisation and professional role.
• Information included in contact forms, partnership enquiries, event registrations, applications, surveys or correspondence.
• Founder, startup or company information you choose to submit for editorial, event, community or discovery purposes.
• Billing, contractual or due-diligence information where this is necessary for a commercial relationship.

Information collected when you use the website

• Basic technical information such as IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring page and approximate location.
• Website activity such as pages visited, links selected, timestamps and error logs.
• Cookie or browser-storage preferences described in our Cookie Policy.

Information from other sources

We may receive professional or business information from event partners, public company websites, public social profiles, referrals, directories or other legitimate sources where this is relevant to our work and permitted by law.

We may use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and communicate with you.
• Assess and manage partnerships, sponsorships, collaborations and supplier relationships.
• Operate events, media features, founder conversations, communities and startup-discovery services.
• Manage registrations, invitations, applications and participation in our programmes.
• Maintain the security, availability and performance of our website and services.
• Send updates, invitations or marketing communications where permitted and provide a way to opt out.
• Comply with legal, regulatory, accounting, tax, safeguarding and contractual requirements.
• Establish, exercise or defend legal claims and protect our rights, users, team and partners.

Depending on the context and the law that applies, we rely on one or more of the following grounds:

• Consent — where you have clearly agreed to a specific use, such as certain communications or optional cookies.
• Contract — where processing is needed to take steps at your request or perform an agreement with you.
• Legitimate interests — where processing supports our reasonable business, community, editorial or security interests and those interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal obligation — where we must process information to meet a legal or regulatory requirement.
• Public interest or vital interests — in limited circumstances where applicable law permits or requires it.

We may share personal information only where reasonably necessary with:

• Service providers supporting hosting, email, forms, analytics, event operations, communications, security, payments or professional services.
• Our connected platforms and relevant Africa Geek Circle Network entities.
• Event, media, programme or commercial partners where you have been informed, where sharing is necessary for the activity, or where you have agreed.
• Professional advisers, auditors, insurers, regulators, courts, law-enforcement agencies or public authorities where required or appropriate.
• A buyer, investor, successor or adviser in connection with a genuine corporate transaction, subject to appropriate confidentiality and legal safeguards.

We do not sell personal information as a standalone commercial product.

Because we operate from the United Kingdom and Nigeria and work with international service providers and partners, personal information may be accessed or processed outside the country where it was collected.

Where required, we use appropriate safeguards for international transfers, which may include adequacy regulations, recognised contractual clauses, transfer-risk assessments, confidentiality commitments and security controls.

How long we keep information

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including operational, contractual, legal, accounting, dispute-resolution and security needs. Retention periods vary according to the type of information and the nature of the relationship.

How we protect information

We use proportionate organisational and technical measures designed to protect personal information against accidental or unlawful loss, misuse, alteration, unauthorised access or disclosure. No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, so users should also take appropriate care when sending information electronically.

Subject to applicable law and relevant exceptions, you may have rights to:

• Be informed about how your personal information is used.
• Request access to personal information we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Request deletion or restriction of certain processing.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests or to direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent where processing relies on consent.
• Receive certain information in a portable format.
• Request human review of certain automated decisions, where applicable.
• Complain to the relevant data-protection authority.

We may need to verify your identity before responding. Some rights are not absolute, and we may lawfully refuse or limit a request where an exception applies.

Children

Our corporate website and general services are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children through this website without an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, parental or guardian involvement.

External websites

Our website links to third-party websites and social platforms. Their privacy practices are controlled by those third parties, and you should review their notices before providing information.

For privacy questions or to exercise a data-protection right, contact hq@africageekcirclenetwork.com or africa@africageekcirclenetwork.com.

You may also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom or the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, depending on your location and the processing involved.

We may update this policy as our services, technology or legal obligations change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last revised.