The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has called for the need to create a self-reliant Africa where the youth have a job-creating mentality and not a job seeking mentality, as that is the only thing that will ensure that enough jobs are created on the continent.
The call to action was given by the Chief Executive Officer, TEF, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, during a press conference.
According to her, the call to action is to development organisations, private sector, and the governments, as they are expected to trust the African Entrepreneur, train the African Entrepreneur and invest money directly in the African Entrepreneur.
She said, “We are leading the charge to ensure that African Entrepreneurs have not just the training, the funding, but also the enabling environment that they need to grow and thrive.
“The impact that we’ve seen from our entrepreneurs and their ability to create jobs, revenue and transform their communities, shows us the power of Entrepreneurship. It is critical to prioritise women because gender inclusivity in our African economy is very important because we know that women make up majority of the workforce in the small and medium enterprises.
“And that is why we partnered with the European Union, particularly the EU DEFCO to identify, train, fund and mentor an additional 2400 women across all 54 African countries in 2021
“We at the Tony Elumelu Foundation believe that funding and training are 2 sides of the same coin. The key to our partnerships is ensuring that funding is going directly into the hands of these entrepreneurs.”
She added that it was critical for the foundation to lead the charge for economic recovery post-COVID-19 pandemic and “that is why this year’s Application drive for the Tony Elumelu Foundation 2021 Entrepreneurship Programme is particularly important.
“We need to begin to change the narrative and I think that the Tony Elumelu Foundation is leading the new narrative in how to engage in Africa.”
What you should know
The Tony Elumelu Foundation is currently accepting applications to the 2021 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme. All young African men and women with business ideas or start-ups that are less than 5 years old are expected to apply on tefconnect.com.
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I have been having great challenge applying for the grant.some of the fields are not opening and it does not seem to be network issue.please how do I resolve that