Billionaire philanthropist and Heirs Holdings Chairman, Tony Elumelu, on Sunday marked his birthday by announcing the 12th cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, which supports thousands of young African founders.

In a post shared on Sunday via his X handle, Elumelu reflected on his personal journey and the philosophy behind the initiative.

He wrote, “For a long time, I believed luck was something that just happens to you.

“Then I realised, luck can be engineered. Opportunity can be democratised. Hope is not just a feeling; it is a system we can build.

“That belief is why, today on my birthday, my wife and I will unveil the 2026 cohort of @TonyElumeluFDN entrepreneurs.”

Elumelu emphasised the importance of resilience and determination, stating that the selected entrepreneurs were chosen not for having easy paths, but for their persistence.

“To our new Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs: this is your moment. We did not choose you because your path was easy. We chose you because you kept going when it wasn’t,” he said.

He added that Africa’s greatest resource has always been its people, not its oil or gold, and encouraged the new cohort to work towards transforming the continent.

“In a world full of uncertainty, I have chosen deliberately, every single year, to plant certainty in the lives of young African entrepreneurs. Now, let’s transform our continent together,” Elumelu concluded.

PUNCH Online had reported that Elumelu and his wife, Awele Elumelu, co-founder of the Foundation, officially unveiled the new cohort on Sunday.

This year’s intake expands to 3,200 entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries through the core programme and strategic partnerships.

Selected from over 265,000 applications, the entrepreneurs will receive non-refundable seed grants of $5,000 each (totaling $16 million in direct funding), along with comprehensive business training, mentorship, and access to TEF’s pan-African network.

The 2026 cohort announcement comes after applications closed on March 1, following an open call that ran from January 1.