Tony O. Elumelu and Dr. Awele V. Elumelu have been named among TIME Magazine’s 2026 TIME100 Philanthropy honourees, in recognition of their work through the Tony Elumelu Foundation on entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and philanthropy across Africa.
The recognition adds to Tony Elumelu’s earlier global visibility, following his inclusion on TIME’s 2020 TIME100 list and the inaugural TIME100 Impact Award in 2022.
Foundation Impact
Since its launch in 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has trained more than 2.5 million young Africans through its digital platform, TEFConnect, and disbursed more than $100 million in seed capital to over 27,000 entrepreneurs.
The foundation says those entrepreneurs have generated $4.2 billion in revenue and created more than 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs, while helping lift 2.1 million Africans out of poverty and reaching more than 4 million households.
Africapitalism Message
The honour also reinforces Elumelu’s long-running argument that Africa’s private sector should drive development through entrepreneurship-led growth, a philosophy he calls Africapitalism.
The foundation said 46% of the entrepreneurs it has supported are women, underscoring its focus on inclusive capital formation in a region where access to finance remains a major barrier for small businesses.
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