About
Ghana needed one national platform. NESTCON is it.
Background
Why NESTCON was created
Ghana's cybersecurity ecosystem is growing steadily, with increased demand for practical skills development, industry collaboration, public awareness, and stronger connections between learners, professionals, institutions, founders, and solution providers.
While conferences and stand-alone competitions have played an important role in the ecosystem, there is a clear opportunity to create a larger, more inclusive, and more dynamic platform that combines competition, capacity building, community engagement, innovation, and industry participation in one national event.
00Sec Limited is therefore powering NESTCON under its Nexus for Ethical SecuriTy (NEST) initiative, a new and expanded cybersecurity festival designed to serve as a flagship platform during Ghana's Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
NESTCON is intended to grow into a repeatable annual event with increasing national and continental relevance, commercial value, and ecosystem influence.
The goal
To establish NESTCON as Ghana's leading annual cybersecurity festival, bringing together competition, training, awareness, innovation, community, and industry engagement in one high-impact national platform.
- Theme
- Advancing Ghana's Cyber Advantage
- Dates
- 26–28 November 2026
- Format
- 3-day festival
- Build-up
- 3 months of activations
In short
More than an event
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Rationale
The five needs NESTCON addresses
Need for practical cybersecurity engagement
There is strong interest in hands-on learning experiences that go beyond theory. Competitions, labs, demonstrations, and workshops provide a more engaging and memorable way to build cyber capability.
Need for a national community platform
Students, practitioners, institutions, and companies often engage in fragmented spaces. NESTCON provides a shared platform where these groups can meet, collaborate, recruit, showcase, and learn from one another.
Need for sustained awareness, not one-off engagement
Cybersecurity awareness is most effective when delivered consistently. The Road to NESTCON model creates a sustained build-up that keeps the community engaged over several months instead of limiting attention to one event day.
Need for stronger talent discovery and industry access
NESTCON creates opportunities for employers, sponsors, and industry leaders to identify talent, support capability development, and connect directly with future hires, partners, and innovators.
Need for a commercially viable ecosystem event
NESTCON is designed to be sustainable. In addition to educational value, it creates sponsorship, exhibition, training, recruitment, merchandise, and partner engagement opportunities that support long-term continuity and growth.
Objectives
What NESTCON sets out to do
Establish NESTCON as a recognisable and credible annual cybersecurity festival in Ghana.
Use Ghana's Cybersecurity Awareness Month as a national momentum window for cyber education and engagement.
Create practical learning opportunities through CTFs, workshops, technical sessions, labs, and live demonstrations.
Build a pipeline from awareness to participation through the Road to NESTCON campaign.
Connect students, professionals, institutions, founders, employers, and vendors within one ecosystem.
Create a platform for showcasing cybersecurity tools, services, innovations, and local solutions.
Support talent discovery, mentorship, recruitment, and career development.
Generate sustainable value through sponsorships, exhibitors, ticketed experiences, and merchandise.
Increase the visibility of participating partners as contributors to Ghana's cyber ecosystem.
Position the event for long-term national relevance and future regional, continental and global growth.
Expected outcomes
What NESTCON is expected to deliver
Increased national visibility for cybersecurity awareness and practical cyber education
Greater participation in cyber learning and cyber competitions
A stronger connection between students, professionals, and employers
A structured platform for identifying and supporting cyber talent
Expanded visibility for sponsors, exhibitors, and solution providers
Higher community engagement through multi-month activations
A repeatable annual platform that can scale in reach and relevance over time
Foundations for future regional and global participation and ecosystem partnerships
Target audience
Deliberately built for more than one room
primary audience
- University students and cyber clubs
- Entry-level and mid-level cybersecurity professionals
- IT professionals transitioning into security
- SOC analysts, pentesters, blue teamers, and engineers
- Founders and SMEs
- Corporate security leaders and decision-makers
- Government and public sector ICT and security stakeholders
- Vendors, recruiters, and training providers
secondary audience
- Tech enthusiasts and hobbyists
- Secondary school coding and cyber communities
- Journalists and media
- Investors and innovation ecosystem stakeholders
- Cybersecurity startups and tool builders
Organisers
Powered by 00Sec Limited
00Sec Ltd. (OOSEC) is a cybersecurity firm dedicated to helping organisations strengthen their defences through expert cybersecurity services, hands-on training, and innovative security solutions built for today's threats.
We combine deep technical expertise with practical experience to help clients safeguard their critical assets, reduce risks, and build resilience. Our services span vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, adversarial simulations, risk assessments and advisory, incident response, AI security automations, and specialised security training.
00Sec is the organisation powering NESTCON through the Nexus for Ethical SecuriTy (NEST) programme and leading the development of the event as a larger, more strategic cybersecurity platform.
Through NESTCON, 00Sec aims to create an annual festival that not only convenes the cybersecurity community, but also strengthens practical skills, builds awareness, supports industry collaboration, and contributes to the long-term growth of cybersecurity in Ghana and beyond.
Be part of Ghana's first cybersecurity festival
26–28 November 2026. 3 days of competition, training, community and industry, plus 3 months of Road to NESTCON before it.