Tony Elumelu Foundation To Unveil New 3,200 Entrepreneurs As $16m 2026 Funding Plan Unfolds

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) is set to announce a new cohort of 3,200 entrepreneurs across Africa, as it rolls out a $16 million funding plan for 2026 aimed at deepening early-stage business support and accelerating job creation on the continent.

The announcement, scheduled for March 22, follows an application cycle that drew over 265,000 entries from all 54 African countries, underscoring both the scale of entrepreneurial ambition and the persistent financing gap facing startups.

The selected entrepreneurs—already screened through an independent process conducted by Ernst & Young—will receive non-refundable seed capital of $5,000 each, alongside access to business training, mentorship, and TEF’s expanding network of investors and partners.

Breakdown of the 2026 cohort shows a multi-partner funding structure, with 1,751 entrepreneurs supported through Heirs Holdings Group companies, including Heirs Energies, Transcorp Power, Transcorp Hotels, and United Capital. Another 1,049 beneficiaries will be funded through collaborations with international partners such as the European Commission, OACPS, BMZ and GIZ, while smaller cohorts are backed by institutions including Sèmè City Development Agency, DEG, the IKEA Foundation, UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited, the Dutch Government, and UNDP in partnership with Rwanda’s Ministry of Youth and Arts.

Sectoral data from this year’s applications highlights agriculture, artificial intelligence, healthcare, and the green economy as leading areas of interest—an indication of where Africa’s next wave of innovation and enterprise growth may emerge.

Speaking ahead of the unveiling, Tony O. Elumelu, founder of TEF, reaffirmed the foundation’s long-standing belief in entrepreneurship as a catalyst for economic transformation.

“The future of Africa will be built by Africans who create businesses, generate jobs and solve the challenges of our continent,” Elumelu said,.further revealing “At the Tony Elumelu Foundation, we believe that empowering entrepreneurs is the most sustainable path to Africa’s economic transformation.”

He added, “I look forward to announcing and congratulating the 2026 cohort of Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs and look forward to witnessing the impact they will create across our continent.”

Since inception, TEF has trained over 2.5 million young Africans through its digital platform, TEFConnect, and disbursed more than $100 million in seed funding to over 24,000 entrepreneurs.

The foundation says its beneficiaries have collectively generated $4.2 billion in revenue and created over 1.5 million jobs, while lifting more than 2.1 million Africans out of poverty and impacting over 4 million households.

With nearly half of its supported entrepreneurs being women, TEF’s model continues to position itself at the intersection of inclusion, enterprise development, and economic resilience.

As the 2026 cohort joins its growing alumni network, the foundation’s latest intervention reinforces the scale of private-sector-led development efforts shaping Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape—at a time when access to capital remains one of the continent’s most critical constraints.