The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $5 million grant to support Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme. The Tony Elumelu Foundation will use the fund to empower 3050 young entrepreneurs across the 54 African countries.
The AfDB and Tony Elumelu Foundation’s partnership aims to strengthen SMEs and empower talented youths. African Development Bank’s contribution will enable an additional 1000 entrepreneurs across Africa to benefit from the program. This drive will cater to the need for job creation and youth empowerment in Africa.
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The African Development Bank has a ten-year plan dubbed “Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy”. Launched in 2016 the plan aims to support the creation of 25 million decent jobs in Africa by 2026. It is also to equip 50 million youths with employable skills for job acquisition. This will enable the youths to access economic opportunities and realize their full potentials.
The partnership will train, mentor and provide business development grants for selected startups. This aligns with the objectives of AfDB’s “Youth Entrepreneurship Innovation Multi Door Trust Fund”. The aim is to build the African youth entrepreneurship ecosystem by scaling innovative youth-led startups for growth and job creation.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation launched the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme in 2014. A ten-year program that aims to identify, train, mentor and fund 10000 African enterprises by 2024. Applications for the sixth cohort of the Entrepreneurship Programme will open on the 1st of January 2020.
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