Nigerian businessman and philanthropist Tony Elumelu has announced the selection of 3,200 African entrepreneurs for the 12th cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship Programme, marking the initiative’s largest intake to date. The announcement, made on August 16, coincided with Elumelu’s birthday and was shared via his social media platform.
The 2026 cohort represents entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries, expanding the programme’s reach through both its core curriculum and strategic partnerships. The founders were chosen from a pool of over 265,000 applications submitted during the open call period, which ran from January 1 to March 1. Each selected entrepreneur will receive a non-refundable seed grant of $5,000, totaling $16 million in direct funding for this cohort. In addition to financial support, participants will undergo comprehensive business training, receive mentorship, and gain access to the TEF’s pan-African network.
In his statement, Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, linked the announcement to his personal philosophy. “For a long time, I believed luck was something that just happens to you. Then I realised, luck can be engineered. Opportunity can be democratised,” he wrote. He emphasized that entrepreneurs were selected for their resilience, stating, “We did not choose you because your path was easy. We chose you because you kept going when it wasn’t.” Elumelu reiterated his belief in Africa’s human capital as the continent’s primary resource, urging the new cohort to focus on transformative development.
The programme, co-founded by Elumelu and his wife Awele Elumelu, has positioned itself as a major driver of entrepreneurship across Africa. With this cohort, the foundation will have supported over 20,000 entrepreneurs since its inception, providing cumulative funding and capacity-building resources. The 2026 intake underscores a deliberate strategy to plant “certainty in the lives of young African entrepreneurs” amid economic volatility, as described by Elumelu.
The TEF Entrepreneurship Programme is widely recognized as one of Africa’s largest private-sector initiatives aimed at catalysing job creation and economic growth. By combining direct capital with training and network access, the foundation seeks to address critical gaps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The announcement of the 2026 cohort reinforces a long-term commitment to fostering a new generation of business leaders tasked with driving the continent’s transformation.
