Rockefeller Foundation Launches First Class of Big Bets Fellows Focused on Africa
- Inaugural class of 10 changemakers driving bold, community-led solutions across Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania
- Cohort represents best of African leadership and innovation across multiple sectors including health, agriculture, clean energy and more
NAIROBI, Kenya, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- During its second annual AfricaXchange Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, The Rockefeller Foundation launched the inaugural class of Africa Big Bets Fellows who are focused on driving transformational change across the continent. Ten leaders from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania will participate in an intensive five-month fellowship designed to elevate their innovative solutions for advancing energy access, food security, financial inclusion, economic opportunity, healthcare, climate resilience, migration, and more. The inaugural Africa Big Bets Fellows cohort marks the 60th anniversary of The Rockefeller Foundation's Africa Regional Office, which opened in 1966, with the Foundation supporting charitable initiatives across health, food, energy, climate, economic opportunity, and more for over a century.
"For decades, The Rockefeller Foundation has been honored to work with the dreamers, leaders, thinkers, scientists, innovators, and others who have shaped Africa's future," said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. "Through the Africa Big Bets Fellowship, we are backing a new generation of leaders who are scaling ideas that expand opportunity, strengthen resilience, and improve lives across Africa."
Across Africa, communities continue to face barriers to opportunity and resilience, from limited access to energy and finance to growing climate and migration pressures. Today, approximately 600 million people across the continent live without access to electricity, accounting for more than 80% of the global population without power. And despite being on the frontlines of the climate crisis, Africa receives only around 12% of global climate finance. This gap is especially stark given the continent's vast natural resources. With the right planning and investment, up to 76% of Africa's energy needs could be met by renewable sources by 2040.
"This year's Big Bets Fellows reflect the strength of African leadership in tackling some of today's most pressing challenges," said William Asiko, Senior Vice President, Africa Regional Office, The Rockefeller Foundation. "Their work shows how locally driven innovation across areas such as food systems and clean energy can deliver solutions that are scalable, globally relevant, and improve lives across the continent and beyond."
The first 10 Africa Big Bets Fellows, who were selected from a diverse pool of nominees from the Big Bets network and external partners, will participate in a five-month intensive program. With peer learning and access to global networking, the fellowship is designed to help scale their ideas and innovative solutions to advance universal energy abundance, strengthen food security and nutrition, and increase access to healthcare, financial tools, green jobs, real-time data on migration, climate solutions, and more:
- Ghana – Osei Kwadwo Boateng: Ensuring people in rural Ghana can get the care they need by bringing affordable, high-quality primary healthcare directly to their communities through mobile clinics, tele-health, and local health workers.
- Ghana – Richard Matey: Supporting a cleaner Accra by helping the city turn organic waste into useful products while creating fair, green jobs for local communities and informing research relevant to policy discussions.
- Kenya – Rosinah Mbenya: Ensuring more children in Kenya have access to agroecological school meals while supporting local farmers to access stable local markets by linking school food programs to regenerative agriculture.
- 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.
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.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
Investing $30 billion over the last 113 years to promote the well-being of humanity, The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on unlikely partnerships and innovative solutions that deliver measurable results for people in the United States and around the world. We leverage scientific breakthroughs, artificial intelligence, and new technologies to make big bets across energy, food, health, and finance, including with our public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC). For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn, Instagram @rockefellerfdn, YouTube @RockefellerFdn, and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation.
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