Malawi – Nthanda Manduwi: Enabling the next generation of farmers and innovators by combining autonomous farming technologies, AI-powered simulation tools, and hands-on training to increase productivity, strengthen food security, and build climate-resilient production systems.
Nigeria – Adédèjì Ọlọ́wẹ̀: Helping millions of Nigerians access fair credit and better financial services by safely unlocking the bank data that can connect people to the financial tools they need.
Nigeria – Nina Mbah: Supporting Nigerian communities to choose clean energy by building awareness, sharing trusted stories, and celebrating local champions leading the transition through a reality show series.
Nigeria – Smart Israel: Helping communities facing displacement and climate stress grow their own fresh food year-round, even where land and water are scarce- by supporting solar-powered farming.
Nigeria – Stanley Anigbogu: Bringing clean, reliable electricity to off-grid and refugee communities by building solar-powered hubs from recycled materials where people can charge devices and learn about climate solutions.
South Africa – Sydelle Willow Smith: Building a youth-led network of solar-powered mobile cinemas to bring African stories, trusted public information, and new economic opportunities to underserved communities across the continent.
Tanzania – Careen Joel: Helping climate-affected communities in Tanzania make safer decisions about migration and local resources by providing clear, real-time information they can use.
Kenya’s climate leaders call for action and inclusion at 2025 climate action summit
This year’s Africa Big Bets Fellows were announced at the 2026 edition of AfricaXchange — an annual convening of funders, practitioners, and changemakers focused on advancing innovative, locally led development across the continent. Hosted by The Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Office, AfricaXchange 2026 centers on deploying the philanthropic capital needed to drive self-determination. At its core was a clear ambition: to ensure that Africa’s future is built, financed, and led by Africans, a vision captured in this year’s theme, “money, markets, and mindsets.”
For over 110 years, The Rockefeller Foundation has worked in Africa to address critical issues of poverty, health, food security, energy access, and economic instability. Established in 1913, the Foundation was the first U.S. philanthropic organization to engage in extensive health work in Africa. The next chapter got underway around the time that
The Rockefeller Foundation opened its Africa Regional Office in Nairobi in 1966 and shifted its strategy from largely focusing on single-disease eradication campaigns to multidisciplinary development programs focusing on long-term institutional stability and food security. Even before the creation of the Africa Regional Office, The Rockefeller Foundation supported hundreds of exceptional individuals through fellowship programs like the Warren Weaver Fellowship which ran from 1989 to 2000 and its “RockyDocs” programs which supported more than 130 fellows between 1984 and 2000.
Today, approximately one-third of The Rockefeller Foundation’s total funding is dedicated to the continent, with its largest grants centering on expanding access to electricity, supporting nutritious school meals, often sourced from local produce grown through regenerative methods, and strengthening community health systems with data-driven decisions. The Africa Big Bets Fellows represent the next chapter of this legacy, backing leaders whose ideas are already delivering impact, and accelerating solutions. The first Africa cohort follows the successful launches of Big Bets Fellowships over the last two years in Latin America and the Caribbean, United States, and Asia-Pacific.
