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Tony Elumelu used the stage at his foundation's 2026 grant ceremony to deliver a direct challenge to Africa's wealthy: do more.
Speaking Monday at the unveiling of 3,200 beneficiaries of the Tony Elumelu Foundation's annual entrepreneurship programme, Elumelu said Africa's rich have both the capacity and the responsibility to lift others. He argued that prosperity concentrated in few hands helps no one, that wealth matters most when it creates access and opportunity for those who have none.
"Poverty is a threat to all of us," he told the gathering in Abuja. "The more prosperity we spread, the better for everyone."
Elumelu, chairman of United Bank for Africa and Heirs Holdings, has been making this argument with increasing urgency. He has long said that Africa's private sector, not foreign aid or government handouts, is the engine that must drive the continent's development. Monday's ceremony was as much a demonstration of that belief as it was a speech about it. His foundation put $16 million on the table, $5,000 to each of the 3,200 selected entrepreneurs, in one of the largest single deployments in the programme's history.
Each grant is non-refundable. Beneficiaries also receive business training, mentorship and access to the foundation's continental network. The selection, independently verified by Ernst and Young, was drawn from more than 265,000 applications submitted across all 54 African countries.
The foundation launched the entrepreneurship programme in 2010, and it has grown into one of the most recognisable private-sector-led development initiatives on the continent. To date, the programme has backed more than 24,000 entrepreneurs. Foundation CEO Somachi Chris-Asoluka told attendees that those alumni have collectively generated $4.2 billion in revenue, while the initiative's broader ripple effects have helped lift roughly 2.1 million people out of poverty.
Elumelu was pointed about the stakes. Youth unemployment across Africa, he said, is not just an economic problem. It is a social and political one, and leaving it unaddressed is a form of generational betrayal. "The greatest betrayal of our youth is failing to create jobs," he said. His answer to that, as it has been for years, is to bet on entrepreneurs. Small businesses, in his view, are the mechanism that converts capital into employment at scale.
He was also unambiguous about who must lead. Africa cannot wait, he said, and cannot look outward for solutions. "No one but us will develop Africa," he told the new cohort. "The future of our continent is in your hands."
Awele Elumelu, who co-founded the foundation alongside her husband, called on partners outside the foundation to do more as well. "We received over 265,000 applications, but only 3,200 could be selected," she said. "We call on partners to join us in supporting these entrepreneurs."
Elumelu also acknowledged the policy environment that backs or hinders entrepreneurship, praising President Bola Tinubu for what he described as an enabling climate for small business. He urged the government to keep pushing, saying entrepreneurship cannot thrive without the basic infrastructure of power, roads and regulatory stability. To the 3,200 beneficiaries, he had one instruction: use the money well, build something that lasts and make it count.
The unveiling was held on Elumelu's 62nd birthday, a detail that was not lost on those in attendance. He has made a habit of marking the day with an announcement from the foundation, turning a personal occasion into a public commitment. This year was no different.
