The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) on Friday selected 4,949 entrepreneurs from across 54 African countries for its 2021 Entrepreneurship Programme.

TEF, the leading philanthropy empowering African entrepreneurs, is putting $24,750,000 directly in the hands of the 4,949 African entrepreneurs.

Each of the beneficiaries receives non-refundable $5,000 seed capital.

The 2021 beneficiaries were chosen from a pool of over 400,000 applications, selected based on their innovative and impactful business ideas.

The lucky beneficiaries consist of both new start-ups and existing small businesses who have undergone world-class business training, mentorship and coaching and will have a life-time access to the Tony Elumelu Foundation alumni network.

Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony O. Elumelu, tasked the beneficiaries to stay focused and resilient.

Elumelu said: “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. I am happy that our female entrepreneurs are doing very well, with 68% representation this year.

“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. It is such a great feeling to see 5,000 young Africans also commence their own entrepreneurial journeys today.”

On her part, the CEO of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, said: “Today, we have trained 10 times more young African entrepreneurs than we have trained from 2015 to 2019 combined. Today in 2021, we will be paying out a record $24,750,000 directly to the hands of African entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries. This is impact.”

Since its inception, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has now funded a total of 15,847 entrepreneurs who have created more than 400,000 direct and indirect jobs and counting.

Speaking at the event, Director-General, International Cooperation and Development, European Commission, Mr. Koen Doens, stated: “I am extremely glad our partnership is moving into this active stage, and I am very glad that over 2,400 women will 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.”

Also speaking at the event, Assistant Administrator, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa, stated: “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. Our joint ambition is to empower 100,000 young African entrepreneurs over the next 10 years across Africa, recognising that entrepreneurship is the only way dreams can be realised.”

Secretary General, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, was proud to have partnered with the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the European Union to unlock the potential of 2420 young African women through the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, providing mentorship and funding, to grow and sustain these small businesses.

Speaking on the panel with Elumelu, 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, Hauwa Liman, Founder of Afrik Abaya, said: “I am always proud to say that I am from the inaugural cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme. My business is located in Kaduna, Nigeria. I benefitted from this Programme in 2015, and it opened up lots of doors and opportunities.

“It is not just about the seed capital, but what really fascinates me about the programme is the knowledge. I call it a mini-MBA programme, because from the ideation stage it teaches you how to really articulate your business, and it gave me my first business plan. The network, visibility and opportunities are endless.

“My entrepreneurship experience cannot be complete without the Tony Elumelu Foundation. I will start exporting soon courtesy of the Foundation. We now employ 10 permanent staff and an additional eight staff on a commission basis.”

Through TEFConnect, the Foundation’s proprietary digital platform, it has provided capacity-building support, advisory and market linkages, to over 1.5 million Africans.