By Cynthia Alo

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), has opened applications for the 2022 TEF entrepreneurship programme for young African entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries.

In a statement, the foundation said the programme which is for African start-ups with business ideas or existing businesses under 5 years will provide the qualified entrepreneurs with a seed capital of 5000 dollars with mentorship, business management training and more.

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The foundation further noted that since 2015, the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme has empowered 15,847 African entrepreneurs with a non-returnable seed capital of 5,000 dollars each, twelve weeks of business management training,  access to experienced mentors and membership to Africa’s largest entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“In 2021, the Tony Elumelu Foundation disbursed 24.75million US dollars to 5000 African entrepreneurs across Africa for its 2021 Entrepreneurship Programme. The Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme remains one of the largest private-sector responses to driving the economic recovery of African youth, women and SMEs given the effects of the covid19 pandemic across Africa.  Across Africa, the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme beneficiaries are starting and growing trailblazing businesses that have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs.” 

Commenting on the launch, Chief Executive Officer of TEF, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu said, “We are constantly blown away by the quality of businesses that come from Africa every year. 

This motivates us to scale our efforts to empower even more entrepreneurs on the continent. The innovation, knowledge and resilience of African entrepreneurs are central to charting Africa’s socio-economic transformation and meeting the continent’s development objectives. We are also proud of the increase in female participation on our Programme, especially with the 2021 cohort where we witnessed a record 68 per cent selection of women entrepreneurs.”

Also speaking, Founding Trustee of the TEF, Dr. A V. Elumelu stated: “Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, we seek to democratise luck. Hard work plays an important and undeniable part in success, but one must not discount the role of luck – someone being willing to take a chance on you or a business idea by empowering you through training, mentorship or funding. Our hope is that, through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, we would help the next business leader or captain of industry be who they are meant to be. This is our own way to give back and also to empower the generation coming behind us so that they can go even further than we have. As a parent, one’s desire is for your children to do better than you and so you will provide the resources and materials that they need to ensure that they go far in life. Similarly, at the Foundation we are equipping the next generation with the tools they need to succeed.”

As the foremost champion of entrepreneurship in Africa, the Tony Elumelu Foundation is empowering women and men across the African continent through entrepreneurship to catalyse economic growth, drive poverty eradication and ensure job creation. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in the philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector as the key enabler of economic and social wealth creation in Africa. Through TEFConnect, the Foundation’s proprietary digital platform, it has provided capacity-building support, advisory and market linkages, to over 1.5 million Africans.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme is open to entrepreneurs across Africa: new start-ups and existing young businesses, operating in any sector. Prospective applicants should apply now on the digital networking hub for African entrepreneurs, www.tefconnect.com. For a list of the selected 2021 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs and more information on our programme, please visit the website of the Tony Elumelu Foundation here.