By Obinna Uballa
Billionaire investor and philanthropist, Tony Elumelu, has announced the 2026 cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, reaffirming his commitment to empowering young African business leaders.
Elumelu, who made the announcement on Sunday to coincide with his 62nd birthday, shared insights into the vision driving the initiative, stressing that opportunity and success can be deliberately created.
“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. Hope is not just a feeling; it is a system we can build,” he wrote in a post on X.
He disclosed that he and his wife, Awele Elumelu, co-founder of the Foundation, unveiled the new cohort as part of efforts to continue investing in Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The 2026 intake includes 3,200 entrepreneurs drawn from all 54 African countries, selected from a pool of more than 265,000 applicants following the close of submissions on March 1.
According to the Foundation, each beneficiary will receive a non-refundable seed grant of $5,000, alongside access to business training, mentorship, and a continent-wide network of entrepreneurs and partners.
Elumelu emphasised that the selection process prioritised resilience and determination over privilege, encouraging beneficiaries to seize the opportunity.
“We did not choose you because your path was easy. We chose you because you kept going when it wasn’t,” he said.
He further underscored his belief that Africa’s most valuable asset lies in its people rather than natural resources, urging the new cohort to play an active role in transforming the continent’s economic future.
The programme, now in its 12th year, continues to serve as one of Africa’s largest privately funded entrepreneurship initiatives, providing critical support to thousands of startups across the continent.
