The Sahara Group Foundation has awarded more than $130,000 to 20 African entrepreneurs through the latest editions of its Sahara Impact Fund and Making A Difference Around Africa initiatives. The programmes, which form part of the organisation’s long-term commitment to sustainable development, continue to support entrepreneurship, environmental initiatives, innovation, and community transformation across the continent.
This year’s cycle was redesigned after insights from previous editions showed a growing gap between early-stage innovation and market entry for African founders. By aligning the two programmes, the Foundation created an innovation pipeline that removes barriers, strengthens the capacity of young businesses, and ensures their growth long after the grants have been disbursed.
During the Awards and Gala Night, the Foundation noted that its approach extends far beyond financial support. It now includes a business advisory structure that equips beneficiaries with market intelligence, financial planning skills, governance systems, and commercial readiness tools needed to scale across African markets. According to the Foundation’s leadership, this redesigned model bridges the gap between discovery, support, and scale, ensuring that promising entrepreneurs have a defined and well-supported path for turning innovative ideas into sustainable solutions that deliver measurable community impact.
Speakers at the event encouraged the awardees to maintain resilience, discipline, and continuous innovation, describing these qualities as essential for entrepreneurs seeking to build businesses with transformative impact and global competitiveness. The Foundation also emphasised that its own journey began with a mindset of building unique solutions, urging beneficiaries to consistently refine their value propositions for greater relevance.
The 2025 programme attracted more than 2,000 applications from across Africa, demonstrating the expanding pool of innovators on the continent. Following a rigorous screening process, about 300 applicants were selected for an intensive capacity-building workshop delivered by experts from the Foundation. The sessions covered business strategy, sustainability, governance, regulatory compliance, communication, stakeholder management and legal, financial and tax advisory processes.
From this pool, 20 high-potential entrepreneurs advanced to a business advisory bootcamp and a final pitching session in Lagos, where they secured grants to scale their ventures. Businesses received funding in three tiers: $10,000, $5,000 and $1,000. Recipient ventures span sectors such as agriculture, skincare manufacturing, renewable energy, accessibility technology, recycling, health solutions and organic product development across Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Botswana and South Africa.
The initiative reinforces the Foundation’s broader goal of driving sustainable economic growth by empowering entrepreneurs who are building solutions that directly impact their communities. It also adds new momentum to Africa’s MSME landscape, where access to funding, market readiness and business advisory services often determine whether early-stage innovations survive or scale.
