Deadline: December 1, 2025
Applications are open for the Big Bets Fellowship: Africa 2026. As part of Rockefeller Foundation’s long-standing commitment to making opportunity universal, the Big Bets Fellowship equips visionary leaders with the mindset, skills, and networks needed to realize their ambitions and drive change in their communities at scale.
Each year, the Foundation selects a diverse and interdisciplinary cohort of changemakers who are driving bold, systemic solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges – improving lives and expanding opportunity for those historically underserved. In 2026 the Big Bets Fellowship will engage leaders from across the African continent who are creating the systems, policies, and innovations that can power a prosperous and sustainable future for all.
Funding
- Travel expenses for participation in the in-person convening will be covered by The Rockefeller Foundation. Fellows will be responsible for securing the necessary visa(s) for any travel during the course of the program.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Be 18 years of age or older;
- At least 5 and no more than 15 years of relevant work experience in the project area;
- Conversant in English. Specifically, applicants must understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.; deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling; produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest; and describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes, and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans;
- Confirm that they can participate fully in the Fellowship under the laws of the jurisdiction(s) in which they reside. Any entry received from an Applicant residing in a country where the Fellowship is not legal in all regards shall be ineligible to enter the Fellowship; and
- Own or otherwise have and maintain all necessary rights, licenses, authorizations, and consents with respect to any and all intellectual property and other proprietary rights (including the rights of publicity and privacy) in connection with their respective projects.
Application
See the application dates:
- Deadline to complete the Eligibility and Pre-Application Forms: December 1st, 2025
- Finalists invited to submit Full Application and schedule interviews: Early January 2026
- Deadline to complete Full Application: Late January 2026
- Interviews conducted: January 2026
- Fellows announced: Late February 2026
For more information, visit Big Bets Fellowship: Africa.
