By Cham Victor Bama
One of Africa’s most remarkable and upbeat entrepreneurship programme cum Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme for the 2016 year have been launched. The Lagos, Nigeria, based Africa global entrepreneur flagship Foundation announced through a press release dated 22 March 2016 the 2nd round of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).
The nearly two years old, 2015-2016, big-hearted programme with a ten years life span and $100 million commitment is the largest Africa based continental philanthropic initiative devoted to entrepreneurship.
The top plight to identify and empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs, create a million jobs and add $10 billion in revenues to Africa’s economy limelight’s the programme into an incomparable global economic context.
In all, over 45,000 entrepreneurs from 54 African countries applied, more than doubling the number of applications received in 2015. Modern standards of industrial class highly dominated the respective fields of applications by candidates, led by agriculture, ICT and fashion.
The highest numbers of applicants came from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Cameroon. All five regions – North, East, Southern, Central and West Africa are represented.
Going by the Founder, Tony O. Elumelu, CON: “In TEEP’s first year we spent over $8 million of our $100 million commitment – with $5 million going directly to entrepreneurs as seed capital — and the results have far exceeded our expectations. We have funded entrepreneurs, established networks and helped extraordinary people take control of their destinies. The 2016 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs will become a generation of newly empowered African business owners, who are the clearest evidence yet, that indigenous business growth will drive Africa’s economic and social transformation.”
The 2016 cohort of the Entrepreneurship programme will over the next nine months receive the intensive online training; networking and mentoring that provide a tool kit for success and sustainability. They will also participate in the three-day Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum later in the year, the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurial talent.
Parminder Vir OBE, CEO of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, observed: “We saw phenomenal success with the first cycle of TEEP –the success stories of the TEEP 2015alumni are a testament to the transformative power of the programme we have built. Through TEEP, we are proving to the next generation of entrepreneurs that their ideas can change their communities, their countries and their continent.”
The final list of the selected candidates has been published and the next stage is due soon. For any further information on the full list of the selected candidates visit www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/teep
Knowing The Tony Elumelu Foundation
The Tony Elumelu Foundation is an Africa-based, African-funded philanthropic organisation. Founded in 2010, TEF is committed to driving African economic growth, by empowering African entrepreneurship. The Foundation aims to create lasting solutions that contribute positively to Africa’s social and economic transformation. Through impact investments, selective grant making, and policy development, it seeks to influence the operating environment so that entrepreneurship in Africa can flourish. www.tonyelumelufoundation.org@tonyelumeluFDN
About The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme
The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme represents a decade- long commitment to supporting African start-ups and entrepreneurs. We are committing $100 million to help launch an initial 10,000 entrepreneurs throughout Africa over the next 10 years, creating 1,000,000 new jobs contributing to $10 billion in revenue across Africa. www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/TEEP
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