Prayer Breakfast: God’s Entrepreneurs in Africa with Thelma Ekiyor-Solanke
ABOUT
God's Entrepreneurs is driven by the belief that the marketplace is a territory that God expects His children to enter, contend, reign and call for “Kingdom Come”. We gather in prayer to raise an altar to God, while the world joins the rat race and raises altars to mammon.
Thelma Ekiyor-Solanke is the Convener of God's Entrepreneurs, a platform that brings Believers together to pray every Monday morning. People now call in from 23 countries. Over the past two years God's Entrepreneurs has organised prayer breakfasts and events in Zimbabwe, New York and Indianapolis. In 2017 the Holy Spirit inspired her to establish the 24hrs With The Lord Global Fellowship, a women's leadership ministry built on prayer, the Word and the conviction that women are called to lead wherever God places them. What began as an act of obedience now gathers women across continents. From that fellowship she founded The 24 Women's Congress, which she serves as President, and The 24, the non-profit operational arm of the ministry, which she chairs. Together they disciple women in leadership, sustain intercession and turn prayer into practical service. To the women she serves she is simply Sis T. She has also written several spiritually provoking books. She does not sell them; they are given away and are now read on different continents, carried by women who pass them on. Her ministry is inseparable from her work. For more than 25 years she has been an international development expert, philanthropy advisor, social entrepreneur and impact investor. Until October 2026 she was Global CEO of Women for Women International, leading 450 staff across six countries, and she was appointed Pioneer Chairperson of Nigeria's first Office for Philanthropy and Impact Investing in the Office of the Vice President. She was the Pioneer CEO of SME.NG, a gender-lens impact platform for women in Nigeria, which also built the largest accelerator for women. She carries the name and mandate of Christ into every one of these rooms.
THE MINISTRY
God's Entrepreneurs
Convener, Monday morning prayer across 23 countries
24hrs With The Lord Global Fellowship
Convener, founded 2017
The 24 Women's Congress
President
The 24
Chairperson, non-profit arm of the ministry
Author
Books distributed free across continents
RECOGNITION
2025 Global Social Entrepreneur Award, UK Multicultural Awards, House of Lords, London
2025 Global Luminaire Award, African Diaspora Network, Washington DC
2024 Pioneer Chairperson, Nigeria Office for Philanthropy and Impact Investing
2023 Peak Performer Super Achiever Award, Nigeria
2021 Top 10 Black Women in Philanthropy and Impact Investing, Women's Philanthropy Institute, USA
2020 50 Most Influential Women in Development in Africa
EDUCATION
LLB (Hons), University of Buckingham, UK
MBA, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Imperial College London
Fellow, Stanford University, USA
Doctorate in progress, Cranfield University, UK