TEF alumni

Jean- Hugues is the Founder of La Vedette,  a media agency in Benin that specialises in social media marketing, search engine advertising and display networks affiliated with Google, website development. Since Jean-Hugues completed the TEF Programme, he has been able to set up a physical location for La Vedette, employ 4 people, develop the targeted communication and online sales service using an application and generated a revenue of $2,700.

Jessica Medza Allogo is at the founder of of “Les Pots de l’Ogooue”, a Gabonese confectionery that produces jams made from local fruits in fond in her home country of Gabon. Before starting her business, Jessica worked for 10 years in the petroleum sector in Gabon and Asia where she acquired solid knowledge in process management and in quality management.

After returning from a long stint in Myanmar for work, a friend who knew about her love for fruit gave her a 40 kg crate of mangoes to take back to Gabon. Upon arrival, most of the mangoes were already ripe and not wanting to through them away she came up with the idea of making jams. She looked for recipes on the internet and within a few months she was creating jams for her family and loved ones. This continued until one of her family members suggested that she start selling her jams. She took on the advice and participated in a trade fair and to her surprise she sold out.

In 2016, she decided to hang up her engineering apron at Total to put on that of a gourmet entrepreneur when she officially founded Les Petits Pots de l’Ogooué a line of gourmet jams, based in Gabon: Les Petits Pots de l’Ogooué. In creating her recipes, Jessica draws on her travel experiences to create moments of escape. She selects precious ingredients from around the world to create delicious jams that highlight culture. When she’s not in her lab creating a new recipes, she takes care of her 5-year-old son
and inspires him to follow his dreams with courage and determination. Since completing the TEF Programme, Since then, Jessica has managed to sell nearly 14,000 jars of jams and generate over $105,000 in revenue (note: could be more as of 2020).

Joel Cherop is a Ugandan and beneficiary of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme. His agri-business, Ataari River Integrated Irrigation Initiative (ARIII), a horticulture and rice production venture identifies, trains and seeds young people to begin their own agri-business ventures in a model dubbed “Learn as you earn”.

Since receiving seed capital from the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, ARIII has grown from strength to strength and has been at the forefront of transforming agriculture from peasant-led to commercial. As such, they have championed efforts like organising irrigation masterclasses to help mitigate the effects of climate change. ARII also organises Open Field days to link farmers to the latest technologies in Agriculture.

ARII hosted His Excellency, the President of Uganda, H.E Yoweri Museveni, to commission an irrigation project and tackle the effects of climate change – currently a threat to agriculture in Uganda.

Leaving her job with a Fortune 100 power company was not an easy decision to make but a necessary one to pursue her passion of exploring the Agro-beauty sector. Joycee Awosika is the MD/CEO of ORÍKÌ (a luxury skincare brand that fuses natural ingredients & scientific research to create extraordinary personal care products) and a 2015 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur recently recognized on the YNaija 100 Most Influential Women.

Jubril Odulana is a medical doctor and the founder of Doctoora, a real estate company in healthcare operating an online marketplace for health-related products and services.

His company, Doctoora, is focused on increasing access to quality healthcare by enabling health professionals setup private practice with ease and connecting patients, to these quality healthcare practitioners. His business is often referred to as the Äirbnb”of healthcare for his innovative solution.

Since it was launched in 2017, Doctoora has grown from a two-bedroom apartment in Lagos, to over 20 centers across Lagos and Abuja.

Juliet Namujju is the CEO of Kimuli Fashionability, a Ugandan fashion label on a mission to create a world made better with recyclable fashion.

Her story started with the loss of both her parents at an early stage of her life. While growing up, her grandmother who was a tailor taught her how to sew from waste. With the funds from sewing, she was able to fund her high school education and take a short course in Fashion and Design.

Juliet’s business, Kimuli Fashionability which is founded to create an equal opportunity for people with disabilities and for environmental conservation through recycling has been featured on CNN’s African Voices Changemakers. Currently, Juliet Namujju is selling her fashion in Uganda, Germany and Poland. In the future, she also wants to open up markets in Austria or even the United States.

Read more about Juliet Namujju

Meet the woman turning plastic waste into garments

Juliet Namujju’s Kimuli “Fashionability” Embraces Sustainable Fashion to Produce Face Masks in Uganda

Interview: Meet Juliet Namujju who turns waste into amazing outfits

From the 2017 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship programme, Rwandan Justin Niyigena learned how to cultivate valuable network and business leadership skills through the series of training to grow his poultry farming enterprise, Breeding Hens LTD. With only 2 years of experience in his agri-business, the seed capital also helped him run his business professionally.

His aspiration is to become the preferable Poultry farming enterprise in Rwanda. So far, his business has created jobs and continue to contribute to national development through taxes. He is also a role model in his community for the young generation.

“Siloa Medical Laboratory” is a private health facility located in Kasubi zone III a suburb of Kampala which provides efficient laboratory-based health services to customers. They provide services like general medical care, laboratory services, health checks, maternity and antenatal, at affordable rates.

Major milestones, Kaddu Davis have crossed are; being able to create jobs for 6 people, generated a revenue of $1,500, large clientele base of up to 200 people, acquired other medical equipment to help him deliver better medical care.

Kago Monggae is an agripreneur and founder of Kagos Bees, a Beekeeping Business aimed at the husbandry of social Honey Bees (apis mellifera scutellata) primarily for the Harvesting bottling and retail sale of Pure Honey; through sustainable and natural practices.

Kago was sponsored by the AFDB in 2019.

Botswana entrepreneur Keemenao Kelesitse started bw Collegiate, a mobile application aimed at providing continuous capacity building of our University & College students or graduates in their study and post-study periods.

It enables industries, universities, students, alumni, faculty and staff to quickly access all of the what, when and where for various Industries and Universities.

Botswana entrepreneur Kefilwe Makhaya started Kids Kare, a babysitting agency with top-notch child care services. The business uses a kid-centred approach by providing children with a secure environment, ensuring their well-being, imparting knowledge and skills as well as upholding their rights while solving the problem of working parents.

Kenedy is the founder and CEO of SunPoynt, a leading ‘pay-as-you-go’ energy services company that has innovatively combined mobile money technology and product design to provide under-served off-grid communities in Kenya with access to affordable solar-powered TV home systems.

Since launching his product in the market in February 2015, his has successfully been able to sell 5565 Tv units, earning  $300,000  in profit and providing over 11,000 rural school children with access to thousands of additional study hours every night with their solar-powered lanterns.

Additionally, he has been able to save 133 tons of carbon emissions by replacing the use of carbon-emitting kerosine lanterns in 5565 homes. He has also successfully trained 850 Distributors across East Africa towards achieving over $200,000 in monthly sales revenue for 2 years consecutively.

Read More About Kennedy Lamwenya

Angaza Boma bringing solar TVs to rural Kenya

In 2019, Kgabiso Natale decided to start App A Cab, a taxi business that she wanted to operate similarly to Uber. The biggest difference is that bookings would be made on WhatsApp, with the intent to be a lot more convenient for customers to simply book a ride.

Kgomotso Tlhokwane’s dream was to change the world in the little ways she could and make a difference in her industry and Bostwana. She was able to do that through the Tony Elumelu Foundation. Her selection as a Tony Elumelu entrepreneur significantly influenced her ability to increase staff strength and achieve more. The Business Management training also provided her with sufficient insights and necessary guidance for drafting and implementing the growth of her company.

Through the programme, she learnt new and valuable things and became more equipped to run a business. The Alumni Network platform has also allowed her to amazing entrepreneurs with whom she continues to learn and network.

As a Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, Kgomotso has been exposed to insightful partnerships that have, in turn, motivated her to stay on course and never give up in the face of challenges.

’57 is the pioneer bean to bar chocolate business in Ghana defined by creativity and authenticity. ‘57 Chocolate is short for 1957, the year of Ghana’s independence. This venture uses resources grown within the country to create delicious treats. ’57 hones in on Ghana’s Independence Day spirit and challenges the status quo that premium chocolate can only be made in Europe.

Kofoworola Oyeleye is the founder of Iyin-Creative, an innovative animation company with the goal of promoting and preserving the African heritage and cultures through cartoons. Through her work she has reached over 7,000 Children of Nigerian heritage worldwide, giving them the opportunity to learn their native language in a fun and modern way, and trained over 50 Children in animation. She has taken her campaign of embracing her mother-tongue to a total of 15 public and private schools, donating a total of 1,000 language learning resources to public schools.

Laud Basing is the founder of Incas Diagnostics, a medical diagnostic development and manufacturing social enterprise located in Kumasi, Ghana. The company seeks to save lives through the design of low-cost, easy-to-use, point-of-care diagnostic test kits designed specifically for Africa. His company also offers an online/mobile platform enabling users to have the convenience of chatting with health professionals..

Basing won the first prize in Africa.com’s Brilliant African Innovations Against COVID-19 for his rapid Covid-19 test kit. The test kit is a comprehensive app that incorporates a symptom assessment checker, captures test results, tracks of patient location using GPS signals, and disseminates this data to public health authorities.

Read more about Laud Basing

Meet the Winners of Africa.com’s Brilliant Brilliant African Innovations Against COVID-19.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Lawrence Mmari has always been passionate about someday becoming an entrepreneur. However, although he was a graduate, he had no prior knowledge of business management until he encountered the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme. Through the programme, he was better equipped with the necessary skills to successfully run his business, Flow Farm.

Flow Farm has impacted its community by making life and the environment more sustainable with its products. They have integrated technology with common commercial activities like farming which has made farming easier and used game-changing technology to drive economic growth. They have also trained and empowered youths within their community and empowered them to start their horticulture business.

During the programme, he was appropriately guided by world-class mentors and industry experts on how to be innovative, competitive and take hold of opportunities in the market.  Since then, he has been able to expand his business, increase the size of his employees and sustain his family’s livelihood.

Leka Ntakhwana is a Botswana entrepreneur who started the Construction company L A Camp Industries to provide a balanced property portfolio with a view to promoting the acquisition of shares in property by purchase and development to create wealth.

Leka was sponsored by the AFDB in 2019.

Lentlametse Mantshonyane started a business seeking to provide accommodation and game drives for both local and international tourists. Called Letinti Safari Lodge, it is strategically located at the entrance into the Makgadikgadi national parks and just across the Boteti river which is also the gateway to the yearly Makgadikgadi air show that has been consistently growing.

Lentlametse was a beneficiary of the TEF-AFDB partnership in 2019.

Profile

As a high school student of Maseno School, Young Leroy Mwasaru started Greenpact when his school faced a problem of a faulty sewer system. The sewer problem polluted nearby sources of domestic water for the neighboring community, sparking a demonstration against the school. In a bid to provide a solution to this problem, Leroy and his classmates created a human waste bioreactor that utilized both human and organic waste to produce Biogas and organic fertilizer.

About Greenpact

Greenpact embraces the circular economy–using waste to generate Biogas (clean energy) and organic Fertilizer using waste as a resource to strengthen local communities socio-economically. Through a human waste bioreactor toilet that’s able to separate both solid and liquid waste to harness Biogas and fertilizer Leroy and his team offer both a service (monthly maintenance) and a product (our Bioreactor systems) to consumers in Kenya by using an approach in solving economies of scale for institutions using our systems.

Letsogile Kennedy is an award-winning social entrepreneur, architect and founder of Ecohub, a startup established that innovatively uses plastic waste to produce affordable, architect-designed flat-pack eco-bricks and ecohouses.

EcoHub is a local startup company that makes eco-bricks from recycled materials. The plan is to manufacture ‘green’ building materials from waste, while at the same time providing affordable housing and sustainable housing that can last for 20 to 25 years.

The company manufactures eco-bricks that are produced from special material using waste.

Lombola Lombola is the founder of Bamboo express, a company that makes furniture from ecofriendly bamboo.

Lombola Lombola started the company to empower the youth and women locally. Bamboo Express is solving the problem of deforestation, youth unemployment, and lack of income alternatives for rural women. They run a youth apprenticeship program and purchase 90% of raw materials from rural women.