Rethinking Philanthropy: TEF CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka Calls for Greater Global South Collaboration at Brazilian Philanthropy Forum
At the Brazilian Philanthropy Forum 2026 in São Paulo, Tony Elumelu Foundation CEO Somachi Chris-Asoluka shared an African perspective on the future of philanthropy, the role of entrepreneurship in development, and why stronger partnerships across the Global South can unlock greater impact.
Philanthropy is changing.
Across the world, organisations working to advance the public good are confronting a rapidly shifting landscape shaped by technological disruption, climate change, economic inequality and changing social realities. For philanthropic institutions, the question is no longer simply how to respond to these challenges, but how to rethink the models, partnerships and instruments through which lasting impact can be created.
It was against this backdrop that leaders from across the philanthropic sector gathered in São Paulo on 27 August for the Brazilian Philanthropy Forum 2026, convened under the theme “Philanthropy: Between Essence and Reinvention.”
Representing the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), CEO Somachi Chris-Asoluka brought an African perspective to the conversation, sharing lessons from the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s work supporting entrepreneurs across the continent and making the case for a more inclusive, locally rooted, and partnership-driven approach to development.
For Somachi, reinvention must not mean losing sight of philanthropy’s fundamental purpose.
It must mean finding better ways to advance it.
Shift from philanthropy to agency
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Forum, Somachi reflected on the origins of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the philosophy of Africapitalism, a word coined by our Founder, Tony O. Elumelu, CFR.
Established in 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation was built around a clear conviction: African entrepreneurs can and must play a leading role in transforming the continent.
That conviction is rooted in our founder’s philosophy of Africapitalism: the belief that the private sector has a critical role in Africa’s development by investing in strategic sectors not only for profit, but for shared prosperity.
The philosophy challenges the traditional separation between commercial success and social impact.
Businesses can generate returns for shareholders while creating opportunities for employees, communities and wider economies. Philanthropic capital, similarly, can do more than address immediate needs; it can help unlock the potential of individuals who can go on to create value for others.
This philosophy sits at the heart of TEF’s approach to entrepreneurship.
“We believe that the transformation of the African continent will not come from the private sector, the corporate, government, and it will not come from international development agencies, but it will come from our entrepreneurs,” Somachi Chris-Asoluka
Africa is the world’s youngest continent, with a median age of 17. For its rapidly growing young population, the need for economic opportunity is immediate.
“These young people need economic opportunities. They need jobs, and they cannot wait for these jobs to come,” she said.
The implication is clear: Africa’s young people cannot simply be positioned as beneficiaries of development. They must be recognised as builders of it.
Investing in entrepreneurs, investing in economies
Since 2015, the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme has sought to turn this philosophy into action by providing entrepreneurs with the combination of capital, knowledge, mentorship and networks required to build sustainable businesses.
The scale of the intervention is significant.
Through its programmes, the Foundation has trained 2.5 million young Africans, funded 27,000 entrepreneurs with more than US$130 million in direct funding, and supported businesses that have collectively created 1.5 million jobs and generated more than US$4 billion in revenue.
For TEF, these figures represent more than programme outputs.
They demonstrate what can happen when philanthropic capital is deployed to unlock entrepreneurial agency.
“This is revenue that did not exist before we intervened in these young people,” she said.
The point speaks directly to the Forum’s central conversation about reinvention.
The question is not only how much capital philanthropy deploys, but what that capital makes possible after it is deployed.
When an entrepreneur receives funding, develops a business, employs people, and generates revenue, the impact can extend far beyond the original intervention. Capital begins to circulate through communities and economies, creating additional opportunities along the way.
This is the catalytic potential of philanthropy: using relatively targeted interventions to unlock much broader economic and social value.
Technology Should Widen Opportunity, Not Deepen Divides
Our CEO Somachi Chris-Asoluka also reflected on one of the defining forces reshaping development today: technology.
As a last-mile implementer, The Tony Elumelu Foundation works directly across all 54 African countries. This requires both a deep understanding of local realities and the ability to connect entrepreneurs across vast geographical, economic, and cultural contexts.
Technology has become an important part of that equation.
The Foundation developed TEFConnect, its proprietary digital platform connecting African entrepreneurs and members of the diaspora to business tools, knowledge, mentors, investors, partnerships, marketplaces and one another.
But Somachi stressed that digital transformation must be approached with intentionality.
“We don’t want to use technology to deepen divides that already exist, to deepen inequalities that already exist,” she said. “We want to make sure that we’re using technology to make opportunity more inclusive and more widespread.”
That principle has shaped the evolution of TEFConnect.
The platform has been designed to accommodate entrepreneurs living with disabilities, who represent 15% of TEF’s entrepreneurs, ensuring that accessibility is embedded into the digital experience rather than treated as an afterthought.
The Foundation has also adapted the platform in response to the experiences of women entrepreneurs.
When TEF first launched its entrepreneurship programme, applications were initially being completed by young men and women in roughly equal numbers. Yet while 70 per cent of male applicants completed their applications, fewer than 30 per cent of women did.
The disparity prompted a closer examination of the barriers women were facing.
The answer was not simply to encourage more women to participate. It was to redesign the system around their realities.
Women entrepreneurs explained that they were balancing entrepreneurship with childcare, household responsibilities, and other demands on their time. A training platform designed primarily around conventional working hours therefore created an additional barrier.
TEF responded by making its learning content self-paced, enabling entrepreneurs to access training around their lives rather than requiring their lives to conform to the platform.
It is a small but powerful illustration of human-centred thinking in development: sometimes the barrier is not a lack of ambition or willingness to participate, but a system that has been designed without sufficiently understanding the people it is meant to serve.
The same principle applies to entrepreneurs in rural and underserved communities.
Where digital penetration and affordability remain challenges, technology must not become another mechanism for exclusion. TEFConnect has therefore been designed to be low-data and accessible, helping entrepreneurs in remote communities participate in the digital economy.
Scale Should Not Come At The Expense Of Context
Operating across 54 countries presents another challenge: how can an organisation achieve continental scale while remaining responsive to local realities?
There is no single African entrepreneurial experience.
Markets differ. Regulations differ. Infrastructure differs. Languages, cultures and economic conditions differ.
Yet the need for opportunity is remarkably universal.
“African entrepreneurs are no different from the entrepreneurs here in Brazil and in Latin America,” Somachi observed. “All entrepreneurs need the same things.”
They need funding.
They need people willing to believe in them.
They need opportunities to demonstrate what they can do.
And they need ecosystems that allow their businesses to grow.
This creates an important distinction between standardisation and scale.
Scale does not necessarily require every entrepreneur, community or country to receive the same intervention in exactly the same way. Rather, it can mean creating systems and infrastructure that are sufficiently strong to operate at scale while remaining adaptable enough to respond to local realities.
For organisations working across different contexts, flexibility becomes essential.
As Somachi later noted, organisations should remain committed to their missions while being willing to adapt how they pursue them.
“What I think is important is that you should be flexible, you should be adaptable,” she said. “I don’t think that it’s as important as how you get there, as long as the results are identical to what you want to see for your community.”
The principle is particularly relevant to philanthropy, where complex social problems rarely have neat or linear solutions.
Impact Must Be Built Into The DNA
Somachi also offered a practical message for smaller organisations working to create change.
Impact measurement and communication should not be treated as something reserved for organisations that have already achieved scale.
“Impact should be in the DNA of the organisation,” she said. “Everything that you do, you should create the data, create the records, and create the visibility platforms to show the world the impact that you’re creating in your own small corner.”
The advice speaks to an increasingly important reality within the philanthropic sector.
Impact is not only about what an organisation achieves. It is also about its ability to understand, demonstrate and communicate that achievement.
Building these systems from the beginning enables organisations to learn from their work, strengthen accountability and make a stronger case for future investment and partnerships.
But Somachi paired this emphasis on evidence with another principle: humility.
Organisations must continue to learn.
“Never be satisfied or complacent with what you know,” she urged, encouraging smaller organisations to remain open to other experiences, perspectives and approaches.
Expertise in a particular community or terrain is valuable. But it becomes even more powerful when combined with the willingness to listen, adapt and learn from others.
Africa is open for partnership
As the Forum explored the balance between philanthropy’s enduring purpose and the need for reinvention, Somachi’s message offered a distinctly African proposition.
Africa does not need to be viewed solely through the lens of its challenges.
It is a continent of young people, entrepreneurs, markets, ideas and possibilities — and its development will increasingly be shaped by Africans themselves.
“Africa is the future for the world,” Somachi said. “And we’re open for business, open for partnerships, open for investment, open for dialogue.”
That openness extends beyond the continent.
The future she envisages is one in which Africa and Latin America, alongside other regions of the Global South, can build stronger relationships, exchange knowledge and create new pathways for shared prosperity.
It is also a future in which philanthropy is not defined solely by the act of giving, but by its ability to catalyse agency, unlock potential and build systems that allow people to create lasting value for themselves and their communities.
That may ultimately be what reinvention means.
The essence remains the same: advancing the public good.
But the tools, partnerships and people at the centre of that work are evolving.
And as Somachi reflected at the Brazilian Philanthropy Forum, the opportunity is not to build that future in isolation.
“We can achieve much more by coming together than doing it in isolation.”
For the Tony Elumelu Foundation, that means continuing to invest in Africa’s entrepreneurs while building bridges with partners and institutions around the world.
Because the future of philanthropy may be global.
But the solutions will be stronger when they are locally rooted, entrepreneur-led and built together.
Watch her session here : https://youtu.be/7-jZzq4G9DM?si=8cno8HUQZ-ufCcy9