Absa in partnership with the Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship (AGCAE) has launched the Absa Youth Entrepreneurship Fund (AYEF) in Johannesburg. The aim is not simply to fund businesses, but to understand what young entrepreneurs actually need and provide solutions based on real data.
The launch of the Absa Youth Entrepreneurship Fund (AYEF) on 26 June 2026 has been hailed as more than a standalone moment. Among many similar initiatives and plans, this fund has been designed and structured to address the three main challenges that young entrepreneurs face: access to finance, access to markets, and policy.
“This fund, for me, is the one that will increase the muscle of many young people to seriously consider entrepreneurship as a career choice. We cannot create job creators if too many of us don’t consider entrepreneurship as a career choice. So we can learn from this humble fund to go against the wind and really reimagine finance for young people,” says Dr Phumlani Nkontwana, Founding Director, AGCAE.
The idea for the fund began in February 2025, when Absa and AGCAE convened the Youth Entrepreneurship Dialogue in Johannesburg, targeting the conversation at the challenges facing young entrepreneurs.
“The AYEF is that promise kept,” says Dr Nkontwana.
The partnership works because each side brings something the other needs. Absa brings capital, a Pan-African footprint and a direct line to entrepreneurs through its SME business. AGCAE brings research, data, a network of ecosystem builders and ecosystem assessment tools.
What the fund sets out to do
At the launch, Absa’s Vignesh Subramani and Setlogane Manchidi walked the room through how the fund will work, and Preshan Rambridge, who leads SME Regions at Absa, set out its three priorities: bridging early-stage funding gaps, connecting entrepreneurs into the broader ecosystem, and enabling progression into the mainstream economy.
“When we want to lend, we tend to want the business to be almost perfect, and this fund really aims to close that gap. It connects entrepreneurs to the broader ecosystem: access to markets, to opportunities, to clients. And it enables progression into the mainstream, because how do you move from a startup into a well-established business that is thriving and growing?” asked Preshan Rambridge, Executive, SME Regions, Absa.
Honourable Deputy Minister Jane Sithole of the Department of Small Business Development delivered the keynote address, placing the fund within a national push to cut red tape. Her message was direct: Young entrepreneurs are not asking for favours, they are asking institutions to issue the permits, pay on time, and remove the barriers that hold young businesses back.
Entrepreneurs told of their needs
Sydney Mbhele, Absa’s Group Marketing and Corporate Affairs Officer, opened the day, followed by Jameel Khan and then Ms Nonhlanhla Magagula, Head of Corporate Citizenship Programmes at Absa, who framed what the day set out to achieve.
“Today we launched the Absa Youth Entrepreneurship Fund, a catalytic vehicle that is going to support young people between the ages of 18 to 35, all the way from ideation up until early growth stage,” said Ms Nonhlanhla Magagula, Head of Corporate Citizenship Programmes, Absa.
Youth entrepreneur Lerato Tladi, joined the stage and spoke plainly. “What stands between me and my business is my personality. Am I waking up to make it happen? It takes consistency to say, with this R1 000, I am not going to buy that branded T-shirt, I am going to invest in my business. So when you do mentoring, please include mentoring that changes the mindset of an entrepreneur,” she said.
The David Tlale Academy brought the day to a fitting end with a fashion showcase of young creative talent involved in the Clothing and Textile Industry. Then there also were the two roundtables facilitated by AGCAE, designed as a direct reaction to the new fund.
A new lens on the ecosystem
At the launch, AGCAE released a digital ecosystem intelligence platform enabling policy and ecosystem builders to freely access comparable data and insights of up to 29 African economies. The new site is a data infrastructure and policy tool for the science and practice of building entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa, developed by AGCAE with the Innovation for Policy Foundation and Utrecht University.
Importantly, when the room was polled on what would most accelerate youth entrepreneurship in Africa, the majority did not ask for money. They asked for simpler business registration and less red tape. Those policy requests align very well with the ecosystem data and lived experiences of many young budding entrepreneurs in Africa.
The real work, turning ideas into businesses that grow and employ others, starts now.
