Privacy Policy Made clear.

This Privacy Policy explains how Africa Geek Circle Network handles personal data when you visit this website, send an enquiry, engage our advisory team, attend an event, take part in media or community activity, work with us or otherwise interact with our organisation.

“Africa Geek Circle Network”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Africa Geek Circle Network, Inc., a company incorporated in Delaware, United States, and Africa Geek Circle Network Ltd, Nigeria, as relevant to the service or relationship. The entity that contracts with you or delivers the relevant service is normally responsible for that processing. The group entities may also work together where an activity spans both organisations.

Our current ecosystem includes The Geek Circle, Founders Summit, Seed and AGCN Advisory. A service-specific notice or agreement may provide additional information when you use one of those services.

The information we collect depends on how you deal with us.

Information you give us

• Your name, email address, organisation, job title and professional role.
• Information included in enquiries, applications, surveys, event registrations, interviews, feedback or correspondence.
• Founder, startup, investor or company information submitted for advisory, editorial, event, community, partnership or discovery purposes.
• Photographs, audio, video, biographies, presentation material and other content you ask us to publish or use.
• Contract, billing, payment-reference, compliance or due-diligence information needed for a commercial relationship. Complete payment credentials are normally handled by the relevant payment provider rather than by us.

Information collected through the website

• Technical details such as IP address, browser and device type, operating system, language, referring page, approximate location and network information.
• Activity such as pages visited, links selected, timestamps, session events, errors and security records.
• Your browser-storage preference described in our Cookie Policy.

How we receive information

We collect information directly from you, automatically when you use the website, from a representative acting with authority, and from legitimate public or third-party sources. These may include company websites, public professional profiles, event or programme partners, referrals, directories and connected services you choose to use.

If you provide personal data about another person, you must have a lawful reason and the authority to do so. Please do not send passwords, identity documents, special-category data or confidential personal information unless we have specifically requested it and an appropriate arrangement is in place.

We may use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and communicate with you.
• Assess and manage advisory engagements, partnerships, sponsorships, collaborations and supplier relationships.
• Operate The Geek Circle, Founders Summit, Seed and related media, event, community and startup-discovery activity.
• Manage registrations, invitations, applications and participation in our programmes.
• Review companies, founders, documents and market information where we have been engaged to provide advisory or due-diligence support.
• Publish agreed editorial, event or promotional content and maintain records of the permission provided.
• 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 agreed to a specific use, such as optional communications, publication permissions or non-essential cookies.
• Contract: where processing is needed to respond to your request, enter into an agreement or deliver a service.
• Legitimate interests: where processing supports reasonable business, editorial, community, research, fraud-prevention or security needs and those interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal obligation: where information is needed to meet a legal, regulatory, accounting or tax requirement.
• Public or vital interests: in limited situations where applicable law permits or requires this.

We may share personal information only where reasonably necessary with:

• Service providers supporting hosting, email, forms, event operations, communications, security, document management, payments or professional services.
• Africa Geek Circle Network group entities and teams working on the relevant service.
• Event, media, programme or commercial partners where you have been informed, where sharing is necessary for the activity, or where you have agreed.
• Clients or professional advisers where sharing forms part of an advisory or due-diligence engagement and is covered by an appropriate agreement.
• 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.

Information intended for publication, such as an agreed founder profile, interview, speaker biography or startup listing, may be visible to the public. We will not treat clearly public content as confidential, so please review material before approving publication.

We do not sell personal data as a standalone commercial product. We also do not move personal data between The Geek Circle, Founders Summit, Seed and Advisory simply because those services share an owner. Sharing must have a clear operational or legal reason.

We operate through entities in the United States and Nigeria and work with service providers, clients and partners in other countries. Personal data may therefore be accessed or processed outside the country where it was collected.

Where a transfer requires safeguards, we use measures appropriate to the circumstances. These may include recognised contractual terms, transfer assessments, confidentiality duties, access controls and checks on the receiving party.

How long we keep information

We retain personal data only for as long as reasonably needed for the purpose for which it was collected, including operational, contractual, editorial, legal, accounting, dispute-resolution and security needs. The period depends on the information, the service, whether content remains published and any applicable legal requirement.

How we protect information

We use proportionate organisational and technical measures intended to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful loss, misuse, alteration, unauthorised access or disclosure. These measures may include access restrictions, supplier controls, secure communications, backups and staff procedures. No online system is completely secure, so please use care when sending sensitive 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.
• Opt out of certain targeted advertising, sale, profiling or other processing where applicable law provides that right.
• Complain to the relevant data-protection authority.

We may need to verify your identity and authority before responding. Some rights are not absolute, and we may refuse or limit a request where the law permits. You may also appeal a decision or complain to the relevant privacy regulator where those rights apply.

Children

Our corporate website and general services are intended for adults and are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from a child or minor, as defined by applicable law, without an appropriate legal basis and any parental or guardian involvement required by law.

Information about other people

If you send us information about a co-founder, employee, speaker, investor, customer or another person, you are responsible for making sure you are permitted to do so and that the person has received any notice required by law.

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, marketing choices or a rights request, contact info@aftericageekcirclenetwork.com or africa@aftericageekcirclenetwork.com. Please describe your request and the service involved.

You may have the right to complain to the regulator responsible for data protection where you live or where the relevant processing occurred. In Nigeria, this is the Nigeria Data Protection Commission. Other regulators may apply depending on your location.

We may update this policy when our services, technology, providers or legal duties change. If a change materially affects how we use personal data, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to the attention of affected people. The date at the top shows the latest revision.