A heated conversation is rippling across professional circles after Adedeji Olowe, the founder of Lendsqr, openly described business and tech conferences as “a scam” and “a money drain.”
In a viral LinkedIn post, Olowe criticized the soaring costs and elusive returns of attending such events, arguing that “not a single one” of his peers could name a tangible benefit despite spending fortunes on tickets, travel, and accommodations.
“Beyond random hookups and shenanigans, nothing comes out of it,” he wrote. “Do I still speak at conferences? Oh yes, if I’m not paying, or if someone’s paying for me to haul my backside there.”
His blunt assessment has reignited debate about the real value of professional conferences in Africa’s fast-evolving tech and business ecosystem.
Professionals’ Perspectives and Instances
In follow-up discussions with Techparley Africa, three professionals offered divergent takes on Olowe’s claim, reflecting a wider debate over whether conferences truly yield professional value or simply burn corporate budgets.
Jemil Oyebisi, a senior developer based in the United States, acknowledged that while conferences may not always translate into immediate gains, they remain crucial for building human connection and professional networks.
“For engineers like us who work remotely, we spend a lot of our time alone with computers; conferences become our way to go out, meet and relate with people from other areas of life,” he said.
Oyebisi cited a 2024 conference in Abuja that helped him establish enduring partnerships and even witnessed a contact he met at an AWS conference land a new job after leveraging their exchange.
Yusuf Olarewaju, a Nigerian product manager, offered a more pointed rebuttal, he said:
“He’s just stylishly saying he’s bad at networking and making good connections,” he remarked. “I met my biggest mentor turned employer at a conference… sold inverter systems to someone who later connected me to more deals.”
For Olarewaju, the issue is not the platform itself but the participant’s ability to network effectively and turn encounters into opportunities.
But not everyone was convinced. Farhan Ahmad Nasirudeen, a Nigerian web developer and student of Collective Intelligence at the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic, sided with Olowe, describing most conferences as “overhyped scams.”
“Apart from making contacts, most of them end up being completely useless,” he said. “After the event, you realize you didn’t really gain anything. You just say, ‘Yeah, I attended this conference, met this person, took a few pictures…’ but there’s no real benefit you can point to.”
Why Are Conferences Regarded as Scams?
Critics of the booming conference economy argue that event commercialization and performative networking have overshadowed genuine knowledge exchange.
With thousands of conferences promising exposure, learning, and partnership opportunities, yet many attendees report outcomes that are more social than strategic.
In emerging markets like Africa, where travel and registration costs can exceed an average professional’s monthly income, disillusionment often follows unmet expectations.
“Maybe you get a few pictures and one of those ‘I’m excited’ or ‘honored to speak’ posts we all throw around on LinkedIn,” Olowe quipped in his post.
The sentiment resonates with a growing number of professionals who see conferences as status symbols rather than impact hubs, especially when sponsorships or measurable returns are absent.
Ways to Maximize Conferences’ Impact
Despite growing skepticism, experts say the problem lies not in the concept of conferences but in how participants approach them.
Experts note that 64 percent of professionals who prepared networking goals before attending events reported meaningful business outcomes, compared to just little 21 percent who attended “to see what happens.”
For participants like Olarewaju and Oyebisi, maximizing impact requires intentional strategy, from identifying potential collaborators ahead of time to following up on leads post-event.
Others recommend blending physical conferences with hackathons, skill workshops, or virtual think sessions to ensure tangible value creation.
“You’d probably get more value from an online hangout or a hackathon where people actually think, build, and solve problems,” Nasirudeen said, echoing a preference among younger professionals for action-driven gatherings.
Talking Points
Indeed, the debate around conferences stretches far beyond the confines of the tech industry. Across disciplines, from academia to healthcare, governance, and development, conferences have long served as critical engines of knowledge exchange, collaboration, and professional growth.
In academia, for instance, conferences remain the lifeblood of intellectual progress, allowing researchers to present groundbreaking findings, receive constructive critique, and forge partnerships that often evolve into cross-continental research projects or policy recommendations.
The global academic ecosystem thrives on these interactions; many innovations, published papers, and institutional collaborations trace their roots to seemingly ordinary conference encounters.
Similarly, in the fields of education, public policy, journalism, and even the creative industries, conferences act as melting pots where theories meet practice, where ideas are debated, and where visibility transforms into opportunity. To dismiss them as mere vanity projects would therefore ignore the tangible intellectual and social capital they continue to produce.
While commercialization and performative participation may dilute their essence in some sectors, the broader truth remains that conferences, when well-structured and purpose-driven, are among the few remaining spaces where interdisciplinary thought, mentorship, and innovation intersect in real time.
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