TEF Entrepreneurship Programme
$5,000 non-refundable seed capital plus 12 weeks of training and mentorship via the Tony Elumelu Foundation. We help Vestar founders craft applications.
Vetted grants. Accelerator placements. Tactical masterclasses. We don't run every program ourselves — we curate the ones worth your time and channel the right founders into them.
Open grants and funding opportunities we surface for Vestar founders, with application support included for Growth and Scale members.
$5,000 non-refundable seed capital plus 12 weeks of training and mentorship via the Tony Elumelu Foundation. We help Vestar founders craft applications.
3-month equity-free program for Black founders building seed to Series A startups. Includes cloud credits, mentorship, and demo day.
Grant funding plus business support for tech startups solving African challenges. Cohort 8 opens applications next month.
Quarterly micro-grant of ₦1M for early-stage Vestar members building in priority sectors: climate, fintech, healthtech, agritech.
Pan-African pitch competition for fintech and commerce startups. Next cycle opens August. We'll alert eligible Vestar members.
Funding for African startups operating out of accredited innovation hubs. Vestar Lagos and Abuja are accredited hubs.
We're channel partners or referral partners with leading global and African accelerators. Vestar founders get application coaching and warm intros.
A 6-week intensive cohort built specifically for Nigerian and African founders preparing to raise their first institutional round. Strategy, deck, model, and warm intros to 5+ aligned investors at the end.
Apply for next cohortThe world's most influential accelerator. We coach Vestar founders through YC applications and refer the strongest each batch.
Three-month accelerator with mentorship from global operators. We help shortlisted Vestar founders prepare for interviews.
Pre-seed program for solo founders and early teams. Vestar founders get expedited application review.
Quarterly demo events where Vestar Scale members get priority pitch slots in front of 200+ investors and operators.
For high-impact founders scaling past Series A. Vestar is an Endeavor partner organization in Lagos.
Annual gathering of 1,500+ impact founders and investors in Kigali. We sponsor Vestar member attendance and warm intros.
Half-day intensives on the topics every founder is working through. Open to non-members; included free for Growth and Scale members.
The complete fundraising playbook — pre-seed through Series A. Cap table math, investor mapping, deck narrative, and term sheet negotiation.
Legal entity choice, founder agreements, equity splits, vesting schedules, and the 10 documents you need before you take a single dollar.
From your first hire to your first 10. Where to source, how to interview, what to pay, and how to write offers that close.
How to price for the customer you want, not the one you have. Includes pricing experiments, packaging frameworks, and willingness-to-pay research.
Go-to-market design for technical founders. Sales process, CRM setup, ICP definition, and the first 10 customers you should chase.
How to talk about your company to investors, customers, recruits, and press — without sounding like a deck. Practical narrative work.
/ Growth members: 50% off · / Scale members: included free
The hardest part of building in Africa isn't always the work — it's getting access to the right rooms. We get our founders into them.
Monthly 30-minute slots with active investors from local and global funds. Scale members get 4 slots/year, Growth members 2.
Curated 12-person dinners with senior founders, investors, and operators. Quarterly in Lagos; semi-annual in Abuja and London.
Free coworking + advisor office hours every Friday at our Lagos HQ. Open to non-members; Q&A with a senior advisor at 4pm.
Active community of 500+ founders sharing intros, deals, hires, and the occasional rant. Moderated by the Vestar team.
One-day flagship event in Lagos every November. 500+ founders, investors, and operators. Member tickets free; public tickets ₦40,000.
Looking to hire in Nairobi, raise in London, or sell to Toronto? We connect Vestar founders to operators and investors in 9 cities.
We add new programs to our network every month — grants, accelerators, fellowships, events. If there's a program you think Vestar founders should have access to, let us know.