Executive Director, Sahara Group, Ade Odunsi, flanked by recipients of the Sahara Group Foundation Sahara Impact Fund…
The Sahara Group Foundation, the social impact arm of Sahara Group, has awarded more than $130,000 to 20 outstanding African ‘EXTRApreneurs’ under its flagship Sahara Impact Fund Cohort 4 and Making A Difference Around Africa initiatives.
For nearly two decades, the Sahara Group Foundation has served as a catalyst for sustainable development across Africa, investing in programmes that promote entrepreneurship, environmental stewardship, innovation, and community transformation.
The 2025 editions of the SIF and MADAA programmes were re-engineered based on insights from previous cycles, which showed a widening gap between early-stage innovation and market entry in Africa. By aligning MADAA and SIF, the Foundation said it has created a more streamlined innovation pipeline that eliminates barriers, strengthens capacity, and ensures sustainability beyond the life of the grants.
“Our focus goes beyond disbursing grants,” said the Programme Supervisor, Sahara Group Foundation, David Ayinde, during the Awards and Gala Night recently in Lagos.
“We have built a capacity development and business advisory framework that equips our EXTRApreneurs with business intelligence, financial strategy, governance discipline, and commercial readiness to scale their solutions sustainably across African markets.”
Also speaking, the Director, Sahara Group Foundation, Chidilim Menakaya, said, “By reinventing the Sahara Impact Fund and elevating the MADAA programme, we are closing the loop between discovery, support, and scale. These enhancements reflect our commitment to identifying high-potential changemakers and innovators, equipping them with the right skills, and creating real pathways for them to grow sustainable solutions.
“Ultimately, this integrated approach ensures that promising EXTRApreneurs have a clear, structured, and fully supported route to delivering measurable impact across their communities.”
Charging the awardees to embrace resilience, discipline, and innovation in their businesses, the Executive Director, Sahara Group, Dr Kola Adesina, said these qualities would help African EXTRApreneurs achieve “transformative impact across the continent with the added incentive of scaling their businesses for global competitiveness.”
Also, the Executive Director of Sahara Group, Ade Odunsi, said, “Sahara started out with the mindset of EXTRApreneurship. Your businesses must have unique value propositions that can continually be reengineered for more impact through innovation.”
The 2025 programme cycle attracted more than 2,000 applications from across Africa, a development the Foundation said underscores the depth of innovation on the continent. After a rigorous screening process, about 300 innovators were shortlisted for an intensive Capacity Building Workshop delivered by Sahara Group experts.
The sessions covered business strategy and sustainability, governance and regulatory compliance, brand positioning and communications, commercial and stakeholder management, and legal, financial, and tax advisory processes.
Twenty high-potential EXTRApreneurs were eventually selected for the Business Advisory Bootcamp and Sahara M.A.D Den in Lagos, Nigeria, where they ultimately received grant support for their ventures.
The recipients of the $10,000 grants are Chinwendu Augustina Nweke of Bridge Merchant Enterprise (Nigeria); Elvis Kadhama of Essymart Africa Business Link Limited (Uganda); Violet Awo Amoabeng of Skin Gourmet (Ghana); Tracey Shiundu of FunKe Science (Kenya); Salma Medhat of Hiryo (Egypt); Anita Nsiah Donkor of Timoya Farms (Ghana); Dr Sisay Abebe of KMS ETH Health Trading S.C (Ethiopia); Kedumetse Liphi of Ked-LiphiBw (Botswana); Ernest Mongezi Majenge of The Wheelchair Doctor (South Africa); and Joan Rukundo Nalubega of Uganics Repellents Ltd (Uganda).
Those awarded $5,000 include Eunice Adewale of Smokeless Briqs Energy Solutions (Nigeria); Henry Danwawo Lamba of Schrödinger Technologie Ltd (Nigeria); Johnson Obute of Maximus Recycling Solutions (Nigeria); Abraham Ugbenja Iborchan of PureLube Limited (Ghana); and Brian Okeyo of Nawiri Organics (Kenya).
The $1,000 grant recipients are Jide Ayegbusi of EdGo Technology Ltd (Nigeria); David Ssembajjwe of Camelot Agroecology Farm Ltd (Uganda); Mojola Ola of Gridcrux Energy Solutions (Nigeria); Abiodun Quadri of Zerosmoke Ventures (Nigeria); and Fasanya Samuel Akinpelumi of Poshfil Polish Products Ltd (Nigeria).
For additional details on the Sahara Impact Fund, the MADAA initiative, and other Sahara Group Foundation programmes, the public is advised to visit the Foundation’s website.
