The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has announced 3,050 African entrepreneurs, drawn from all 54 African countries, selected to join the fifth cycle of its TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation programme is a 10-year, US$100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs by 2024.
The announcement of the latest cohort was made at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja, and comes after 216,000 applications were received, an increase from last year’s 151,000. The selected entrepreneurs will each receive US$5,000 in seed capital, access to mentors, and a 12-week business training programme, directly focused on the needs of African entrepreneurs. On July 26-27, they will gather at the TEF Entrepreneurship Forum.
“Every year, we face an almost impossible task – to select 1,000 entrepreneurs, from the hundreds of thousands that apply. Our entrepreneurs are hungry to effect change. We know we are only 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 livelihoods. We must rally together to empower them and accelerate the change we want on the continent,” said TEF founder Tony Elumelu.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme has so far empowered 7,520 entrepreneurs in its first five years of the 10-year programme. This year’s selection includes an additional 2,050 entrepreneurs supported by the foundation’s partners in addition to the foundation’s annual commitment of 1,000.
