Over 2,100 African entrepreneurs who will benefit from the inaugural TEF-UNDP Entrepreneurship Programme, the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) announced Monday.
The TEF-UNDP programme targets small business owners in rural communities across the 7 Sahel countries of Africa including Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon.
A statement from the foundation said the successful beneficiaries had participated in an intensive business training administered online and in selected communities in each country during the programme.
“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.
“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,” it added.
Commenting on the programme, Ahunna Eziakonwa, the 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.”
Also speaking, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, the CEO of Tony Elumelu Foundation, noted that:
“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 TEF-UNDP Entrepreneurship Programme is a partnership between the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) — the private-sector-led philanthropy focused on empowering African entrepreneurs — and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to empower 100,000 entrepreneurs over 10 years across Africa.
Read also:How African Startups Can Have Their Shares In Tony Elumelu Foundation’s $100m Grant In 2020
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 further added that the Tony Elumelu Foundation will begin accepting applications for its flagship Entrepreneurship Programme on January 1, 2020.
Click here to view a full list of the shortlisted candidates
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world