Tony Elumelu Foundation Names Three New Advisory Members

The Tony Elumelu Foundation has added three figures with serious institutional weight to its Advisory Board, signaling an effort to deepen its global reach as it continues to back entrepreneurs across Africa.

The foundation named His Excellency Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises and the UAE’s Special Envoy for Business and Philanthropy; Per Heggenes, former CEO of the IKEA Foundation; and Professor Paul Gompers of Harvard Business School. The three appointments were announced Tuesday and take effect immediately.

Tony O. Elumelu, the foundation’s founder, framed the additions as a deliberate move to connect Africa’s entrepreneurial momentum with the kind of global experience that can help sustain it.

“Entrepreneurship is the most powerful engine for Africa’s long-term prosperity,” Elumelu said. “Badr’s experience in championing innovative solutions and strategic philanthropy will be instrumental as we scale our mission and bridge Africa with global partners who share our commitment to economic inclusion.”

Elumelu also pointed to Heggenes’ nearly two decades in global grant-making as directly relevant to the foundation’s ambitions to strengthen institutional capacity, and noted that Gompers has had a long-standing academic engagement with TEF, including authoring a Harvard Business School case study on the foundation’s work.

Badr Jafar, whose career spans energy, infrastructure and cross-sector philanthropy, said the timing of the appointment matters as much as the role itself.

“Africa’s entrepreneurial energy is reshaping the future,” Jafar said. “The UAE has emerged as a global platform for innovation and cross-sector collaboration, and I look forward to helping build bridges between regions, sectors and generations to drive sustainable impact at scale.”

Heggenes, who spent close to two decades leading the IKEA Foundation before stepping down, said he was drawn in by what the foundation has already built.

“The Tony Elumelu Foundation has built one of the most ambitious and impactful entrepreneurship platforms in the world,” he said. “Africa’s young entrepreneurs are increasingly central to solving global challenges, and I look forward to supporting the foundation’s mission to strengthen entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic independence, resilience and inclusive growth.”

Gompers, a preeminent scholar of venture capital and entrepreneurship whose academic work has shaped how institutions think about early-stage investing, said the foundation represents a model worth studying and supporting.

“The Tony Elumelu Foundation has demonstrated what is possible when capital, training and long-term commitment are aligned,” Gompers said. “I am delighted to join the Advisory Board and contribute to the foundation’s mission to deepen Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystems and expand opportunity at scale.”

The Tony Elumelu Foundation has become one of the continent’s most recognised philanthropic vehicles, having committed $100 million to fund, train and mentor African entrepreneurs across all 54 countries on the continent. The new board additions suggest the foundation is thinking carefully about what it takes to sustain that scale over the long run, and who around the table can help get it there.