Out of the 4,949, a total of 68% of the beneficiaries are female entrepreneurs, which the Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony O. Elumelu is very happy about.
In his words: “I am happy that our female entrepreneurs are doing very well, with 68% representation this year.”
It is such a great feeling to see nearly 5000 young Africans also commence their own entrepreneurial journeys today.”
Advice to young African entrepreneurs
Mr Elumelu advised: “To you young African entrepreneurs – work hard, dream dreams, and be very disciplined. You must continue to think of impact.
The entrepreneurship journey is not linear – there are ups and downs, but by staying focused and resilient, ultimately success will come your way.
The future of our continent is in your hands. What you do as entrepreneurs will go a long way in lifting Africa out of poverty”.
He added: “To our African leaders – these young, intelligent, energetic hardworking, resilient Africans are ready to go. We need to keep creating the right enabling environment to enable our young ones to succeed.
We must realise that their success is success for all of us on the continent. We must prioritise them because nations and continents that prioritise their people, succeed. To my fellow business leaders, let us realise that in the 21st century and beyond, it is about impact, legacy and about how we work together to power people out of poverty.
Selection pool
The 2021 beneficiaries according to the Director of Operations of TEF, Madam Titi Akinola were selected from a pool of over 400,000 applications, based on their innovation, performance, and growth potential to create jobs and eradicate poverty on the continent.
Consisting of both new start-ups and existing small businesses, the 2021 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs have undergone world-class business training, mentorship and coaching and would have a life-time access to the Tony Elumelu Foundation alumni network, she added.
Also, the successful entrepreneurs would receive a non-returnable seed capital of $5000 each for their businesses.
Speaking at an online event to announce the 2021 beneficiaries, Madam Akinola revealed that with the addition of the current beneficiaries to the previous over 10,000 would bring the total number of entrepreneurs to nearly 15,000 so far.
Solidarity messages
The Director-General, International Cooperation and Development, European Commission, Koen Doens said the vision of Mr Elumelu was in line with that of the European Union (EU).
“ Both of us were struck by how there was such a clear match between his vision on how he could support African entrepreneurship and the European Union’s own vision on how we wanted to support African entrepreneurship”.
Ever since, our partnership has embodied this same spirit that ultimately African growth cannot neglect the huge potential, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit that harbours so many Africans, especially young people and women”.
Mr Doens was extremely glad that their partnership was moving into this active stage, and was very glad that over 2400 women would benefit from the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s training programme.
“And will get seed capital to support their ideas. I am extremely happy that at the European Union, we are able to be part of this great endeavour and to support it.”
On her part, Assistant Administrator, UNDP/Director, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa added: “Our partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation on youth entrepreneurship is informed by our belief that Africa will only succeed when young Africans are given the opportunity to excel.
This is what has inspired us to invest more than $20 million in emerging African entrepreneurs since we entered into our partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation”.
She revealed: “Our joint ambition is to empower 100,000 young African entrepreneurs over the next ten years across Africa, recognising that entrepreneurship is the only way dreams can be realised.”
In 2020, the Tony Elumelu Foundation marked 10 years of impact, having empowered and funded nearly 10,000 African entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries as part of its $100 million TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation is inspired by Tony Elumelu’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the long-term social and economic development of the African continent.
African Eye Report