The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the leading philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs, announced on Sunday, 22 March 2026 the 12th cohort of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme at a ceremony held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
The announcement was made by Founder Tony O. Elumelu, C.F.R. Among the 3,200 entrepreneurs selected from 265,000 applications received from all 54 African countries: seven from North Africa. Three from Tunisia, two from Morocco, two from Egypt.
Spanning technology, education, professional services and agribusiness, they represent a generation of North African founders building businesses that ad dress the urgent needs of their communities.
Their selection, which was conducted independently by Ernst & Young, places them among the most rigorously assessed young entrepreneurs on the continent.
This year’s cohort carries a historic signal: 51 percent of the 2026 entrepreneurs are women. They were selected purely on merit, without quota.
Across hundreds of thousands of applications, women distinguished themselves through the strength of their ideas, the clarity of their business models and the ambition of their vision.
In 2026, the Foundation is empowering a total of 3,200 entrepreneurs across all its entrepreneurship programmes:
1,751 entrepreneurs through Heirs Holdings Group: Heirs Energies, Transcorp Power, Transcorp Hotels, and United Capital;
1,049 entrepreneurs in partnership with the European Commission, OACPS, BMZ and GIZ; 100 entrepreneurs in partnership with Sèmè City Development Agency;
100 entrepreneurs in partnership with DEG, the German Development Agency;
100 entrepreneurs in partnership with the IKEA Foundation, UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited and the Dutch Government; and
100 entrepreneurs in partnership with UNDP and the Rwandan Ministry of Youth and Arts.
Each selected Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur will receive USD 5,000 in non-refundable seed capital, access to world-class business management training on TEFConnect, one-on-one mentorship, and entry into a powerful network of investors, partners and fellow entrepreneurs.
In his annual letter “A Story of Hope,” Tony O. Elumelu, C.F.R., Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, shared a powerful message to the new cohort:
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
