Africa’s Business Heroes, a philanthropy-backed entrepreneurship program, has unveiled its list of 100 semifinalists for the 2026 competition, selected from a pool of 24,000 applicants. For the first time, the organization doubled the number of semifinalists to reflect the growing maturity of Africa’s startup ecosystem. Representing 27 countries and operating across sectors ranging from agriculture to artificial intelligence, these businesses collectively generate $170 million in revenue and employ more than 6,000 people.