An eligible African entrepreneur at work
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I The African Union (AU) has stepped up efforts to finance and accelerate African entrepreneurship through the Enterprise Africa Network (EAN) Fellowship Programme, inviting formally registered businesses across the continent to compete for support under the second phase of the initiative.
The 2026–2027 EAN Fellowship Programme, an African Union Commission startup acceleration initiative, is targeting 100 entrepreneurs from all 55 AU member states, with the broader ambition of helping African businesses grow, enter new markets and create employment.
The programme has set an ambitious target of generating $2 million (about Sh7.46 billion) in revenue and creating 500 jobs through the supported enterprises.
At the centre of the initiative is the AU’s attempt to move African entrepreneurs beyond the constraints of small domestic markets by preparing them for regional and continental trade.
The selected fellows will receive business training, mentorship and market-access opportunities designed to strengthen their enterprises, expand their customer base and prepare them to operate across borders.
The initiative is particularly aligned with opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to increase trade among African countries and create a single continental market for goods and services.
Through the fellowship, entrepreneurs will be supported to understand and take advantage of AfCFTA instruments while identifying and overcoming the barriers that prevent many African businesses from participating in cross-border trade.
The AU is therefore targeting enterprises with demonstrated potential rather than simply selecting businesses at the idea stage.
Applicants will be required to provide detailed information about their businesses, including annual revenue, growth recorded during the previous two financial years, the number of countries in which they currently operate and the size of their customer base.
The application will also examine the contribution businesses are making to employment, particularly among women and young people.
Entrepreneurs will be required to disclose the proportion of women and people below the age of 35 employed in their workforce, as well as the number of new full-time jobs created over the previous 12 months.
Access to finance will also form part of the assessment, alongside the applicant’s financial record-keeping practices and business plans.
The programme will additionally examine whether enterprises have developed intellectual property that could strengthen their competitiveness. Applicants will be asked to indicate whether they hold trademarks, patents, industrial designs or copyrights, as well as relevant business certifications.
A major component of the application will be assessing whether enterprises are ready to enter cross-border markets.
Applicants will have to demonstrate their knowledge and use of AfCFTA instruments and identify the major obstacles limiting their ability to trade beyond their home countries.
They will also be required to submit a written pitch explaining their enterprise, the problem their product or service solves, their target customers and evidence that their solution works.
The pitch must demonstrate what makes the enterprise innovative, the main market challenge holding back its growth and what the entrepreneur hopes to achieve during the fellowship year.
Applicants will further be required to explain how they intend to measure progress during the programme.
A pitch deck must also be submitted through a view-only cloud storage link, while applicants may supplement their submissions with demonstration videos and patent documents where applicable.
The AU has sought to make the application process rigorous enough to identify enterprises with the capacity to scale and deliver measurable economic impact.
Shortlisted applicants will subsequently be required to provide financial verification documents, such as bank statements or mobile money statements, as well as copies of their passports.
The fellowship is open to formally registered enterprises operating within AU member states. Applicants must provide their legal business name, location of operations, country of registration, year of formal registration and business registration number.
Information about the founder or chief executive officer, number of full-time employees, principal products or services and geographical area of operation will also be required.
However, the programme excludes current and former African Union Commission staff, employees and representatives of EAN institutional partners, specialised AU agencies and Regional Economic Communities.
Graduates of previous EAN Fellowship cohorts are also not eligible to apply.
With applications closing on September 30, 2026, the initiative offers African businesses an opportunity to gain more than conventional financial support.
By combining training, mentorship, market access and preparation for continental trade, the AU hopes to build enterprises capable of scaling beyond national borders and creating sustainable employment.
The programme also signals a shift towards strengthening African-owned businesses as engines of continental economic integration.
If the fellowship achieves its targets of $2 million in additional revenue and 500 jobs, it could provide a practical demonstration of how targeted support can help African entrepreneurs move from promising enterprises into stronger regional businesses capable of taking advantage of the opportunities presented by AfCFTA.
Interested applicants can seek further information from AUEAN@AfricanUnion.org before submitting their applications by the September 30 deadline.
