Since 2015, the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme — Africa’s only African-funded entrepreneurship catalyst — has provided non-returnable seed capital of $5,000, 12 weeks of business management training, access to experienced mentors, and membership in Africa’s largest entrepreneurial ecosystem to 15,847 African entrepreneurs.

For its 2021 Entrepreneurship Programme, the Tony Elumelu Foundation distributed $24.75 million to 5,000 African businesses across Africa in 2021.

“We are constantly blown away by the quality of businesses that come from Africa every year. This motivates us to scale our efforts to empower even more entrepreneurs on the continent. The innovation, knowledge and resilience of African entrepreneurs are central to charting Africa’s socio-economic transformation and meeting the continent’s development objectives. We are also proud of the increase in female participation on our programme, especially with the 2021 cohort where we witnessed a record 68 per cent selection of women entrepreneurs,” CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, said commenting on the launch of the 2022 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.

Given the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic across Africa, the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Program remains one of the largest private sector solutions to supporting the economic recovery of African youth, women, and SMEs.

Read also Tony Elumelu Foundation 2021 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme Application Opens on January 1, 2021

Beneficiaries of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Program are founding and growing groundbreaking enterprises that have produced over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs across Africa.

“Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, we seek to democratise luck. Hard work plays an important and undeniable part in success, but one must not discount the role of luck — someone being willing to take a chance on you or business idea by empowering you through training, mentorship or funding. Our hope is that, through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, we would help the next business leader or captain of industry be whom they are meant to be,” Founding Trustee of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Dr A V. Elumelu, stated. 

Applications are open from January 1, 2022 on TEFConnect digital platform (www.tefconnect.com).

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer