The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has disclosed plans it will disburse over $16 million to support 3,200 young African entrepreneurs across all 54 countries on the continent in 2026, as the organisation expands partnerships and scales its flagship entrepreneurship programme.
The Tony Elumelu foundation’s CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka, addressed the media on Saturday before to the formal announcement of this year’s TEF Entrepreneurship Program awardees.
According to her, the program would give chosen entrepreneurs $5,000 in seed money in addition to company management assistance, training, and mentoring to help them start and expand sustainable businesses.
“In 2026, the Tony Elumelu Foundation will disburse over $16 million to support, train, fund, coach and mentor 3,200 young African entrepreneurs from across the continent,” Chris-Asoluka said.
According to the CEO, the initiative will be carried out in four cohorts, which reflects the foundation’s plan to increase its influence through collaborations with governments, development organisations, and businesses.
Chris-Asoluka claims that the foundation has greatly broadened its partnership strategy in 2026, allowing it to connect with more business owners in many industries and geographical areas.
“This year, the number of partnerships we have throughout the year and the type of partners, the calibre of partners, are incredibly exciting. That’s also pretty new,” she said.
According to Chris-Asoluka, the 3,200 entrepreneurs would receive assistance through a variety of relationship streams, including as joint ventures with Heirs Holdings Group businesses and international development organisations.
According to her, agreements with Heirs Holdings Group enterprises, including Heirs Energies, Transcorp Power, Transcorp Hotels, and United Capital, would provide funding to 1,751 entrepreneurs.
The European Commission, the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS), Germany’s federal ministry for economic cooperation and development (BMZ), and the German development agency (GIZ) will all work together to support 1,049 businesses.
She added that 100 entrepreneurs each will also be funded through partnerships with the Seme City Development Agency, the German development finance institution (DEG), a coalition involving the IKEA Foundation, UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited initiative and the Dutch government, as well as the United Nations Development Programme and Rwanda’s ministry of youth and arts.
The CEO noted that some of the industries with the highest activity among applicants this year were agriculture, retail, artificial intelligence (AI), information and communication technology (ICT), the green economy, education, and healthcare.
“Some of the biggest sectors we’ve seen this year include agriculture and agribusiness, retail, AI and technology, the green economy, education and healthcare,” she said.
Additionally, Chris-Asoluka emphasised that the foundation does not give preference to any particular industry and that entrepreneurs are chosen based on the feasibility and scalability of their business concepts.
‘INFRASTRUCTURE REMAINS A CHALLENGE FOR ENTREPRENEURS’
Additionally, Chris-Asoluka stated that five years after investment, the program’s business survival rate was 77.5 percent, which is much better than the anticipated 10 percent survival rate for companies throughout the African continent.
She urged those who were not chosen for the current cycle to reapply in subsequent program iterations.
Chris-Azoluka added that since its launch in 2015, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has disbursed over $100 million to more than 24,000 entrepreneurs across Africa.
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