1000 African Entrepreneurs will form part of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF)’s 2018 cohort and programme, the Foundation has announced.
TEF revealed more than 150,000 Africans from 114 countries worldwide applied to join the 4th cycle of The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s 10-year, $100 million Entrepreneurship Programme.
According to reports by iAfrikan, the 2018 cohort includes an additional 250 entrepreneurs as a result of a $1,000,000 partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that will support 200 entrepreneurs in conflict and fragile zones of Nigeria (the North East where the Boko Haram scourge is felt and the Niger Delta region which suffers environmental degradation from oil spillage), a $200,000 agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support 40 pan-African entrepreneurs and a $50,000 partnership with Indorama to support 10 Nigerians.
Shedding more light on this year’s applicants and the application process , the CEO of the Foundation, Tony Elumelu said, “The number and quality of applicants, 151,000 in total, was outstanding – it illustrates the strength and depth of entrepreneurial promise and commitment on our continent. Selection is never easy, and we profoundly regret that we cannot help all.
“Our partnerships with the Red Cross, UNDP and Indorama, alongside ongoing discussions with other international organizations, reflect the growing global recognition of what we have known all along – that entrepreneurship is the most effective path to sustainable development on our continent and our Programme is the model to follow,” he added.
Interestingly, the Tony Elumelu Foundation reports that there was a near 50% split between male and female applicants. Added to this, agriculture was the leading sector among selected entrepreneurs at 30,5%, followed by technology (10.5%) and education & training (7%).
Parminder Vir, CEO at the Tony Elumelu Foundation also said, “Over the next nine months, the entrepreneurs will receive online training and mentoring, and will use the skills acquired to develop business plans prior to receiving $5,000 in seed capital. This will bring TEF’s total Programme investment so far to $15 million in direct funding to entrepreneurs and $5.8 million in Programme & technology development and operations.
“Our beneficiaries have created more than 55,000 jobs and counting, and will convene from across all of Africa’s 54 countries to Lagos this October for the TEF Forum – the largest gathering of African entrepreneurs in the world,” he concluded.
