At the unveiling of the 2025 cohort of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, which took place in Abuja at the weekend, the Chairman of the Foundation, Tony Elumelu, accompanied by his wife, reaffirmed his commitment to empowering African entrepreneurs and transforming the continent’s economic landscape.
Under the Foundation, which provides entrepreneurial opportunities to all Africans, over 150,000 jobs were created and about $200 million in revenue was generated by beneficiaries who are living with disabilities.
Elumelu hinted that the Foundation has lifted about two million Africans out of poverty.
He said: “Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has granted over 2.5 million young Africans with access to training on its proprietary digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed over USD$100 million in direct funding to more than 21,000 African women and men.”
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) chief noted that the Foundation’s ability to fund, train, mentor, and network young African entrepreneurs, has created a unique platform for catalysing growth across the African continent.
Elumelu disclosed that in 2021, the European Union and the TEF joined forces to support 2500 African women entrepreneurs, directly addressing some of the most endemic challenges to African women – skills and capacity gaps, financial constraints and lack of access to mentoring, networks and market linkages.
He added that the partnership has supported women entrepreneurs across Africa through increased access to finance and venture capital investment with a contribution of €20 million.
Also, in 2024, the Foundation renewed its partnership with the EU to fund an additional 1,800 women across eight countries with a focus on green entrepreneurship and the creation of green jobs.
On the impact of the partnership, Commissioner for International Partnerships, European Union, Jutta Urpilainen said: “This partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation will help women participate in economic development, realise their full potential, and accelerate economic inclusion. Empowering women entrepreneurs is a key driver for sustainable jobs and growth, in line with the objectives of our EU-Africa Strategy. Women and girls represent half of the world’s population, and they deserve equal opportunities.”
On how the collaboration between the TEF and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is unleashing the latent talents of African youths, Administrator, UNDP, Achim Steiner noted: “We are proud to cooperate with the Tony Elumelu Foundation to empower 100,000 young entrepreneurs across the continent over 10 years through training, mentorship, and financial support. Such support is helping to ensure that young people are equipped with the skills they need for the jobs of today while anticipating the future of work that will be characterized by the increasing use of digital technologies and innovation. Crucially, such efforts recognise that young Africans – who are expected to constitute 42 per cent of global youth by 2030 – hold the key to unlocking game-changing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals both in Africa and across the world.”
On her part, the Chief Executive Officer of TEF, Somachi Chris-Asoluka, described March 22 of every year as a ‘special day’ because it is the birthday of Tony Elumelu, announced an additional 3,000 young African entrepreneurs from across 52 countries on the continent who will be receiving $15 million from the Foundation for the 2025 cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme.
She explained that money is a grant that is non-payable, but its utilization is followed up to ensure it is used for the purpose it is meant for.
Her words: “We have an intensive monitoring and evaluation platform at the Foundation. For each entrepreneur that we fund, for the first six months, we expect you to begin to set up your business and follow the approved business plan you submitted to the Foundation. We track you after a year. We track you after two years. We then begin to track quarterly.
She added that the Foundation is interested in funding ideas and small-scale businesses that are under five years old because of the need to nurture businesses that have low chances of survival, saying, “People ask us why are we looking for ideas and very small businesses? Because nobody else will fund them if not the TEF. They will not receive funding from banks. They will not receive funding from friends and family. Because they do not have. So, the Foundation is entirely focused on these ideas and businesses under five years.”
