The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has sealed a new partnership deal with General Electric to begin the training of about 25 TEF Entrepreneurs in a dedicated four weeks advanced manufacturing training programme every year at GE’s Lagos Garage. The centre is a hub for advanced manufacturing-based innovation, strategy development, idea generation and collaboration.
GE created the Garages programme in March 2012 to reinvigorate interest in invention, innovation and manufacturing in America.
Again, by playing a role in the development of the advanced manufacturing ecosystem in Nigeria, GE hopes to create jobs, build local knowledge and capability and encourage technology-based innovation in the manufacturing sector.
TEF revealed that entrepreneurs in this class will exclusively come from the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, its 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 entrepreneurs, capable of changing the face of business across Africa.
The target of the new partnership is to deepen economic growth and empowerment in Nigeria by building a skilled workforce and driving entrepreneurship development in the country.
In his remarks, the GE Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Patricia Obozuwa, said: “We are happy to collaborate with a reputable organization such as the Tony Elumelu Foundation on this skill building initiative. There is a lot of alignment between TEF and GE’s commitment to the development of Nigerian entrepreneurs and we look forward to seeing some great success stories from TEF participants on the training programme.”
Earlier in his speech, the CEO of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Parminder Vir, said “We welcome the collaboration with GE, world’s top 10 most innovative companies, to spur the growth of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s new innovators”.
This program will help them to further develop their products and business models as a follow up to the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme.”
Key aspects of the training programme include to expose participants to a wide spectrum of topics that are essential for manufacturing and design in the 21st Century; sharpen teamwork, communication, and creativity skills of participants; promote excellence in the practice of design and manufacturing within and across professions; expose selected entrepreneurs to real-world design and manufacturing problems, bring concepts to reality and cultivate the entrepreneurs’ ability to express, evoke and shape experience through design and manufacturing.
