The Tony Elumelu Foundation
(TEF)—the private-sector-led philanthropy focused on empowering African
entrepreneurs—has announced a final list of 2,100 entrepreneurs to benefit from the inaugural
TEF-UNDP Entrepreneurship Programme.
The Programme targets small business
owners in rural communities across the 7 Sahel countries of Africa – Nigeria,
Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon.
The successful
beneficiaries participated in an intensive business training administered
online and in select communities in each country during the Programme. The
selected young African entrepreneurs will join the alumni network of the
Tony Elumelu Foundation’s flagship Entrepreneurship Programme and will each
receive seed funding between $1,500 and $5,000, depending on the size of their
business initiative.
The TEF-UNDP
Entrepreneurship Programme is a partnership between the Tony Elumelu
Foundation (TEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to
empower 100,000 entrepreneurs over 10 years across Africa. This mission –
to economically empower young African entrepreneurs, create millions of jobs
and revenue in Africa, and break the cycle of poverty on the continent
- aligns with the purpose of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
The selection process of
the TEF-UNDP Entrepreneurship Programme, which commenced with a call for
applications in July 2019, ended with a pitching competition in various
communities in the 7 countries, powered by the United Bank for Africa Plc,
while the selection process was coordinated by Deloitte.
Speaking on the
announcement, Ahunna Eziakonwa, UNDP Africa Regional Head, said: “Youth
employment and economic empowerment are critical for the socio-economic
transformation of the Sahel. The sheer size of applicants, 81,000 for the
TEF-UNDP Entrepreneurship Programme, demonstrates an urgent need to scale
up. The regeneration of the Sahel is a key priority for UNDP. We
will continue to prioritise initiatives that break down barriers to attaining
the full potential of the Sahel – and bring closer to home, the hope for
productive lives for Africa’s youth”.
Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, CEO of
the Tony Elumelu Foundation, said: “Creating opportunities and giving young
Africans hope for a brighter future will reduce poverty, extremism and illegal
emigration in Africa. This is why at the Tony Elumelu Foundation, we forge
partnerships to enable us to reach more youths and scale our impact to convert
the impending demographic doom to economic boom on the continent”.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation
will begin accepting applications for its flagship Entrepreneurship Programme
on January 1, 2020.
Tags
Business