By Chioma Obinagwam
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the leading African philanthropy committed to empowering African entrepreneurs, Friday announced 3,050 African entrepreneurs, drawn from all 54 African countries, selected to join the 5th cycle of its $100million TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.
The announcement was made at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja, following a presentation of the selection process by Accenture Development Partners.
This year, over 216,000 applications were received, an increase from last year’s 151,000. Nearly 90,000 were submitted by female entrepreneurs, an increase of 45 percent, illustrating the Foundation’s strategy to achieve greater gender balance.
Confiance News gathered that the selected Entrepreneurs will each receive non- refundable $5,000 of seed capital, access to mentors, and a 12-week business training programme, directly focused on the needs of African entrepreneurs. On July 26 – 27 2019, they will gather at the TEF Entrepreneurship Forum, the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship ecosystem on the continent.
TEFFounder, Tony O. Elumelu, CON, who celebrated his birthday on Friday said,
“Every year, we face an almost impossible task- to seleo 1,000 entrepreneurs, from the hundreds of thousands that apply. Our entrepreneurs, are hungry to effect change.We know we are now scratching the surface, we see the depth of entrepreneurial talent, that all of us- government, business indeed African Society, must harness to transform our economies and livelihood s. We must rally together to empower them& accelerate the change we want in the continent.
Her Excellency, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, commended the Programme’s impact on the continent, charging the selected entrepreneurs to contribute to the advancement of the African continent.
The Foundation’s growing list of partners includes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Federal Republic of Benin (Seme City), the Anambra State Government, Indorama, the Government of Botswana and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
