Tony O. Elumelu says Africa's young entrepreneurs have the ideas, but too many cannot turn them into viable businesses without early capital and hands-on support.
In his commentary, Elumelu points to one example: Constant Ayihounoun, who built Agreco after trying to solve a farming problem during high school in Benin. Backed by the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Agreco's organic fertilizers and biopesticides now benefit more than 100 farmers.
He frames the issue as a larger labor-market problem. 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. Elumelu argues that entrepreneurship cannot close that gap alone, but successful businesses can create jobs and improve livelihoods.
He says the starting point matters most. With development aid falling sharply in 2025 and the OECD projecting another decline in 2026, he argues that philanthropic and development funding should go where commercial investors are least likely to go: the earliest stage. In his view, $5,000 can be enough to buy equipment or give a startup time to prove its model.
But he also says money is not enough. He argues that entrepreneurs often need help managing cash flow, hiring staff, avoiding costly mistakes, and finding customers and markets. His phrase for that approach is 'democratizing luck' — making opportunity less dependent on a fortunate few.
Elumelu says he has tried to do that through the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which he and his wife, Dr. Awele Elumelu, founded in 2010. He says the foundation's 15-Year Impact Report shows $120 million in seed capital disbursed to 24,000 entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries, 2.5 million young Africans trained in business management, more than 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs created, and more than $4.2 billion in revenue generated.
He also cites a joint International Labour Organization and World Bank review of 228 studies in 62 countries, which he says found that well-designed entrepreneurship programs can improve employment and earnings, especially in low- and middle-income countries. He points to the Mastercard Foundation's Young Africa Works strategy and the African Development Bank's Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks as examples of the same approach.
The policy case is straightforward: capital, training, and clearer conditions for free enterprise matter more than speeches about development. When governments make it easier to start and run a business, private initiative can do what bureaucracy cannot — convert talent into earnings, payrolls, and productivity.
The market logic is just as clear. Africa's entrepreneurs do not need more symbolism; they need early-stage capital, practical support, and rules that let businesses survive long enough to reach customers. That is where jobs begin, and that is where growth compounds.
