The Adekunle Gold Foundation and financial platform Pesa have launched a $20,000 initiative to support sickle cell organisations in Nigeria, Ghana, Canada and the United Kingdom. The programme, called We’re Not Done, will provide grants for work ranging from patient support to public education and advocacy.
Pesa announced its commitment on 23 October as part of its fifth-anniversary activities. The foundation says the first funding round will support four organisations already working with people affected by sickle cell disease, rather than establish a separate treatment service in each country.
The named beneficiaries are Nigeria’s Sickle Cell Advocacy Management Initiative, Not Just You in Canada, Sickle Life in Ghana and It Takes A Village in the United Kingdom. The partners say the resources will help those organisations strengthen existing programmes and extend their reach.
The foundation describes the scheme as a way of redistributing donations as grants to other organisations. Its programme page identifies care, education, awareness and advocacy as the areas supported by the initial commitment.
“We’re Not Done is about turning awareness into action,” Adekunle Gold said in the announcement published by Pesa. He said the partnership would give organisations working in the sickle cell community more resources to continue their activities and reach additional people.
The announcement includes wellness activities, psychosocial support, screening, genetic counselling and public awareness among the work envisaged. It does not set out how much each beneficiary will receive or provide a timetable for individual grant payments.
Pesa co-founder and chief executive Tolu Osho said the company wanted its anniversary to support communities connected to its customers, colleagues and their families. The company’s relationship with the singer predates the charitable initiative: it announced him as a brand ambassador on 17 June.
Adekunle Gold has publicly discussed his own experience of living with sickle cell disease. In an interview published by Numéro Netherlands in July 2025, he said he had decided in 2022 that the shame he associated with speaking about the condition no longer mattered.
His advocacy has also appeared in his music. The 2022 single 5 Star addressed his experience with the condition, before his foundation expanded its work through healthcare support and partnerships.
The foundation’s separate 5 Star Care programme offers free comprehensive health-insurance access for 1,000 people living with sickle cell disease, according to its website. It lists routine care, emergency treatment and longer-term support among the services covered by the initiative.
That programme is being implemented with the Lagos State Health Scheme Management, Sickle Cell Management Initiatives and the Lagos State Ministry of Health. Its registration page currently states that applications are closed. It is separate from the new grants for organisations in four countries.
Founded in 2023, the Adekunle Gold Foundation identifies advocacy, research, outreach and management among its focus areas. Its stated purpose includes distributing resources to sickle cell charities in Nigeria and abroad.
The foundation also works with New York University researchers on BEAT-SCD, launched in September 2025. NYU says the collaboration explores how music and storytelling might build trust, reduce stigma and improve public engagement around sickle cell disease.
Archive photograph: Adekunle Gold, 19 January 2019. Jeremy Visuals / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not the October 2026 initiative.
