Tony Elumelu Foundation Selects 3,050 Entrepreneurs for 5th Entrepreneurship Programme

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has announced 3,050 selected African entrepreneurs from 54 African countries for the fifth cycle of its TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.

This announcement was made at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja after 216,000 applications were received, 65,000 over last year’s 151,000. The selected entrepreneurs will each receive $5,000 seed capital, access to mentors, and a 12-week business training programme. The entrepreneurs will gather on July 26th and 27th at the TEF Entrepreneurship Forum, the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurs on the continent.

“Every year, we face an almost impossible task to select 1,000 entrepreneurs, from the hundreds of thousands that apply. Our entrepreneurs are hungry to effect change. We know we are only scratching the surface. We see the depth of entrepreneurial talent, that all of us – government, business indeed African society, must harness to transform our economies and livelihoods. We must rally together to empower them and accelerate the change we want on the continent,” said TEF founder Tony Elumelu.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation programme is a 10-year $100 million seed fund programme that is committed to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs by 2024. The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme has so far empowered 7,520 entrepreneurs in first five years out of the 10 years programme. This year’s selection includes an additional 2,050 entrepreneurs supported by the foundation’s partners in addition to the foundation’s annual commitment of 1000.

The partners includes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Federal Republic of Benin, Government of Botswana, Anambra State Government, Nigeria and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Click here to view the full list of selected Entrepreneurs.