Africa will be the primary beneficiary of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s final $200 billion disbursement over the next two decades, co-chair Bill Gates announced Monday at an African Union summit.
Addressing leaders in Ethiopia’s capital, Gates stated: “The majority of that funding will be spent on helping you address challenges here in Africa,” according to a foundation statement.
The pledge accelerates the foundation’s planned 2045 closure, revealed last month. To fulfill this commitment, Gates – ranked the world’s fifth-richest person with a $175 billion fortune per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index – will transfer substantial assets to the foundation, advancing his goal to donate 99% of his wealth.
Since its 2000 founding by Gates and former wife Melinda French Gates, the foundation has distributed over $100 billion globally. The original endowment terms stipulated closure 20 years after Gates’ death, a timeline now superseded by the 2045 sunset plan.