Lagos, March 2021 – The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Africa’s leading philanthropy committed to empowering African entrepreneurs, has released its 2020 Annual Letter titled “THE POWER OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMIDST UNCERTAINTY”.

The report, which was delivered in the form of a personal letter from TEF Founder, Mr. Tony O. Elumelu CON, reiterates that equipping young people with the tools and the opportunities to succeed through entrepreneurship, is the only sustainable, dignified way to create a path to prosperity for all.

Launched across TEF’s digital platforms, the Annual Letter showcases remarkable achievements that include supporting a growing and dynamic entrepreneur ecosystem of 1 million Africans, expanding strategic partnerships to scale the existing TEF Entrepreneurship Programme to reach more small businesses across all 54 African countries, and other milestones by the Foundation to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and provide support for young entrepreneurs.

The 2020 Annual Letter begins with reflections from the Founder dating from the inception of the Foundation and its raison d’être, to the global pandemic, “In 2020, the world stopped, but we did not. When we launched the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2010, we did something new in Africa – we “democratised” luck. In my own entrepreneurial journey, I knew luck had played an important role, and I was determined that others, many others, would get those same chances. We created an institution with a single focus: young African entrepreneurs.”

Through its digital hub, TEF Connect, the Tony Elumelu Foundation successfully supported millions of Africans, addressing the unique needs of an entrepreneurial community that continues to be challenged by the pandemic. “We curated world-class training, offered expert-led masterclasses with institutions such as Yale University, and brought project management skills and mental health coping mechanism to African entrepreneurs, taking care of their mind and spirit, as we assisted them to restructure their business for the new normal.”

The Letter further narrates 2020 highlights including TEF’s €20 million partnership with the European Union and the Organisation of African and Caribbean States (OACPS) to support more than 2,500 women entrepreneurs: “The statistics on female entrepreneurship in Africa are chastening – women make up 58% of the continent’s self-employed population but earn 34% less profits on average. Our goal is for more women to participate in economic development, realise their full potential and accelerate economic inclusion.”

Other notable accomplishments include the TEF-UNDP Mali Entrepreneurship Programme rolled out in the middle of conflict, political instability and insecurity in the Sahel country: “Over 1.7 million people have been displaced by violence in Mali since 2012. Our Entrepreneurship Programme demonstrates that entrepreneurship is the singular most effective tool to creating jobs, opportunity, economic hope, stability, peace, sustained growth and poverty reduction.”

Now in its 7^th year, the US$100 million TEF Entrepreneurship Programme has empowered over 9,000 young African entrepreneurs from 54 African countries with world-class business training, mentorship, non-refundable seed capital of $5,000 and global networking and market opportunities.  

In 2021, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, will identify, train, mentor and fund over 3,500 entrepreneurs across Africa.  The Programme remains open to all entrepreneurs across the African continent, both new start-ups and existing businesses operating in any sector.

Applications end March 31. All aspiring beneficiaries are encouraged to immediately apply on www.tefconnect.com.

To read the full TEF 2020 Annual Letter click here.

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On the business show which focuses on the small and medium enterprises sector, Somachi discussed the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme and the impact African entrepreneurs are making on the continent.

Highlighted quotes from the event:

• Africa is the most entrepreneurial continent in the world. We have countries with the highest number of young entrepreneurs.
• Entrepreneurship is such an important sector when we discuss Africa’s economic development.
• What the pandemic has done is put more pressure on those of us in the ecosystem to see how much more targeted we can refine the support we give African entrepreneurs.
• We want to make sure that entrepreneurs have the business skills, capacity, and leadership ability to take their business from the idea stage to the growth stage.
• Each entrepreneur in our Programme demonstrates how their business will actively support Africa in achieving the SDGs

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is currently accepting applications to the 2021 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme. All young African men and women with brilliant business ideas or start-ups are invited to apply on tefconnect.com

Watch the full interview here.

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Themed Women’s Economic Empowerment in Africa: working towards gender equality in times of COVID-19, Ifeyinwa was joined by Christoph Rauh, Africa Director, Federal German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); Regina Honu, Founder and CEO of Soronko Solutions and Soronko Academy; Charlotte Isaksson, Senior Gender Advisor, European Union External Action Service (EEAS).

During the panel session, Ifeyinwa shared some impactful words, some of which are:

• When we started the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, prioritising and achieving gender inclusivity was a part of our mission and what we set out to do. From the very beginning, we worked hard to get the information out there to women that this opportunity existed, understanding that in Africa, when compared to other continents, there are unique traditional and cultural barriers preventing women from fully engaging in entrepreneurship.

• We all know that when you empower a woman, you empower a nation. We all know that the African woman is a major pillar in achieving the economic development of Africa.

• From 2015 – 2020, we have empowered a total of 3000 women. This year, working with our partners at the European Union, we are going to train, fund, and mentor at least 3000 women for 2021 alone.

• To complement and support the work all of us in the private sector are doing, we need to work hand-in-hand with the governments and the public sector to ensure that the enabling environment and the policies are in place to empower all entrepreneurs—SMEs need to have access to capital, policy stability, low taxes etc.

• At the Tony Elumelu Foundation, our tried and tested model of entrepreneurship development targets entrepreneurs at the bottom of the pyramid – those with only ideas, or very young businesses that are unable to get funding from banks or venture capitalists. A lot of these are women.

• Unfortunately, in Africa, there aren’t many friends and family that you can borrow that initial $5000 to start your business with. This is why we focus on the bottom of the pyramid where we de-risk the entrepreneurs and kickstart their businesses to fully launch their entrepreneurial careers.

• Providing finance to women entrepreneurs across Africa has got to be the one way to ensure the acceleration of economic development through gender inclusivity.

• Getting the entrepreneurs access to finance, trusting them with these funds in their own hands, empowering them with the mentorship and training to make high-quality business decisions is something that at TEF, we encourage other ecosystem stakeholders to begin to do.

• It’s no longer about aid; it’s about a hand up and not a handout. It’s about empowering women – and all entrepreneurs – to be self-sufficient, to create an ecosystem in their own communities where they embrace a job-creating mentality and not a job-seeking one.

• The work that we do at the Foundation is a multipronged approach to solving most of these problems we see. If we can tackle the problem of economic empowerment in a sustainable, gender-inclusive format, it’ll have a positive trickle-down effect on many other things.

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“I think it’s because people realise that it is up to them,” said Ifeyinwa. “One thing the pandemic did in Nigeria and a large part of Africa is that once the lockdown happened last year, we realised just how unprepared we are to cater to our own needs because we are so dependent on imports and so, of course, people realised that the problems you have in your community and country are businesses waiting to be made by entrepreneurs.”

She also highlighted the work of the Tony Elumelu Foundation in empowering entrepreneurs at the bottom of the entrepreneurship pyramid and the need to focus, to enable more African entrepreneurs come through.

“At the Tony Elumelu Foundation we have always preached that young people should focus on having a job-creating mentality as opposed to a job-seeking mentality. Young people should create jobs not just for themselves but for the people around them and that’s the only way Africa can move forward in terms of reaching the SDGs.

We are helping everyone who has a business idea that makes it through our programme to prove their concept, get their foot through the door and start their entrepreneurial journey.”

Ifeyinwa didn’t leave the show without a word of advice for entrepreneurs. In her words, “I believe there is no such thing as failure if you never stop trying. Never ever stop trying.”

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is currently accepting applications to the 2021 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme. All young African men and women with brilliant business ideas or start-ups are invited to apply on tefconnect.com

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