The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has partnered with German development finance institution (DEG) to empower 200 young entrepreneurs across Africa.
The initiative is co-financed by DEG with 1.5 million euros from the develoPPP Programme funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
According to a statement from TEF, the partnership will create jobs and income, boost economic growth and generate local value in Africa.
The objectives of the development partners are in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) One (No Poverty), SDG Eight (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG Nine (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
‘The partnership will also help to scale TEFConnect, the foundation’s proprietary digital platform supporting African entrepreneurs, and provide platform access to an additional 500,000 SMEs’, TEF said in the statement.
‘Entrepreneurs will be connected to networking support for further skills development, knowledge sharing and market linkages through a lifetime membership on TEFConnect’.
It also noted that periodic impact assessment of up to 10,000 SMEs will be conducted through the partnership to inform policies and laws that will improve the environment for small enterprises in Africa.
‘In our continued quest to invest in African entrepreneurs, this partnership will fully capacitise young entrepreneurs to grow their businesses’, the statement quoted the TEF Chief Executive Officer, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, as saying.
‘DEG is a global player in fostering efforts in emerging markets and developing economies to generate employment, which is a mission we are dedicated to through entrepreneurship.
‘African entrepreneurs are the engines of growth, innovation and wealth creation in Africa, and there is no better time to invest in their development.
‘The projected outcome of this partnership encompasses the entire entrepreneurial value chain and will create massive opportunity for entrepreneurs to build their ventures while equipping them with the skills to sustain business growth’.
Also speaking, Head of DEG’s West Africa office, Bernd Tilemann, said, ‘We believe these measures will form a great foundation to enable TEF to scale its efforts to boost entrepreneurship and small enterprise development in Nigeria and across the continent’.
TEF’s U.S.$100 million Entrepreneurship Programme was launched in 2015 to empower 10,000 entrepreneurs over ten years.
Successful applicants receive world-class business training, mentorship, non-refundable seed capital of U.S.$5,000, and global networking opportunities.
Source: The Tony Elumelu Foundation
Photo source: Presidence de la Republique du Benin’s Photostream
