I came across something this week that stayed with me.

Over 24,000 entrepreneurs applied for the 2026 Africa’s Business Heroes programme. Only 20 made it to the semi-final stage.

Think about that for a moment. That is 0.0833% of those who applied. That means roughly 1 in every 1,200 applicants made it to the 20.

Before the selection, every founder who applied believed their idea was the best. Most were positive; it can only be a YES.

Thousands of people had an idea they believed was worth putting forward. Most of them were going to hear no.

And they applied anyway.

We don’t really discuss that part of building enough. Instead, we discuss the winnings. The funding and the recognition.

But before any of those things, you need to put your work in front of people who may not choose it.

They may reject your ideas. Ignore your proposals. Your first product might fail. At some point, you may question yourself.

None of this means you should stop.

Rejection can be the cost of discovering if your idea is strong enough beyond just your own thoughts.

As an entrepreneur, you need this kind of courage. And not the courage to believe that you will always win.

You need the courage to keep showing up when you don’t. Because if you fear rejection, you will not take risk.

And once you stop taking meaningful risks, you may still be busy, but you may no longer be building anything meaningful.

So, put your idea out there. Let people judge it. Let the market disagree with you.

Learn. Adjust. And then try again.

You don’t need everyone to believe in what you’re building. Everyone does not have to believe in what you do. Find the few who do.

See you tomorrow.

Oluboba Ayodeji