Africa’s leading philanthropy dedicated to empowering African entrepreneurs, the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), has said it will kickoff acceptance of applications for the 2020 cohort of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, effective Wednesday, January 1, 2020.
In line with its official policy, applications are made through TEFConnect, the digital networking hub for the African entrepreneurship ecosystem, created by the Foundation.
The TEF Entrepreneurship Programme is open to entrepreneurs from across Africa, either with new startup ideas or existing businesses of less than 3 years existence, operating in any sector. Successful applicants will join the over 9,000 current beneficiaries, from 54 African countries, and receive business training, mentoring, a non-refundable $5,000 of seed capital and global networking opportunities.
Business Hilights recalls that in the last edition of the continental programme, the Foundation received about 216,000 applications, with 42% coming from women entrepreneurs, from every country on the continent.
TEF is a 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 young African entrepreneurs. The goal is to create millions of jobs and the revenue required for the sustainable development of the continent, implementing the philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector as the growth engine for Africa and emphasises the importance of creating social and economic wealth.
Key submission of TEF’s 2018 Impact Report revealed that 70% of the total number of businesses in its alumni network was still operational two years after benefitting from the Programme. The report also identified an increase of 189% revenue generated and 197% increase in the number of additional jobs created by beneficiaries post-graduation from the Programme, as well as a 100% commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
