The Tony Elumelu Foundation Announces Selected 2023 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme Beneficiaries

The Tony Elumelu Foundation Announces Selected 2023 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme Beneficiaries

• Tony Elumelu Foundation has now disbursed over $100million in direct funding to 20,000 young African entrepreneurs from across all 54 African countries.

• The Foundation recently published its Impact Report demonstrating beneficiaries have created over 400,000 jobs and generated $2.5billion in only a few years.

• The Foundation is currently receiving applications for its 2024 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme on TEFConnect.com

[Lagos, January 23, 2024] – The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the leading philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs from across all 54 African countries, has announced the selected list for the 2023 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.

The 2023 beneficiaries were chosen from a pool of over 400,000 applications, selected based on their innovative and impactful business ideas. In line with the Foundation’s mission to catalyse entrepreneurship in Africa, the selected beneficiaries consist of both new start-ups and existing young businesses in varying operational stages across different sectors.

As part of TEF’s objectives to ensure that African entrepreneurs are well equipped to build investable and profitable businesses, each beneficiary has undergone world-class business management training and mentorship conducted exclusively on TEFConnect, the Foundation’s proprietary digital platform that provides capacity-building support, advisory and market linkages to over 1.5million Africans and counting. The platform’s unique training curriculum covered insightful topics including Starting Your Business, Business Management & Fundamentals, Leadership & Business Growth, Marketing Strategy, Product Design, Selecting & Building a Team.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation has now funded over 20,000 young African entrepreneurs through its flagship programme including over 5000 entrepreneurs from Nigeria, 795 from Uganda, 748 from Kenya, 638 from Benin Republic, 418 from Cameroon, 331 from Ghana, 331 from Tanzania, 331 from Chad, 221 from Zambia, and 220 from Rwanda

Since 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has played a transformative role in empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, to drive poverty alleviation, increase jobs creation in all 54 African countries, and ensure inclusive economic empowerment. The infrastructure and experience of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s 10 year $100m flagship Entrepreneurship Programme has catalysed a generation of African entrepreneurs who are driving the wealth creation that Africa requires.  The Foundation’s unique approach of reaching and funding young entrepreneurs in every African country, with sector-agnostic seed funding, mentoring, and networking has delivered robust impact.

The Foundation’s ability to fund, train, mentor, and network young African entrepreneurs, has created a unique platform for catalysing growth across the African continent. The robust ability of the Foundation to reach entrepreneurs across geographies and sectors, has enabled it to conduct innovative partnerships with the European Union, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United States Government via the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), The French Development Agency (AFD), The German Development Finance Institution (DEG), The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), The African Development Bank (AfDB), and Google, with bespoke programmes including targeting female empowerment and growth in fragile states.

“We are elated to have reached this significant milestone of empowering these young entrepreneurs across Africa. This achievement reinforces our belief in the boundless potential of the African youth and their capacity to drive positive change. As we launch the final cycle of our annual Entrepreneurship Programme, we are excited to build on the successes of our flagship initiative even as we look to the future with launching a Coalition for African Entrepreneurs” stated Somachi Chris-Asoluka, CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation has also recently launched its impact report titled “Empowering African Entrepreneurs: A Decade of Impact”. This comprehensive assessment compiled in partnership with independent third-party researchers, showcases the impact of the Tony Elumelu Foundation: over 80% of beneficiaries are young people, between the ages of 18-35 at the time of funding; 45% of beneficiaries are women-owned businesses; TEF beneficiaries have collectively generated over $2.3 billion in revenue; 23% of beneficiaries are Africans living with disabilities; 83% of beneficiaries are implementing actions to minimise the carbon footprint in Africa; 91% of beneficiaries are focused on eliminating waste and are using sustainable materials; 69% of beneficiaries are contributing to safer energy sources; over 25% of beneficiaries have been able to acquire additional investments in their business because of the Foundation; the beneficiaries’ annual profits were over 22 times the average annual income per capita in their corresponding countries; and, since receiving the training, mentoring and funding from the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur from Madagascar in the green economy, Marie-Christiana Kola, shared: “As a beneficiary of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship programme, I was able to create a recycled and 100% biodegradable hand soap made with waste cooked oil – the number one water polluter of water in African urban cities.  These soaps do not only protect the environment, but they are also solidarity soaps.  I was also able to attend the COP27 conference in Egypt, where I won the Innovation Prize.  Today, I have employed over 30 people because of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.”

The full impact report is linked HERE on the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s website.

As a part of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s commitment to foster innovation and economic growth across the continent, the following further opportunities have been made available to young entrepreneurs across Africa on TEFConnect in 2024:

• 2024 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, open from January 1 – March 1
• Women Entrepreneurship For Africa (WE4A), open from January 1 – March 1
• Aguka Entrepreneurship Programme, open from March 25 – May 10

All African entrepreneurs are encouraged to seize these transformative opportunities to embark on a life-changing experience of training, mentorship, access to networks, and funding.

About the Tony Elumelu Foundation:

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation in all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has connected over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

Contact Information:

Moyo Awotile

Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Tony Elumelu Foundation

Email: moyo.awotile@tonyelumelufoundation.org