Fashion can preserve history without being confined to the past.

Across Africa, designers are drawing on traditional fabrics, silhouettes and craftsmanship while creating clothing designed for contemporary consumers. For Adama Bologo, that balance is at the heart of his work.

From his base in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Adama has built Bologo Tunique, a fashion brand creating bespoke tunics, contemporary shirts, ceremonial attire and reimagined traditional garments.

The brand draws inspiration from African craftsmanship and fabrics including bogolan, handwoven cotton and linen, while giving traditional influences a distinctly modern expression.

For Adama, fashion is therefore more than a commercial product.

It is a way to carry culture forward.

Adama Bologo sees fashion as a language of identity

Clothing has always communicated something about the person wearing it.

In African societies, traditional garments and textiles can carry associations with community, history, occasion and status. Patterns, fabrics and silhouettes can communicate identity without a single word being spoken.

Adama Bologo’s approach starts from this cultural significance but looks towards the present.

He founded Bologo Tunique with the ambition of creating clothing that allows customers to engage with African heritage while dressing for contemporary life.

The brand’s collections include bespoke garments for men and women, ceremonial pieces, modern and classic shirts, reimagined traditional suits and themed collections.

Among its distinctive creations is Dynastie Guerrière, a collection that explores African heritage through a contemporary fashion lens.

The objective is not to reproduce tradition exactly as it was.

It is to reinterpret it.

Bologo Tunique is building a fashion brand around African craftsmanship

At the centre of Bologo Tunique’s aesthetic is an appreciation for African materials and craftsmanship.

The brand incorporates fabrics such as bogolan, alongside handwoven cotton and linen, into contemporary garments.

That choice gives the clothing a connection to African textile traditions while allowing Adama to experiment with modern cuts, styling and presentation.

The result is a fashion proposition built around two ideas that are sometimes treated as opposites: heritage and modernity.

For Bologo Tunique, they can coexist.

Traditional inspiration can inform contemporary design.

Cultural identity can become part of a modern brand.

And craftsmanship can become a commercial skill that creates livelihoods.

That final point is particularly important to Adama’s entrepreneurial journey.

From US$10 a month to a growing fashion business

The scale of Adama Bologo’s ambition becomes clearer when measured against where Bologo Tunique began.

Before joining the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, Adama operated the business alone with basic equipment.

Monthly revenue was approximately US$10.

Limited resources restricted production capacity, consistency and the number of customers the business could serve.

Yet the small operation contained the foundations of a larger fashion enterprise: a clear creative identity, a commitment to African craftsmanship and an ambition to reach audiences beyond Ouagadougou.

Adama’s challenge was turning those foundations into a business capable of producing consistently and competing for a wider market.

That required investment.

It also required business knowledge.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation helped Adama Bologo build capacity

In 2019, Adama Bologo participated in the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, receiving US$5,000 in seed capital, business training, mentorship and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network.

The funding allowed him to invest directly in the productive capacity of Bologo Tunique.

He purchased industrial sewing equipment, cutting tables and premium fabrics, strengthening the infrastructure required to produce garments at a higher standard and greater volume.

Adama also recruited two apprentices, creating an opportunity for young people to develop practical tailoring skills through hands-on training.

The programme’s business training complemented that investment.

Adama strengthened his financial planning, business management and strategic approach to growing the brand.

The results were measurable.

Monthly revenue increased from approximately US$10 to US$500, while the team grew from one employee to four.

For a small fashion business, that shift represents more than increased sales.

It represents increased capacity to create.

Adama Bologo is turning craftsmanship into opportunity

Fashion businesses are often judged by their finished garments.

But behind every garment is a chain of skills.

Designers need tailors. Tailors need technical expertise. Apprentices need opportunities to learn. Businesses need people who understand cutting, sewing, finishing, styling and production.

That makes fashion an important part of the wider creative economy.

Through Bologo Tunique, Adama Bologo is creating opportunities for young people to develop practical skills while building a commercial enterprise around African design.

The two apprentices recruited as the business expanded are part of that story.

Rather than treating craftsmanship as something that exists only as cultural heritage, Adama is using it as a pathway to professional development and employment.

The value of the work is therefore found not only in what customers wear, but also in the capabilities being built behind the brand.

Taking African fashion beyond Ouagadougou

A strong fashion brand needs more than good garments.

It needs an audience.

Adama has worked to expand Bologo Tunique’s visibility through professional photography, social media, collaborations with stylists and engagement with members of the African diaspora.

The brand has also used cultural events, fashion showcases and regional exhibitions to introduce its work to wider audiences.

The launch of Dynastie Guerrière became one of the brand’s notable moments, attracting attention during a fashion showcase featuring Burkinabè designers.

These efforts point to an important shift in how African fashion brands can grow.

The customer base does not have to be limited by the location of the workshop.

Digital platforms can make collections visible to audiences elsewhere, while exhibitions and cultural events can create physical connections between designers and new markets.

For Bologo Tunique, this creates a pathway from a local fashion business towards a regional brand.

Why Adama Bologo’s work matters

Africa’s fashion industry sits at an interesting intersection of culture and commerce.

The continent has deep textile traditions, distinctive aesthetics and generations of craftsmanship. At the same time, a younger and increasingly connected consumer base is reshaping how African fashion is designed, marketed and consumed.

Entrepreneurs such as Adama Bologo are operating within that transition.

His work shows that cultural heritage does not have to be preserved by leaving it unchanged.

It can also be preserved through reinterpretation.

A traditional textile can become part of a modern silhouette.

A ceremonial garment can influence contemporary design.

A tailoring skill can become a source of employment.

And a local fashion label can aspire to compete beyond its home market.

That is where the commercial and cultural dimensions of Bologo Tunique meet.

Building a Burkinabè brand with a regional ambition

Adama’s next ambition is to take Bologo Tunique beyond Burkina Faso.

He plans to expand into Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Benin, building a wider West African customer base for the brand.

Regional expansion will bring new challenges, from production and distribution to branding and customer acquisition.

But West Africa also offers a natural environment for a fashion business rooted in shared cultural influences while maintaining a distinct Burkinabè identity.

For Bologo Tunique, the opportunity is to demonstrate that a brand can be locally grounded and regionally ambitious at the same time.

The clothes can carry the story of where they come from while speaking to customers across borders.

The future of African fashion will not be defined solely by international recognition.

It will also depend on the strength of the businesses, skills and creative ecosystems being built across the continent.

Adama Bologo is contributing to that ecosystem from Ouagadougou.

Through Bologo Tunique, he is building a business where African fabrics meet contemporary design, where craftsmanship creates employment and where cultural identity becomes part of a modern commercial proposition.

The journey from US$10 to US$500 in monthly revenue shows what can happen when creative ambition is matched with investment in equipment, skills and business management.

His next challenge is scale.

If Bologo Tunique can successfully take its aesthetic and craftsmanship into new West African markets, Adama will be doing more than expanding a fashion label.

He will be showing how a designer can take something deeply rooted in African heritage and give it a place in the future.

For Adama Bologo, the goal is not simply to preserve African fashion. It is to keep evolving it.

The post Adama Bologo: Redefining African Fashion Through Heritage appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

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

The post Rethinking Philanthropy: TEF CEO, Somachi Chris-Asoluka Calls for Greater Global South Collaboration at Brazilian Philanthropy Forum appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Every harvest brings a window of opportunity.

For farmers growing mangoes, bananas and pineapples in Benin, that window can also be a race against time. Fresh fruit is highly perishable, and when it cannot be sold, stored or processed quickly enough, its value can disappear.

For Ivette Biokou, that loss presented a business opportunity.

Instead of allowing surplus fruit to become waste, she began transforming it into products with a longer shelf life and new commercial possibilities.

Through Ewatomi Market, founded in Parakou, Ivette is processing locally grown fruits into dried snacks and fruit-based products while building a business around sustainability, employment and local agricultural value.

Her approach is simple but consequential: if fresh produce cannot always reach the market in time, the market can find another way to preserve its value.

Ivette Biokou saw opportunity in what others might discard

Benin has a strong agricultural base and produces a variety of tropical fruits.

But producing food is only one part of building a resilient food system.

Farmers also need ways to preserve, process, distribute and sell their harvests. Without those systems, seasonal abundance can become a liability. When supply temporarily exceeds demand or processing capacity, fresh produce can spoil before it generates income.

It was this challenge that caught Ivette Biokou’s attention in Parakou.

She saw that fruit that might otherwise be lost could be transformed into products that remain useful and marketable for longer.

That insight became the foundation of Ewatomi Market.

The business was designed not simply as a food-processing venture, but as a way to create more value from agricultural produce while responding to the environmental and economic costs associated with food waste.

What does Ewatomi Market do?

Ewatomi Market is a Beninese food-processing business that transforms locally grown fruits into value-added products.

Its product range includes dried fruit snacks as well as pineapple and mango fruit liqueurs, giving the company multiple ways to turn locally available produce into products for different consumer markets.

The business supplies products to restaurants, hotels and student communities in Parakou, connecting locally processed food with everyday consumers.

The model has an important advantage.

Instead of relying entirely on the short commercial life of fresh fruit, processing creates products that can remain available for longer and reach customers through different channels.

For farmers and agricultural communities, this creates another potential route to market.

For consumers, it creates access to locally processed fruit products.

And for the business itself, it creates an opportunity to build a brand around an abundant local resource.

From a one-person operation to a growing food business

The scale of Ewatomi Market today is difficult to understand without looking at where it started.

Before participating in the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, Ivette operated the business alone with basic equipment.

Monthly revenue stood at approximately US$300.

Limited storage and rudimentary processing methods constrained both production capacity and product consistency, making it difficult to respond to increasing demand.

The challenge was therefore not simply finding more customers.

Ivette needed the capacity to serve them.

That meant investing in better equipment, improving production processes and developing the business systems needed to move from small-scale production towards a more structured enterprise.

The transformation has been significant.

Ewatomi Market’s monthly revenue increased from US$300 to US$4,821, while the business expanded from a one-person operation to a team of five employees.

The growth represents more than a fifteen-fold increase in monthly revenue.

It also illustrates how improving production capacity can change the possibilities available to a small agricultural business.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation helped Ivette Biokou build capacity

In 2024, Ivette Biokou joined the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, receiving US$5,000 in seed capital, alongside business training, mentorship and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network.

For Ewatomi Market, the capital addressed one of its most immediate constraints: equipment.

Ivette invested in industrial-grade drying and storage equipment, strengthening the company’s production capacity and helping improve consistency across its products.

The business training provided another layer of support.

Ivette developed her knowledge of financial management, business planning and operational growth, while mentorship provided guidance around food safety and market positioning.

The combination was important.

Equipment could increase what the business was capable of producing. Business knowledge could help determine how that increased capacity should be managed.

Together, they helped create the conditions for Ewatomi Market’s next stage of growth.

Why processing matters as much as production

Agricultural development is often measured by how much a farmer can produce.

But there is another question worth asking:

How much of that production becomes economic value?

A kilogram of fresh mango that spoils before reaching a customer creates little or no income.

The same fruit, when processed into a product with a longer shelf life, can potentially reach a different market, at a different time and in a different form.

This is the economic logic behind Ewatomi Market.

By processing fruits locally, Ivette Biokou is adding another layer of value between farm and consumer.

That creates opportunities for activity beyond agriculture itself, including processing, packaging, sales, distribution and employment.

It also demonstrates why agro-processing can be an important part of strengthening local food systems.

The goal is not simply to produce more.

It is to lose less and create more value from what is already produced.

Ivette Biokou is building a business with women at its centre

For Ivette, the impact of entrepreneurship does not stop with her own company.

The expansion of Ewatomi Market has created employment opportunities for women and young people, but she also wants to extend the business’s knowledge beyond its immediate workforce.

Her plans include developing training programmes that teach young women practical food-processing skills alongside the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.

That combination matters.

Technical skills can create the ability to produce a product. Business skills can provide the knowledge required to price, market and manage it.

Together, they can create a stronger foundation for people seeking to build their own livelihoods.

For Ivette Biokou, sharing those skills is part of the wider opportunity embedded in Ewatomi Market: turning local resources into businesses while helping more people develop the capacity to create businesses of their own.

From food waste to economic value

There is a tendency to discuss food waste primarily as an environmental problem.

It is one, but it is also an economic problem.

When food is lost, farmers lose potential income, businesses lose potential revenue and the resources used to produce that food generate less value.

Food processing offers one way of changing that equation.

By converting perishable agricultural products into products with different shelf-life and market characteristics, entrepreneurs can create additional opportunities within the food value chain.

That is the space Ewatomi Market occupies.

The company is still growing, but its trajectory illustrates what can happen when an entrepreneur treats a seemingly familiar agricultural challenge as a product and business opportunity.

Looking ahead

Ivette Biokou wants Ewatomi Market to become one of Benin’s leading sustainable food brands.

The immediate ambition is to expand distribution across Benin before exploring opportunities in neighbouring West African markets.

The company also plans to invest in eco-friendly packaging, digital marketing and distribution partnerships, with the aim of reaching more consumers and strengthening the brand’s market presence.

That expansion will require more than production.

It will require reliable supply chains, consistent quality, strong branding, efficient distribution and the ability to compete across increasingly sophisticated consumer markets.

But Ewatomi Market has already demonstrated the value of building capacity around a clear problem.

Ivette Biokou is not simply preserving fruit. She is preserving the economic value inside it.

By turning Benin’s seasonal abundance into products that can travel further, last longer and reach new customers, she is building a business that connects sustainability with commercial opportunity.

And her journey points to a wider possibility for African agriculture: the next opportunity may not always be found in growing more—it may be found in making more of what is already grown.

The post Ivette Biokou Is Turning Benin’s Fruit Surplus Into Opportunity appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Every harvest creates a question.

What happens next?

For tomatoes, that question is particularly important. Fresh produce has a limited shelf life, and when markets, storage or processing systems cannot absorb a harvest quickly enough, part of its economic value can disappear through spoilage.

For Louis Wilfried Yehouessi, the opportunity was therefore not simply to grow more food.

It was to preserve and transform more of what was already being grown.

Drawing on his background in genetics and food biodiversity conservation, Louis established CEVADEL-BENIN, an agro-processing company transforming locally grown tomatoes into tomato purée under the SWEETOUNVI brand.

From its base in Porto-Novo, the company is demonstrating a fundamental principle of agricultural development: sometimes the greatest opportunity is not in producing another crop, but in creating more value from the harvest already available.

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi saw value beyond the harvest

Agriculture plays an important role in Benin’s economy, supporting livelihoods and supplying food to communities across the country.

But agricultural production is only the beginning of the value chain.

Between a farmer harvesting a tomato and a consumer buying a finished food product are several opportunities to create additional economic value: aggregation, preservation, processing, packaging, distribution and retail.

When those capabilities are limited, fresh produce can become vulnerable to post-harvest losses.

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi saw an opportunity within that gap.

His background in genetics and food biodiversity conservation had given him an appreciation for the value of agricultural resources. Entrepreneurship offered him another way to protect that value—not simply by conserving biodiversity, but by turning locally available raw materials into marketable products.

That thinking became the foundation of CEVADEL-BENIN.

What does CEVADEL-BENIN do?

CEVADEL-BENIN is a food processing company that transforms locally sourced agricultural produce into value-added food products.

Its flagship product, SWEETOUNVI, is a tomato purée produced from locally cultivated tomatoes for consumers in Benin.

The business addresses a simple imbalance.

A fresh tomato has a relatively short commercial life. Processing it into another food product can extend the ways in which that agricultural output reaches consumers while creating additional economic activity around manufacturing, packaging and distribution.

CEVADEL has since expanded its portfolio with SWEETEPICES, a range of spice blends that further diversifies the company’s presence in the processed food market.

Its products are available through retail outlets including Nol Market, La Divine and Le Chariot de Damiaky, giving more consumers access to food products processed within Benin.

For Louis, this is about more than putting another brand on a supermarket shelf.

It is about capturing more of the agricultural value chain locally.

The economics of turning tomatoes into products

A tomato sold immediately after harvest generates value for the farmer.

But when that tomato becomes an input for a locally manufactured product, the economic chain becomes longer.

Someone processes it.

Someone manages quality.

Someone packages it.

Someone distributes it.

Someone sells it.

Each stage represents another point at which skills, employment and commercial activity can be created.

This is what makes agro-processing strategically important for economies seeking to generate more value from agriculture.

For Louis Wilfried Yehouessi, CEVADEL-BENIN sits within this opportunity.

By sourcing agricultural produce and transforming it locally, the company can contribute to a system in which more of the value associated with food production remains within the domestic economy.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation helped Louis Wilfried Yehouessi scale production

Before participating in the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, CEVADEL-BENIN operated on a relatively modest scale.

The business generated approximately US$1,412.92 in monthly revenue and employed two people. Limited processing equipment constrained its production capacity and created barriers to expansion.

In 2019, Louis Wilfried Yehouessi participated in the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, receiving US$5,000 in seed capital, alongside business training, mentorship and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network.

Louis directed the capital towards one of the company’s most important constraints: production.

CEVADEL invested in modern food-processing equipment to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities and improve production consistency.

The company also began product certification processes—an important step for a food business seeking to strengthen consumer confidence and reach wider markets.

The subsequent growth was measurable.

Monthly revenue increased from approximately US$1,412.92 to US$4,415.36.

At the same time, CEVADEL’s workforce expanded from two employees to nine.

For Louis, the progression illustrates what targeted entrepreneurial capital can unlock when it is applied to a clear operational constraint.

The funding did not create the agricultural opportunity.

It helped the entrepreneur build more capacity to capture it.

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi is building beyond a single product

SWEETOUNVI may have provided CEVADEL with an entry point into food processing, but the introduction of SWEETEPICES points towards a broader ambition.

Diversification can be important for an agro-processing company.

A broader product portfolio can allow a business to serve different consumer needs, create additional revenue streams and develop a stronger brand presence.

It can also enable a company to apply existing capabilities in production, packaging and distribution across multiple products.

For CEVADEL, this means the infrastructure being developed around tomato processing can contribute to something larger: a growing locally rooted food-processing company.

That evolution matters because successful African food brands will increasingly need to compete not only on origin, but also on quality, consistency, convenience, packaging and consumer trust.

Being locally made creates an opportunity.

Building a trusted brand turns that opportunity into a business.

Why Louis Wilfried Yehouessi’s work matters for farmers

The success of an agro-processing company can have implications beyond the factory.

Processors need raw materials.

That creates potential demand for agricultural production.

By sourcing tomatoes from local producers, CEVADEL-BENIN participates in a value chain connecting farmers with processing and consumer markets.

Greater processing capacity can create additional channels through which agricultural produce reaches the market, particularly where fresh produce is vulnerable to deterioration.

For farmers, stronger domestic value chains can potentially mean more opportunities to sell what they grow.

For processors, stronger relationships with producers can improve access to raw materials.

For consumers, local processing can increase the range of domestically produced food products available in the market.

This interdependence is why Louis’s work matters beyond CEVADEL itself.

The company is part of a much larger question about how African economies can extract greater value from their agricultural resources.

From biodiversity to enterprise

There is also something distinctive about Louis Wilfried Yehouessi’s professional journey.

His background in genetics and food biodiversity conservation might initially appear separate from entrepreneurship.

In reality, the two are closely connected.

Biodiversity has ecological value, but agricultural resources can also generate economic value when they are sustainably developed into products that people need.

Louis’s journey represents a shift from understanding biological resources to building commercial systems around them.

That combination of scientific knowledge and entrepreneurship can be particularly valuable in agriculture, where questions of crop characteristics, food quality, processing and sustainability frequently intersect.

Through CEVADEL-BENIN, Louis is translating that knowledge into enterprise.

Building stronger local food systems

Across African markets, conversations about food security often begin with production.

How much food can farmers grow?

It is an essential question, but it is not the only one.

Equally important is what happens between harvest and consumption.

Can produce be stored?

Can it be processed?

Can businesses manufacture competitive food products locally?

Can those products reach consumers efficiently?

And can the value created along that journey support farmers, workers and businesses within the same economy?

Entrepreneurs such as Louis Wilfried Yehouessi operate within this often-overlooked middle of the food system.

By transforming agricultural raw materials into finished consumer products, agro-processors can help bridge the distance between farms and markets.

Looking ahead

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi wants CEVADEL-BENIN to grow beyond its current footprint.

His ambition is to build the company into a leading African agro-processing business focused on transforming locally sourced raw materials.

That next phase includes advancing product certification, increasing production capacity, strengthening logistics and pursuing opportunities for wider distribution.

The long-term opportunity extends beyond Benin.

If SWEETOUNVI and SWEETEPICES can establish stronger domestic market positions, regional expansion could open access to consumers across West Africa.

But the larger idea behind CEVADEL remains remarkably simple.

Africa does not only need to grow more.

It also needs to create more economic value from what it already grows.

Louis Wilfried Yehouessi is building his business in that space between harvest and consumption—where a locally grown tomato can become a product, a job, a brand and, ultimately, a larger economic opportunity.

The post Louis Wilfried Yehouessi Is Turning Benin’s Tomato Harvests Into Economic Value appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

When a pipe bursts, an electrical fault disrupts a business or a home urgently needs repairs, finding the right technician can be as challenging as fixing the problem itself.

Across Cameroon, households and businesses have long relied on informal artisans for repair, maintenance and construction services. Many of these technicians possess valuable skills, yet customers can still face inconsistent pricing, limited accountability and uncertainty about the quality of work they will receive.

For Bamai Namata, the problem was not a lack of skilled workers. It was the lack of a trusted system connecting them to customers.

That insight led to Maibeta, a digital marketplace designed to connect customers with verified service providers while bringing greater transparency, efficiency and structure to everyday technical services.

In doing so, Bamai is tackling a deceptively simple question with significant economic implications: how do you make trust easier to access?

Bamai Namata saw the gap behind the informal economy

Across African cities, informal workers provide many of the services that keep homes, businesses and communities running.

Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, builders and maintenance technicians are essential to everyday life. Yet the systems connecting these professionals to customers have often remained informal themselves.

For customers, finding a qualified professional may depend on a recommendation from a neighbour, colleague or friend. For artisans, securing new work can depend heavily on personal networks and word-of-mouth referrals.

That creates a structural gap.

A skilled technician may have the ability to complete a job but lack the digital tools to reach more customers, manage bookings or build a professional track record. Meanwhile, a customer may need a service but have little information with which to assess who to hire.

Bamai Namata recognised that technology could address both sides of the problem.

Maibeta was built around the idea that a more organised marketplace could make skilled services easier to discover, book and manage.

What is Maibeta?

Maibeta is a digital on-demand marketplace connecting customers with verified technicians and service providers in Cameroon.

The platform covers services including:

• Electrical repairs
• Plumbing
• Carpentry
• Construction
• Home maintenance
• Corporate facility management

Rather than leaving the entire transaction to informal networks, Maibeta introduces digital tools into the process.

Customers can book services through the platform, while service providers can access a more structured way to receive and manage jobs.

The platform incorporates features such as technician verification, digital service booking, automated job matching, workflow management and secure payment channels.

Each feature addresses a different part of the trust problem.

Verification can give customers more information about who they are hiring. Digital booking creates a clearer record of the service request. Job matching can help connect demand with available professionals. Workflow tools can make service delivery more organised, while digital payments can reduce friction in the transaction.

The technology is important, but the underlying proposition is straightforward: make it easier for people to trust the service they are paying for.

Bamai Namata is bringing structure to skilled work

The formalisation of informal work is often discussed as a policy challenge.

But it can also be approached as a product and technology challenge.

For millions of skilled workers, the issue is not necessarily the absence of expertise. It is the absence of infrastructure that allows that expertise to become a more predictable business.

A technician who previously depended on referrals can potentially reach customers through a digital marketplace.

A customer who previously relied on a friend’s recommendation can access a structured service platform.

This creates value on both sides.

For artisans, digital platforms can create additional routes to customers and help them organise their work. For customers, they can make professional services more accessible and easier to navigate.

That is the opportunity Bamai Namata is pursuing through Maibeta.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation helped Bamai Namata take the idea further

Turning a marketplace concept into a functioning business requires more than technology.

It requires an understanding of customers, pricing, operations, growth and the realities of building a sustainable company.

Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, Bamai Namata received US$5,000 in seed capital, alongside business training, mentorship and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network.

The support provided resources to strengthen Maibeta’s development while giving Bamai access to a wider community of African entrepreneurs navigating similar challenges.

For an entrepreneur building at the intersection of technology and the informal economy, that combination matters.

Capital can help build the product. Training can strengthen the business model. Mentorship can challenge assumptions. And networks can create opportunities that are difficult to build alone.

Why Bamai Namata’s model matters beyond Cameroon

The challenge Maibeta is addressing is not unique to Cameroon.

Across Africa, informal businesses and independent service providers account for a significant share of economic activity. Yet many operate outside the digital systems that increasingly shape how customers discover, purchase and evaluate services.

This creates an opportunity for technology companies to build infrastructure around existing economic activity rather than attempting to replace it.

Maibeta does not need skilled artisans to become something entirely different.

It can give them another way to operate.

That distinction is important.

Digital transformation is often framed around sophisticated technologies. But some of its most meaningful applications can be remarkably practical: helping someone find a plumber, schedule an electrician or arrange maintenance for a business.

For Bamai Namata, technology becomes valuable when it solves those everyday problems.

Trust may be Maibeta’s most important product

Marketplaces succeed when both sides believe the transaction will work.

Customers need confidence that a service provider is capable and accountable. Service providers need confidence that customers are genuine and that the platform can help them access worthwhile opportunities.

This makes trust more than a feature.

It becomes infrastructure.

By combining verification, booking, matching, workflow management and payment tools, Maibeta is attempting to build that infrastructure into the service experience.

The wider implication is significant.

As African cities grow and digital adoption increases, consumers are likely to expect greater convenience from more parts of their lives. The next generation of digital marketplaces will not only sell products. They will help people access the skilled human services that keep urban economies functioning.

That creates room for businesses like Maibeta to play a larger role in the evolution of Africa’s service economy.

Building the future of everyday services

Bamai Namata’s ambition goes beyond putting technicians online.

It is about changing how customers and skilled workers interact with one another.

The traditional model relies heavily on proximity and personal connections. The digital model can make those connections more searchable, structured and scalable.

If Maibeta can continue strengthening its network of verified professionals and improving the customer experience, it could help demonstrate what happens when technology is designed around an existing economic reality rather than imposed on it.

The opportunity is especially relevant as African consumers become increasingly comfortable booking services digitally.

The same person who orders food from a smartphone or transfers money through a mobile application may eventually expect the same convenience when looking for an electrician, plumber or maintenance professional.

Looking ahead

For Bamai Namata, the future of service delivery is one where finding a reliable technician does not depend on who you happen to know.

Maibeta is building towards a marketplace where customers can discover and book skilled professionals through a more structured digital experience, while artisans gain new ways to access work and develop their businesses.

The larger opportunity is to help transform the informal service economy from a collection of disconnected transactions into a more connected marketplace.

Cameroon’s digital economy will not be built only through fintech, e-commerce or software.

It will also be built through the technologies that make everyday economic activity more visible, accessible and efficient.

Bamai Namata is betting that trust can be the starting point.

And through Maibeta, he is building the digital infrastructure to make that trust easier to find.

The post Bamai Namata Is Building Trust Into Cameroon’s Informal Service Economy appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

For a patient waiting for a prosthetic limb or a specialised medical device, time matters. So does fit.

A device that does not adequately reflect a patient’s anatomy can affect comfort, usability and quality of life. Yet across many African healthcare systems, patients and clinicians have historically had to work with medical technologies developed and manufactured far from the communities they serve.

For Nneile Nkholise, that gap represented an opportunity for engineering to become more responsive to patients.

As the Founder of iMed Tech, Nkholise is developing locally manufactured prosthetics, bio-implants and other medical technologies using biomedical engineering, digital design and advanced manufacturing.

Her work sits at the intersection of healthcare and technology—but its starting point is human: how can medical devices be designed to better respond to the people who use them?

Nneile Nkholise is bringing engineering closer to healthcare

Medical innovation is often associated with large research institutions and global manufacturers.

But healthcare challenges are also shaped by local realities.

Availability, cost, production timelines and the ability to customise a device can all influence a patient’s experience. When specialised products have to be sourced internationally, healthcare providers may also face additional logistical and procurement challenges.

With her engineering background, Nneile Nkholise saw an opportunity to approach these challenges differently.

Instead of relying exclusively on technologies developed elsewhere, she founded iMed Tech to develop medical products closer to the healthcare professionals and patients who need them.

The company’s work combines biomedical engineering with digital manufacturing, creating a process in which clinical requirements can be translated into digitally designed and locally produced medical solutions.

What does iMed Tech do?

iMed Tech is a medical technology company focused on biomedical engineering, digital design and the development of customised medical devices.

Its work includes the design and production of:

• Customised prosthetic devices
• Bio-implants and medical devices
• Three-dimensional anatomical models
• Surgical planning and visualisation tools
• Biomedical engineering solutions
• Rapid prototypes for healthcare applications

A key part of the company’s approach is the use of 3D design and digital modelling.

These technologies allow engineers to create and refine digital representations before producing a physical device. For medical applications, that can be particularly useful where anatomy, dimensions and individual patient requirements need to be considered.

The process also creates opportunities for faster iteration: a design can be modified digitally before another physical prototype is manufactured.

For iMed Tech, advanced manufacturing is therefore not simply about producing objects differently. It is about creating a more flexible approach to medical device development.

From digital model to medical solution

The journey from a clinical problem to a finished medical device involves several disciplines.

Doctors and surgeons understand the clinical requirement. Engineers translate that requirement into a technical design. Digital manufacturing technologies then make it possible to produce increasingly customised physical solutions.

Nneile Nkholise operates within that intersection.

Through iMed Tech, she is helping connect clinical knowledge, engineering and manufacturing within a single innovation ecosystem.

Three-dimensional anatomical models, for example, can help clinicians visualise complex structures before procedures. Custom prosthetics can be developed around individual measurements rather than relying entirely on standardised dimensions.

This convergence of medicine and engineering is creating new possibilities for African healthcare systems—particularly as digital manufacturing becomes more accessible.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation strengthened Nneile Nkholise’s entrepreneurial journey

Technical expertise is only one part of building a medical technology company.

Turning engineering capabilities into a sustainable enterprise requires commercial strategy, capital, mentorship and access to networks.

Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, Nneile Nkholise received US$5,000 in seed capital, business training, mentorship and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network.

The support gave iMed Tech additional resources to strengthen its innovation and business development efforts.

For Nkholise, the experience brought together two sides of her professional journey: her expertise as an engineer and her ambition as an entrepreneur.

That combination is particularly important in medical technology, where successful innovation must ultimately work within real healthcare environments while also developing a viable commercial model.

Nneile Nkholise is also changing who gets to build medical technology

The significance of iMed Tech extends beyond the products it develops.

Biomedical engineering, advanced manufacturing and technology remain fields where women are often underrepresented.

Through iMed Tech, Nkholise is creating opportunities for young professionals to participate in areas including biomedical engineering, digital prototyping, additive manufacturing, research and development and clinical collaboration.

That matters because Africa’s healthcare technology ecosystem will require more than imported equipment.

It will require engineers, designers, scientists, technicians and entrepreneurs capable of developing technologies that respond to local needs.

Nneile’s journey provides an example of what that ecosystem can look like.

Why Nneile Nkholise’s work matters

Healthcare innovation is ultimately about access to effective solutions.

Hospitals need appropriate equipment. Clinicians need tools that support their work. Patients need medical devices that are available, functional and suited to their circumstances.

Local medical technology companies can contribute to that ecosystem by developing products closer to the markets they serve.

For Nneile Nkholise, this is the opportunity behind iMed Tech.

The company’s work demonstrates how African engineers can participate in the development of sophisticated medical technologies rather than remaining solely consumers of products manufactured elsewhere.

It also illustrates the potential of digital manufacturing to change how medical devices are designed and produced.

When a patient’s needs can inform a digital design, and that design can then be translated into a physical product locally, the distance between clinical need and engineering response becomes smaller.

Building Africa’s biomedical manufacturing capacity

There is a broader industrial question behind Nkholise’s work.

Africa’s healthcare systems depend on complex global supply chains for medicines, equipment and medical devices. Building stronger local capabilities does not mean eliminating international trade or expertise.

It means developing more capacity within African economies to design, manufacture, maintain and improve the technologies their healthcare systems use.

That is the space iMed Tech occupies.

By combining engineering expertise with entrepreneurship, Nneile Nkholise is contributing to a growing ecosystem of African companies exploring what is possible in medical manufacturing.

The opportunity is significant: local expertise can generate new products, new technical skills and new businesses while creating pathways for African innovators to participate in global health technology markets.

Medical technology is becoming increasingly personalised.

Advances in digital modelling, 3D printing, biomedical engineering and data-driven design are creating new possibilities for devices tailored to individual patients.

Nneile Nkholise believes Africa should be part of that future not simply as a consumer, but as a creator.

Through iMed Tech, she is building a business around that belief—developing medical technologies that connect engineering expertise with real healthcare needs.

The journey will require continued investment in research, manufacturing capabilities, clinical partnerships and regulatory systems.

But the direction is significant.

The future of African healthcare will depend not only on who can provide treatment, but also on who can build the technologies that make better treatment possible.

For Nneile Nkholise, that future is one where innovation begins closer to the patient.

And where Africa’s medical technology is increasingly designed, engineered and built on the continent.

The post Nneile Nkholise Is Building Medical Technology Around African Patients. appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Tatenda Mungofa saw a gap between vehicles and the roads they travelled

African drivers operate in an unusually diverse range of conditions.

Urban roads sit alongside rural routes. Smooth highways can quickly give way to rough terrain. Vehicles may encounter intense heat, dust, flooding and infrastructure that varies considerably from one location to another.

For drivers and businesses, reliability is therefore not a luxury.

It directly affects the cost of moving people, transporting goods and running businesses.

Mungofa’s experience of these conditions helped shape his thinking about automotive design.

The question was not whether imported vehicles could work in Africa. Many do.

The more fundamental question was whether Africa could develop vehicles with its own operating realities in mind from the beginning.

That question became the starting point for Mureza Auto.

What is Mureza Auto?

Mureza Auto is an automotive company founded by Tatenda Mungofa that is focused on developing and assembling vehicles for African markets.

The company’s approach combines automotive engineering, digital design and flexible manufacturing concepts to develop vehicles intended for demanding operating environments.

Rather than treating local conditions as an afterthought, Mureza’s design philosophy considers factors such as:

• Ground clearance
• Suspension performance
• Heat management
• Durability
• Maintainability
• Manufacturing flexibility
• Local component integration

Digital design and virtual prototyping also play a role in the development process, allowing engineers to evaluate different vehicle configurations before committing to physical production.

That matters because automotive manufacturing is capital intensive. Testing ideas digitally can help engineering teams identify problems earlier and refine designs before they reach the production stage.

Building a car is also about building an industry

The significance of Mureza Auto extends beyond the vehicle itself.

Automotive manufacturing sits at the intersection of multiple industries. A functioning vehicle ecosystem requires engineers, component manufacturers, technicians, software specialists, assembly workers, logistics providers, distributors and after-sales service networks.

That means a locally manufactured vehicle can potentially create value far beyond the factory floor.

Mungofa’s ambition therefore fits into a larger industrial question facing Africa:

Can the continent move from being primarily a consumer of manufactured products to becoming a producer of them?

For Mureza Auto, local manufacturing and supplier development are part of that equation.

The company’s modular approach is intended to provide flexibility as production develops, while creating opportunities to incorporate locally sourced components as supplier networks mature.

It is an incremental approach to industrialisation rather than a claim that an entire automotive ecosystem can appear overnight.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation backed the entrepreneur behind the ambition

Large industrial ideas require capital, but they also require entrepreneurial discipline.

In 2020, Tatenda Mungofa participated in the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, receiving US$5,000 in seed capital, business training, mentorship and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network.

For an entrepreneur pursuing a capital-intensive manufacturing business, this kind of early-stage support can provide useful room to develop the business behind the engineering vision.

The programme also placed Mungofa within a broader community of African entrepreneurs building businesses across different sectors and markets.

The Foundation’s role was to provide catalytic support.

The ambition, technical development and persistence required to build Mureza Auto remained Mungofa’s.

Tatenda Mungofa is creating more than vehicles

The automotive industry is one of the clearest examples of how entrepreneurship can create value through an ecosystem rather than a single product.

Mureza Auto’s multidisciplinary operations span areas including automotive engineering, digital design, assembly and industrial development. The company has reported a workforce in the 11–50 employee range, creating skilled opportunities around its manufacturing activities.

But the potential economic impact goes further.

A growing automotive manufacturer can generate demand for suppliers of components, electronics, tyres, bodywork, maintenance equipment and other services.

It can also create opportunities for technicians, designers, software developers and other skilled professionals.

This makes automotive entrepreneurship particularly relevant to Africa’s industrialisation agenda.

The objective is not simply to produce a finished vehicle.

It is to develop the capabilities, knowledge and commercial relationships that make more manufacturing possible.

Why building African vehicles matters

Africa’s automotive market is large and diverse, but the continent’s position in the global automotive value chain remains uneven.

Many African countries import finished vehicles while opportunities for local design, component production and manufacturing remain comparatively limited.

Mureza Auto’s proposition challenges that pattern.

Even at an early stage, the company demonstrates the value of asking different questions about African manufacturing.

What should a vehicle designed around African conditions look like?

What components can eventually be produced locally?

What skills can be developed around automotive manufacturing?

And how can African companies participate in a sector historically dominated by global manufacturers?

Tatenda Mungofa is attempting to answer those questions through a business rather than simply through theory.

From Zimbabwean entrepreneur to African automotive builder

Mungofa’s story is ultimately about changing the starting point.

Instead of asking how an imported vehicle can be adapted to African conditions, he is asking what becomes possible when African conditions influence the design process from the outset.

That distinction may appear subtle.

Industrial strategy rarely is.

Design decisions influence manufacturing requirements. Manufacturing creates supplier demand. Supplier networks create jobs and skills. Skills strengthen future manufacturing capacity.

Over time, these connections can become the foundations of an industrial ecosystem.

That is the longer-term opportunity behind Mureza Auto.

Looking ahead

Mureza Auto’s next challenge is also its biggest: turning engineering ambition into repeatable, commercially viable production at scale.

The company is working towards production readiness, manufacturing configurations and partnerships that can support future vehicle assembly.

Success will require capital, reliable supply chains, engineering talent, regulatory approvals and customers willing to adopt locally developed vehicles.

Those are significant hurdles.

But they are precisely why entrepreneurs such as Tatenda Mungofa matter to Africa’s industrial future.

The continent cannot build manufacturing capacity simply by declaring that it wants more of it. Someone has to attempt the difficult work of designing products, testing them, finding customers, developing suppliers and building the companies that can make production possible.

Mungofa is doing that with automobiles.

His story is therefore bigger than a car.

It is about whether Africa can increasingly become a place where products are not only bought, but imagined, engineered and made.

And for Tatenda Mungofa, that future begins on the road.

The post Tatenda Mungofa Is Building Vehicles for Africa, Not Just Selling Cars to It appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Through the marketplace and logistics platform, Orji is helping informal and small businesses connect with digital consumers while providing them with practical tools to participate in online trade. His vision is clear: businesses should not have to become large companies before they can benefit from the digital economy.

Hyacinth Orji saw a digital gap hiding in everyday commerce

Nigeria’s informal economy is deeply embedded in everyday life.

For many small businesses, however, customer acquisition still depends heavily on physical visibility, personal networks and word-of-mouth recommendations. That model can work, but it can also limit a business’s ability to reach customers beyond its immediate surroundings.

As consumer behaviour changes, that limitation becomes more significant.

Customers increasingly expect to discover products online, place orders digitally and have purchases delivered to them. Yet a small vendor may not have the time, technical knowledge or resources to build an e-commerce operation independently.

Hyacinth Orji recognised that the problem was not necessarily that these businesses were resistant to technology.

Many simply lacked the infrastructure that would make digital participation practical.

His experience in business and logistics helped him see the opportunity from both sides: customers wanted convenience, while vendors needed visibility and a reliable way to fulfil orders.

Quick Waka emerged from that intersection.

What is Quick Waka?

Quick Waka is a Nigerian technology-enabled marketplace and logistics platform designed to help local businesses connect with customers online.

Rather than expecting informal businesses to build sophisticated digital operations themselves, the platform brings several parts of the commerce journey together.

Quick Waka supports businesses with functions including:

• Vendor onboarding and product listings
• Online product discovery
• Order management
• Logistics coordination
• Last-mile delivery
• Digital access for traditionally offline businesses

The model is particularly relevant to businesses such as restaurants, pharmacies, grocery retailers and other local merchants.

By combining a marketplace with logistics, Quick Waka addresses two connected problems at once: how customers find local businesses and how businesses get products to those customers.

That integration matters.

An online storefront is of limited value if a vendor cannot reliably fulfil an order. Similarly, delivery infrastructure is less useful if customers cannot easily discover the businesses behind it.

Quick Waka is designed around the full journey.

Making digital commerce practical for small businesses

For a large retailer, moving online can involve dedicated technology teams, digital marketing budgets, inventory systems and established delivery networks.

A small neighbourhood business operates differently.

The owner may be managing sales, inventory, suppliers and customers simultaneously. Adding a complex e-commerce system to that workload can create another barrier rather than solve one.

This is where Hyacinth Orji’s approach becomes particularly relevant.

Quick Waka is built to reduce the amount of digital infrastructure individual vendors need to create and manage themselves.

Instead of asking every small business to build its own online ecosystem, the platform creates shared infrastructure through which multiple vendors can participate in digital commerce.

That model has implications beyond convenience.

It can give businesses greater visibility, expose them to customers outside their immediate physical location and introduce more structured processes for receiving and fulfilling orders.

For entrepreneurs operating on thin margins, those incremental efficiencies can matter.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation helped move Quick Waka from vision to growth

Building a marketplace that connects businesses, customers and logistics requires more than a good idea.

It requires capital to build technology, test assumptions and develop operations—and business knowledge to determine which opportunities are worth pursuing.

Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, Hyacinth Orji received US$5,000 in seed capital, alongside business training, mentorship and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network.

The support gave Quick Waka additional resources to strengthen its operations and develop its technology as it pursued a larger market opportunity.

For Orji, the programme also provided access to a wider community of African entrepreneurs navigating many of the same challenges: limited resources, evolving markets and the need to build businesses capable of creating sustainable value.

The Foundation’s contribution sits within the broader journey, but the business remains driven by Orji’s understanding of the problem and his determination to solve it.

Quick Waka is building a bridge between offline and online commerce

The impact of digitalisation is often measured through transactions, platforms and user numbers.

For Hyacinth Orji, however, there is another measure worth considering: how many businesses that were previously invisible online can now be discovered digitally.

Quick Waka has supported hundreds of registered vendors and reached thousands of users, according to the business information provided.

That represents more than another group of online sellers.

It represents businesses gaining access to a new customer channel.

The platform’s logistics operations also create economic opportunities for people involved in delivery, field operations, customer support and digital business management.

In this way, the company’s model extends beyond e-commerce.

It connects different parts of a local commercial ecosystem—vendors, customers and delivery operators—through a common digital infrastructure.

The entrepreneur behind the platform understands the businesses he wants to serve

The strongest digital products often begin with an observation about human behaviour.

For Orji, that observation was that many local businesses already had something customers wanted.

The missing piece was often the ability to be found and served through the channels customers were increasingly using.

A local food vendor might have loyal customers but little online visibility. A neighbourhood pharmacy might serve its surrounding community but lack a digital ordering channel. A small retailer might have useful products but no efficient way of reaching customers beyond passing foot traffic.

These are not necessarily failures of entrepreneurship.

They are infrastructure gaps.

Quick Waka is Orji’s attempt to close some of those gaps without requiring small businesses to abandon the way they already operate.

The ambition is not to replace Nigeria’s informal markets.

It is to give them another layer.

Why Hyacinth Orji’s work matters

Digital transformation can create new opportunities, but it can also widen existing inequalities if access to technology is limited to businesses that already have capital, skills and infrastructure.

That makes digital inclusion an important part of Nigeria’s e-commerce story.

If online commerce is to become a meaningful driver of broad-based economic participation, small businesses need pathways into the ecosystem.

Hyacinth Orji is building one such pathway.

Through Quick Waka, he is working to make digital visibility, order management and delivery infrastructure more accessible to businesses that have traditionally depended on physical markets.

The significance extends beyond individual vendors.

When more small businesses can participate in digital commerce, customers gain more choice, local supply chains can become more connected and new economic activity can emerge around technology and logistics.

Looking ahead: bringing more of Nigeria’s everyday economy online

Nigeria’s digital economy is still evolving.

The next chapter will not be written only by large technology companies or established online retailers. It will also be shaped by entrepreneurs who understand how millions of everyday transactions actually happen.

Hyacinth Orji is building in that space.

His vision for Quick Waka is rooted in a simple but consequential proposition: the businesses that keep neighbourhoods running should have a place in the digital economy too.

The opportunity is therefore bigger than putting shops online.

It is about creating the infrastructure that allows local businesses to be discovered, ordered from and connected to customers without losing the strengths that made them valuable in the first place.

For Hyacinth Orji, the future of Nigerian commerce is not a choice between the traditional market and the digital marketplace.

It is the possibility of connecting the two.

The post Hyacinth Orji Is Bringing Nigeria’s Informal Markets Into the Digital Economy appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

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David Mustapha believes technology can reduce the uncertainty that comes with online shopping. Despite photos, descriptions, and reviews, customers often struggle to accurately visualise products, leading to disappointment, returns, and lost trust for businesses.

As the Founder of XRNET, a Nigerian software company, he is using artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and 3D technology to give online shoppers a more realistic way to experience products before making purchasing decisions. The company’s proposition is built around a simple idea: the more customers understand what they are buying, the more confidently they can buy it.

Who is David Mustapha?

David Mustapha is a Nigerian technology entrepreneur and the Founder of XRNET, an AI-powered software company focused on immersive e-commerce experiences.

Based in Lagos, Mustapha has a background in systems engineering and a history of building technology businesses. Before XRNET, he co-founded OrderEat, an online food-ordering platform developed while he was a student at the University of Lagos.

That earlier experience exposed him to the practical challenges of building digital products around everyday consumer behaviour.

With XRNET, he turned his attention to another problem in online commerce: how to make digital shopping feel more trustworthy and more like the physical experience of examining a product before buying it.

What is XRNET?

XRNET is an AI-powered e-commerce technology platform that uses augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D product visualisation to help customers interact with products digitally before purchasing them.

The platform allows businesses to create digital storefronts where customers can explore products in greater detail.

For physical products, immersive 3D and AR features can provide a clearer sense of appearance, scale and context. XRNET has also developed storefront tools that allow businesses to establish an online presence without having to build a traditional website from scratch.

This positions XRNET at the intersection of artificial intelligence, immersive technology and e-commerce—three rapidly evolving areas of the digital economy.

David Mustapha is tackling a fundamental problem with online shopping

The challenge XRNET addresses is not simply that online shopping lacks technology.

It is that online shopping can lack confidence.

When customers cannot physically examine an item, businesses have to work harder to communicate what they are selling. Product photographs, descriptions and reviews help, but they do not always answer the questions customers have before clicking “buy”.

David Mustapha’s approach is to make the digital experience more interactive.

Instead of simply looking at a photograph, customers can engage with a digital representation of the product. In an AR-enabled experience, for example, a shopper can potentially visualise an item within their own environment before completing a purchase.

The objective is not technology for technology’s sake. It is to give customers more information at the moment when they are deciding whether to spend their money.

From immersive shopping to digital storefronts for SMEs

XRNET’s opportunity extends beyond large retailers.

Small and medium-sized enterprises often face a different challenge: establishing a credible digital presence without the resources required to build and maintain complex e-commerce infrastructure.

XRNET’s storefront model is designed to lower that barrier.

The platform enables businesses to establish online stores while incorporating features such as immersive product displays. More recent XRNET offerings also include digital storefronts for service businesses, with tools for bookings, customer engagement and payments.

That makes the platform relevant to a broader category of African businesses moving from informal or predominantly offline commerce towards digital channels.

For these businesses, the question is no longer simply “How do I get online?”

It is becoming:

“How do I create an online experience that makes customers want to buy?”

The Tony Elumelu Foundation gave David Mustapha room to build

Building frontier technology requires more than an idea.

It requires capital, business discipline, mentorship and access to people who can challenge an entrepreneur’s assumptions.

In 2024, David Mustapha was selected for the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, joining a cohort of African entrepreneurs supported through training, mentorship, seed capital and access to the Foundation’s pan-African entrepreneurial network. The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s 2025 Annual Report identifies XRNET as a Nigeria-based, TEF-funded software-development business.

For Mustapha, the support came at an important stage in XRNET’s development, providing resources that could be directed towards strengthening the company’s technology and commercial model.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s role is important precisely because it does not replace the entrepreneur’s vision. It gives founders like Mustapha additional resources to test, refine and pursue that vision.

David Mustapha’s early traction shows demand for immersive commerce

XRNET has already begun attracting businesses interested in experimenting with immersive digital commerce.

Third-party reporting has documented more than 55 SMEs using XRNET’s immersive AR and 3D online stores, while the company has also reported more than 50 sign-ups during its first month of launch.

The company has continued developing its product infrastructure, including its XRNET Storefront and software tools designed to make its technology more broadly usable by businesses.

These developments point towards a larger opportunity: making immersive commerce accessible beyond major retailers and technology-heavy brands.

For SMEs, the ability to combine a digital storefront with richer product experiences could become an important differentiator as more businesses compete for customers online.

Why David Mustapha’s work matters

The next phase of e-commerce will not be defined solely by how many people shop online.

It will be defined by how much they trust the experience.

That distinction matters in markets where consumers are increasingly discovering products through social media, mobile platforms and digital storefronts while businesses compete for attention in crowded online environments.

David Mustapha is betting that immersive technology can make that experience clearer.

His work also reflects a broader shift in African technology entrepreneurship: building products specifically around the realities of African consumers and SMEs rather than simply importing models developed elsewhere.

If successful, XRNET’s approach could help businesses communicate their products more effectively while giving consumers greater confidence before making purchases.

What comes next for David Mustapha and XRNET?

The technology behind immersive commerce is still evolving.

Artificial intelligence is becoming more capable. Smartphone cameras are increasingly sophisticated. Three-dimensional product modelling is becoming more accessible. And consumers are becoming more comfortable interacting with brands through digital environments.

For David Mustapha, that convergence creates an opportunity to make immersive shopping a normal part of e-commerce rather than an expensive novelty.

The ambition extends beyond making online shopping more visually impressive.

It is about making it more informative.

Because the future of e-commerce may not belong to the businesses with the most products or the loudest advertising. It may belong to those that can answer the customer’s most basic question before the transaction happens:

“Can I trust what I am seeing?”

Through XRNET, David Mustapha is building technology around that question—and betting that greater clarity can become one of the most valuable features in African e-commerce.

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