During high school in Benin, Constant Ayihounoun began tackling a problem facing local farmers: how to raise yields without harming the soil that supports their livelihoods. He later founded Agreco, which makes organic fertilizers and biopesticides. With backing from the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Agreco’s products now benefit more than 100 farmers.
Ayihounoun’s experience raises a broader question: how many young Africans with promising ideas fail to turn them into viable businesses because they cannot raise their first few thousand dollars or access practical support to reach customers? How many enterprises that could create jobs and improve livelihoods never get the chance to grow?
According to the World Bank, 10 to 12 million young Africans enter the labor market each year, while only about 3 million formal jobs are created. Entrepreneurship alone cannot close that gap, but successful businesses are a critical source of jobs, and Africa needs many more of them.
For those businesses to thrive, broader conditions must improve: power must reach homes and companies, infrastructure must be upgraded, schools must teach useful skills, and governments must make it easier to start and run firms. Yet Africa cannot wait to fix every structural problem before supporting entrepreneurs who are already creating jobs—especially as development resources become scarcer. Official development assistance fell sharply in 2025, and the OECD projects another decline in 2026.
With less aid, a practical approach is to use development and philanthropic funding where commercial investors are least likely to go: the very beginning. For a young entrepreneur, $5,000 can buy the equipment to get started or give a nascent company the time needed to prove its idea.
But capital alone will not build a sustainable business. Early-stage founders often need help managing cash flow or hiring staff; mentors can help them avoid costly mistakes; and networks can connect them to customers and new markets. Funding can start a business, but practical guidance and connections often determine whether it survives and grows.
I first learned the importance of giving people a chance watching my mother build a small restaurant through hard work. Later, others who believed in my potential opened doors for me. I call this “democratizing luck”: ensuring access to opportunity is not limited to a fortunate few.
In 2010, my wife, Dr. Awele Elumelu, and I founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation to bridge the gap between talent and opportunity in Africa. Our 15-Year Impact Report shows the results: $120 million in seed capital disbursed to 24,000 entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries, and 2.5 million young Africans accessing business management training. These entrepreneurs have created over 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs and generated more than $4.2 billion in revenue.
Not every entrepreneur succeeds, and entrepreneurship is not a cure-all. Still, the past 15 years have demonstrated that capital paired with practical support can help viable businesses survive and grow. A joint International Labour Organization and World Bank review of 228 studies in 62 countries found that well-designed programs, including entrepreneurship initiatives, can improve employment and earnings—particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy supports entrepreneurship and access to finance, while the African Development Bank is developing Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks to combine finance with business support.
No single actor can do this alone. Governments must create the conditions for businesses to grow. Development and philanthropic funders should take early risks, and investors and corporations should back firms as they prove themselves. We should back promising entrepreneurs early, then connect them to customers and commercial finance. Development finance and philanthropy should help entrepreneurs reach markets, not replace them.
The global economy benefits when Africa’s entrepreneurs succeed. By 2050, Sub-Saharan Africa’s working-age population is expected to grow by 740 million. Successful African companies can become customers and trading partners for businesses worldwide—an export-ready agribusiness might buy machinery from Europe or technology from the United States, while innovations developed for African farmers may find markets in other emerging economies.
I call this philosophy Africapitalism: the belief that Africa’s private sector must play a central role in creating economic prosperity and social progress.
Africa lacks neither ideas nor ambition. What many young entrepreneurs need is capital and practical support to turn ideas into sustainable businesses. Africa needs partners, not charity: development finance institutions and foundations should take more early-stage risk, and as businesses prove themselves, banks, investors, and companies worldwide should finance and trade with them. The result would be more African businesses creating jobs at home and stronger commercial ties with the rest of the world.
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.
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