Tony Elumelu Foundation Selects 3,200 African Entrepreneurs

The Tony Elumelu Foundation announced the selection of 3,200 young entrepreneurs from across 54 African countries for its 2026 Entrepreneurship Programme on Sunday in Abuja, Nigeria, committing $16 million in nonrefundable seed capital to support their ventures.

Each beneficiary will receive $5,000, along with business training, mentorship, and access to the foundation's digital platform, TEFConnect. The cohort was chosen from more than 265,000 applicants through a rigorous screening process that evaluated business ideas, models, and visions on merit. Officials from the foundation reported that 51 percent of the selected entrepreneurs are women, emphasizing inclusive participation.

Tony Elumelu, founder of the foundation and chairman of Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa, and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, highlighted the programme's role in fostering economic transformation during the unveiling event at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja. "In a world filled with uncertainty, we made a deliberate choice year after year to plant certainty in the lives of young African entrepreneurs," Elumelu said in a statement tied to his 62nd birthday. He noted that the initiative, launched...