Over 2,000 African entrepreneurs are set to benefit from the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Entrepreneurship Programme. This was announced in a statement released by the foundation.
According to the foundation, the entrepreneurship programme is targeted at supporting small businesses across seven countries which include Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon.
The selection process: The entrepreneurs were selected after going through intensive business training online held for particular communities in each country during the programme.
The call for applications commenced in July this year and ended with a pitching competition in various communities in the seven countries, powered by the United Bank for Africa Plc, while the selection process was coordinated by Deloitte.
The lucky entrepreneurs, who have been chosen, would join the alumni network of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s flagship Entrepreneurship Programme, and would 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 and the United Nations Development Programme 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 statement read.
[READ MORE: AfDB approves $5 million for entrepreneurs under Tony Elumelu Foundation)
More details: Commenting on the programme, the Chief Executive Officer, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu 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.”
What you should know: Since 2010, both in Nigeria and Africa at large, Tony Elumelu, the chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Heirs Holdings has been supporting SME growth through his foundation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
The foundation has been supporting youths in Africa by providing them with funds to enable them achieve their dreams, as it believes that with the right support, entrepreneurs can be empowered to contribute meaningfully to the prosperity and the social development of the continent.
