05/06/2026
Some builders are not invisible because their work is small. They are invisible because the ecosystem has been looking in the same places for too long.
That is one of the truths ASEB 2026 nominations are forcing us to sit with. So far, we have received **1,346 nominations from 41 countries**, and while that number matters, what matters even more is what it is beginning to reveal. The nominations are not only coming from the ecosystems that dominate the headlines, the stages, the reports, and the investor conversations. They are also coming from places like Seychelles, Mauritania, Djibouti, and other smaller or often overlooked markets where ecosystem builders are doing the difficult work of creating possibility with less visibility, less infrastructure, and far fewer people watching.
Africa’s startup ecosystem cannot only recognise the loudest rooms.
In smaller ecosystems, the work is often heavier because one person can easily become the mentor, the connector, the programme designer, the policy translator, the funder chaser, the community organiser, and the person founders call when they no longer know where to turn. That work does not become less important because the country is smaller, the market is quieter, or the ecosystem is not yet appearing in every funding report. Sometimes the most committed builders are found in the places the continent has been too slow to name.
This is why we have listened to the ecosystem, and we have decided to extend the ASEB 2026 nominations deadline to **12 July 2026**.
More time. More room. More builders seen.
If you know someone building, supporting, mentoring, funding, convening, or strengthening entrepreneurship in Africa, nominate them. If you are doing the work yourself and your contribution has not yet been recognised, self nominations are encouraged.
New nomination deadline: **12 July 2026**
Nominate here: http://www.asebs.com
ASEB 2026 returns to Johannesburg, South Africa, from **20 to 22 October 2026** for the Homecoming and 5th Edition Anniversary of the Africa Startup Ecosystem Builders Summit and Awards.
Johannesburg 2022. Nairobi 2023. Accra 2024. Addis Ababa 2025. Johannesburg 2026.
Let us recognise the unsung heroes building Africa’s startup ecosystem, not only in the places we already know how to see, but also in the places where builders have been carrying the work quietly for years.
