From his early days as a photocopier salesperson to becoming one of Africa's leading entrepreneurs, our Founder @TonyOElumelu reminds us that resilience, grit, discipline and consistency are built long before success becomes visible. Keep showing up. Keep learning. Keep executing. The work you're putting in today is shaping the entrepreneur you'll become tomorrow.

Yesterday, the #TEFSquad in Kenya visited the business location of Belmy Kipruto, CEO of Ustawi Organic Farms and a 2024 Kenyan #TEFAlumni! 🇰🇪🌱 Based in Otongolo, Kisumu, Ustawi Organic Farms is an innovative agricultural enterprise transforming the way communities think about waste through circular agriculture and waste-to-wealth solutions. Using Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL), Belmy and her team convert organic waste collected from local kitchens, markets and households into valuable, eco-friendly products. By diverting waste from landfills, the enterprise is helping to reduce environmental pollution, lower production costs for farmers and build a cleaner, more resilient agricultural ecosystem in Kenya. This is what entrepreneurship looks like: turning challenges into opportunities and creating impact that reaches far beyond the business. Stay tuned as Belmy shares her inspiring entrepreneurial journey and success story! #EmpoweredByTEF #TEFImpact
#TEF2026

Highlight from Day 1 of our IYBA-WE4A Verification Exercise in Kisumu, Kenya 🇰🇪 #EmpoweredByTEF #TEFImpact
#TEF2026

"As a business, you can generate profit, create wealth for your shareholders, and at the same time create value and opportunities for your stakeholders and the communities in which you operate. - TEF CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka at the Brazilian Philanthropy Forum 2026 Business can do more than create profits. It can create prosperity for shareholders while transforming the lives of stakeholders and communities. At the Brazilian Philanthropy Forum 2026, our CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka, shared a powerful reminder: meaningful impact starts with listening to the communities we seek to serve and building solutions in partnership with them — not simply deciding what they need for them. #EmpoweredByTEF #TEFImpact
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"The Tony Elumelu Foundation is a last mile implementer. One key lesson we have learned in creating @tefconnect is to ensure we remain inclusive. We do not want to use technology to deepen the divide, we want to use technology to bridge the gaps and not deepen inequality." - TEF CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka at the Brazilian Philanthropy Forum 2026 #EmpoweredByTEF #TEF2026

Highlights from Day 1 of the IYBA-WE4A Physical Verification Exercise in Tanzania! 🇹🇿 This week, the #TEFSquad was on the ground in Tanzania, engaging with women entrepreneurs participating in the Investing in Young Businesses in Africa – Women Entrepreneurship for Africa (IYBA-WE4A) Programme, gaining deeper insight into their businesses, journeys, and the impact they are creating in their communities. Implemented in partnership with the European Union, GIZ, the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), #IYBAWE4A is expanding economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs while advancing sustainable, inclusive and green growth across Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda. #EmpoweredByTEF #TEFImpact
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🇲🇼 Malawi, we are HERE! The TEF Squad has touched down in the Warm Heart of Africa! Malawi, get ready—entrepreneurial energy, big ideas and impact are about to take centre stage. The adventure starts NOW! 🇲🇼 #TEFSquad

What began as a small business built with limited capital has grown into a thriving enterprise creating opportunities and serving customers across Kenya. Our 2015 #TEFAlumni Kenneth Kariuki, CEO and Co-Founder of SevenTwenty Holdings, recently featured on Africanews, shares how access to capital, resilience and the right support helped transform his entrepreneurial journey. From starting with one product to offering more than 40, Kenneth’s story is a powerful reminder of what becomes possible when African entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to build, grow and create for their communities. #empoweredbytef

“At the Tony Elumelu Foundation, our job is not to prepare future job seekers but our job is to prepare job creators on the present. Job creation is one of our biggest, biggest, critical issues. In fact, we call it the challenge of the now and so our job is to prepare these entrepreneurs to go out there, not to seek jobs, but to create jobs for themselves, and create economic and meaningful livelihoods for themselves and other young people in their communities.” - Our CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka delivering her remarks at the Fourth United Nations LDC Future Forum Last week, our CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka, joined global leaders in Helsinki, Finland, for the Fourth United Nations LDC Future Forum. She spoke at the session’s high-level panel on “Advancing the Digital Learning Revolution”, citing our experience building TEFConnect.com, the largest digital platform for African entrepreneurs. The conversation explored how digital innovation must expand access and inclusion to quality training for marginalized youth — especially girls and underserved rural communities. During the session, our CEO spotlighted the transformative impact of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s digital entrepreneurship ecosystem. Since 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has empowered over 2.5 million young Africans with access to business management training through our proprietary digital platform, TEFConnect, democratising access to knowledge, opportunity and entrepreneurship across all 54 African countries. #EmpoweredByTEF #TEFImpact #TEF2026

Last week, TEF CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka hosted our partner, Bernd Tilemann, Regional Director, @deginvest_DE. During the meeting, we committed to the deepening of our existing partnership to empower even more young African entrepreneurs. In 2021, and again in 2025, Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (@deginvest_DE), the German development financial institution dedicated to supporting the private sector in emerging-market countries, partnered with the Tony Elumelu Foundation to empower an additional 400 entrepreneurs across Africa. Notably, 70% of these entrepreneurs are women, and 96% are between the ages of 18 and 30. The partnership has yielded significant positive outcomes for entrepreneurs. The results speak for themselves: ✅ Supported businesses recorded a 165% increase in jobs created 📈 14% of beneficiaries have gone on to access additional business funding opportunities—largely attributed to the programme’s support in positioning them for growth. 💰 78.37% of beneficiaries have improved their profitability as a result of the TEF-DEG partnership. 💰 83% of beneficiaries reporting an increase in income. 💰 100% of beneficiaries reported overall improvement in their businesses as a result of the TEF-DEG partnership. #EmpoweredByTEF #TEFImpact #TEF2026

We are proud to celebrate our Founder, Tony O. Elumelu, CFR, (@TonyOElumelu) and Co-Founder, Dr. Awele V. Elumelu, OFR, on being named among the TIME100 Philanthropy 2026 honourees by @TIME Magazine. This prestigious recognition reflects the transformative impact of entrepreneurship-led development across Africa and the growing global relevance of Africapitalism — the belief that Africa’s private sector, especially its young entrepreneurs, must lead the continent’s economic and social transformation. Since 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has: ✔ Empowered over 2.5 million young Africans though access to training on @TefConnect ✔ Disbursed over US$100 million in seed capital to 27,000+ entrepreneurs ✔ Helped create 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs ✔ Lifted 2.1 million Africans above the poverty line ✔ Positively impacted over 4 million households across the continent

“Thanks to funding from the Tony Elumelu Foundation, we were able to increase our impact by supporting more than 15 SMEs, including 5 in the clean energy sector and 5 in bioenergy. Our company has generated $160,000 in revenue and created more than 13 jobs. We are supporting clean cooking in our community, helping reduce CO₂ emissions, combating deforestation, and promoting sustainable development.” — @princeKamikake , from DRC 2023 #TEFAlumni and Founder Youpendi Group