In this context, the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), launched the TEF-UNDP Sahel Entrepreneurship Programme, in 2019, to foster economic growth and stability through entrepreneurship.

The Sahel region’s economies are predominantly agrarian, with limited industrial and service sector development. The pervasive insecurity and climate-related challenges, such as desertification and erratic rainfall, further constrain economic opportunities. According to the World Bank, the Sahel’s GDP growth has been hindered by these systemic issues, leading to high levels of poverty and unemployment, particularly among the youth. In this challenging environment, entrepreneurship emerges as a critical pathway to economic empowerment, providing an avenue for job creation, innovation, and sustainable development.

Despite the logistical challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the TEF-UNDP Sahel Entrepreneurship Programme conducted a thorough evaluation and the findings underscore the Programme’s substantial impact on the participants’ economic and personal lives.

One of the standout outcomes of the programme is the significant increase in the proportion of entrepreneurs earning between $101-$150 and those earning above $150, by 40% and 62%, respectively. This shift suggests that the programme successfully elevated the financial status of its participants, helping many transition from zero income to a more stable and sustainable financial footing. This improvement in income levels is crucial in a region where economic opportunities are scarce and underscores the programme’s role in fostering financial independence.

Beyond economic gains, the programme also positively influenced the participants’ quality of life. Approximately 50% of the respondents reported an overall improvement in their quality of life, encompassing personal, household, and community aspects, the broader perception of enhanced quality of life indicates that the programme’s benefits extend beyond material gains.

Looking Ahead:

The TEF-UNDP Sahel Entrepreneurship Programme has demonstrated the transformative potential of targeted entrepreneurial support in fostering economic and social change. As we reflect on these outcomes, it becomes clear that sustained investment in entrepreneurship is vital for the Sahel’s future. The Programme’s success sets a precedent for future initiatives, highlighting the importance of comprehensive support systems, including access to funding, mentorship, and market opportunities.

For a deeper dive into the full impact assessment and to explore the stories of the entrepreneurs who have thrived through this initiative, we invite you to read the full report available on the impact reports page of website. This report not only details the outcomes of the 2019 pilot programme but also offers valuable insights into the broader implications for economic development in the Sahel region.

The post The Future of Entrepreneurship in the Sahel appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

After losing her father in his early life, Mechi Amaah had to look after pigs and sell them under her mother’s supervision to provide for their necessities. Upon getting to the university, she did business selling various things to make ends meet and decided to settle on manufacturing and selling hair products solely. 

How Mechi started with the cosmetic business idea

Mechi founded Black and Natural Cosmetics, a 100% organic cosmetic manufacturing company aimed to encourage the consumption of organic hair cosmetics, initially and subsequently, skin cosmetics. To join environmental protection and sustainable development, Black and Natural Cosmetics derives all its ingredients from plants, some of which are organically processed.

Mechi Amaah was about expanding his business when COVID-19 pandemic hit the world and everywhere was under lockdown. However, the seed capital she got from the foundation enabled her to diversify and employ 2 more workers, thereby saving her business from liquidation. Coupled with the training received on the programme on business management, she has been able to take her business to another level and created a high level of impact in her community.

“The training the program offered, helped me to keep tabs on my mission, vison and most importantly, my finances. Ever since the program, I can proudly say the books of my businesses are in order.”

Funding for Mechi’s cosmetic business idea

Since getting the grant, she has employed 4 more staff to help with her business and now has 7 employees working directly under her. Also, her annual revenue has increased by 70%, with her opening two other companies and awards to her name.

“To give back to my community, i have created jobs and am currently working on an accelerator program to train young girls with vocational training skills that can enable them gain employment or start up their own business. This will go a long way to reduce unemployment in my community and country.”

Being a graduate of accounting, she helps budding entrepreneurs set their accounts straight and helps them plan their business. Currently, she has built a community of about 30 entrepreneurs. These will go a long way to reducing unemployment in her community and country.

ABOUT THE TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION


The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

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In Nigeria, the supply or provision of public drinking water is not reliable. Ground water and pipe-borne water are the major sources of drinking water. These sources are said to be unsafe sources of drinking water because findings indicated that groundwater sources contain trace elements, dissolved solids and pathogens in excessive quantities that may be dangerous to the health of the people.

Identifying the clean water problem

The realization of the renewed global commitments toward the millennium Development Goals (MDGs) required the development of locally sourced alternative low-cost drinking water schemes that will provide sustainable access to safe drinking water in both rural and urban settings in developing countries (UNDESA, 2004). 

Sachet water belongs to the lower consumption segment in the beverage and water sector. However, it accounts for about 70% of total packaged water sold in Nigeria and only about 18% of urban households in Nigeria depend on packaged sachet water as the primary source of drinking water.

Fund for his Clean Sachet Water Business Idea

This challenges and the need to address them prompted Olusegun to set up Dotsom Enterprise, a company that produces quality and hygienic sachet water.

Dotsom Enterprise is an approved firm that wants to solve the problems of clean water scarcity by providing unique, innovative, and wholesome sachet water with 20 percent extra value at same price with competitors to meet rising needs for wholesome and affordable water in satisfactory quantity.

“The rising demand for wholesome water particularly during hot weather in my locality and its environs is yet to be adequately met as many are always in search of clean and affordable water at every season. The present supply cannot meet popular demand. Hence, my firm is strategizing to meet these needs by introducing 70cl sachet water which represents 20% – 30% extra value to customers as against competitors’ 50cl/60cl that are currently available in the marketplace.”

Olusegun decided to be an entrepreneur for the passion he had for it and ultimately to meet the needs for wholesome sachet water in his locality. He was motivated by the inadequacy of quality sachet water in his community.

“I wanted to change the situation of shortage of good sachet water in my community with my business. This was so important because it has direct impact on the health situations of the people in my locality.”

Currently, he has 11 people under his direct employ and generates revenue ranging from $500 to $600 monthly, and the company’s market share has increased by 20%. With this, the transmission of diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio, which causes the death of 100,000 children under the age of 5 in Nigeria yearly, is greatly reduced.

“The TEF programme has indeed helped me realized my dream of meeting the needs for wholesome and quality sachet water in my locality. Most importantly, the TEF training, funding and mentorship have made a   whole lot of difference and greatly changed my entire life.”

Olusegun has explored the opportunity of becoming a consultant to others in the field of water production. He is also tutoring potential entrepreneurs on how to kick start a successful business venture.

ABOUT THE TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION


The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The post Meet 2019 TEF Alumni, Olusegun Ayodele who was funded for his sachet water business idea appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Identifying this problem

While growing up, Jonathan saw his mom engaged in petty trading in a bid to make ends meet, while his brothers were actively engaged in schooling with the aim of improving their chances in order to get good jobs. At the same time, he saw his mom and other traders make wholesome daily profits, as a result he decided to be an entrepreneur so that he will not only make money but provide jobs for the people around him.

Jonathan Azua owns a Luxuriant cleaning and maintenance company the company that aims at giving customers a higher cleaning experience, this clear promise of value helped to incentivize their first users, even today, this has remained their message and an integral part of their organizational culture. The nexus and common theme of the organization is how to make a difference in the lives of customers, users, and stakeholders.

Seed Capital for Cleaning and Maintenance Business

For Jonathan, the training and the seed capital provided by the programme was a turning point in his entrepreneurship journey.

“Two things stood out for me in the TEF program, the training and the seed capital. Before the training I was managing a business in the informal sector, while I was largely successful at that level, I never knew there were things I was doing wrong, for example, the training helped me to understand important concepts such as corporate governance and structure, it kind of covered something small about everything a business is all about, the training armed me with the knowledge I needed to succeed at scale.

Also, he believes seed capital was a huge leverage, which was a tool for him to achieve his dream. When he started out, he made up his mind that this may be the only business fund he may ever have, so he would not fail himself. He went about investing with that mindset, and as of today, he has about 5 companies in his group just from a single seed, and he believes that the future holds much more for his business in abundance in terms of revenue generation and impact.

“The seed capital changed my life forever, all that I will ever become in life is tied to that seed capital.”

The group makes in excess of $10,000 annually in revenue generation, with over 20 direct and indirect employees.

Currently, they are expanding beyond their primary geographic market segment (Yobe state), as they attempt to become a national player by opening outlets in strategic markets.

“We are proud to be an employer of labour seeing that our country is grappling with an unprecedented unemployment rate, while making money is good business, beyond that, we are proud of being able to gainfully employ people and taking them out of the street, as a result. We see our contributions to the country’s GDP as the hallmark of our work, while our ability to provide goods and services that solve customers’ problems daily has been resounding and encouraging.”

ABOUT THE TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION


The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The post Meet 2017 TEF Alumni, Jonathan Azua Who is creating jobs through cleaning and maintenance business appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The demand for African designs, textiles, and garments is increasing within and beyond the continent. Currently, in sub-Saharan Africa, the combined apparel and footwear market is estimated at USD 31 billion. The textile industry in Africa is estimated to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of ~5% over the forecast period of 2019–2024. 

Identifying this problem

Gladys is a young award-winning creative entrepreneur who is well known for her bespoke, eco-friendly, handmade Ankara notebooks and gift set. She has managed to use her love for art in an extraordinary way. In her quest to challenge the status quo, fighting against discrimination and stigma, Gladys successfully elevated the crafts industry, proving that it is a viable industry and that the craft business can be a profession. Having been raised in an entrepreneurial family, she implemented her experience and knowledge by starting her own business. She used her artistic abilities to develop a firebrand called Krafted Ink, innovative art and craft-oriented organization.

Specializing in African textile journals and gift packaging, mastered the art of combining colors in making gift packaging to ensure lasting smiles in the lives of people. The handmade products include journals, diaries, gift bags, and gift boxes using African print fabric. Gladys started her journey at the age of 21 out of her desire to uphold the African ideals of sharing presents. She has been crafting memories ever since.

Making Handmade Ankara Crafts

Gladys achieved this feat thanks to the TEF program, which helped in achieving her dreams as an entrepreneur.

“Without the Tony Elumelu Foundation Programme, there was no way, not a chance that my business idea was going to take off. The program not only helped the business plan, but it also put me through how to evaluate customer acquisitions, and the business canvas helped me to break down where I was going to get resources. Furthermore, I learned how to establish smart partnerships with Entrepreneurs across Africa because I was exposed to the network during the program.”

“We had an increased visibility that helped our users from 50 per year to more than 50,000 users now and still counting with more than 10 distributors across the 36 states.”

She recently launched an impact project titled ‘Dignity for her product’ to provide a holistic approach to drive change through product, education, and Advocacy, bundled alongside comprehensive menstrual hygiene management and sexual reproductive health programming for adolescent girls. So far, 300 girls have been trained with the hope of training 2000 by the end of 2022.

A revenue model allowing these girls to earn commissions from the sale of Virtuous Reusable Pads was established, empowering them, and making them less vulnerable. The innovation is to assign the girls’ guardians as drop shippers for reusable pads in the community. The girls then sell these pads within their community, creating economic opportunities and helping break the poverty cycle.

She pitched for another grant and won an additional $15000, $5000 from AGS tribe Enterprise Challenge, winning first place during the pitch competition (Now Herconomy E), and $10000 from the funding space 2019   through the Rising tide Africa during the pitch competition.

ABOUT THE TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION


The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The post Meet 2019 TEF Alumni, Gladys Chibanda Who is into the Production of handmade Ankara crafts appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Identifying this problem

Drawn to the need of adolescent girls, Tabitha Abimiku decided to become a social entrepreneur. She discovered that only one out of ten girls use a sanitary pad; others settle for more unhygienic options like rags and banana leaves which have serious adverse health effects, with some girls missing school during this period. Driven by the need to provide a lasting solution to this problem, she did her research and developed Virtuous core Reusable Pad in 2018.

Making Reusable Sanitary Products

Before her encounter with the TEF program, she never got the validation, support, or acceptance she needed; on the verge of giving up her dream, she got selected for the 2019 TEF program. She got visibility and validation for business; it gave her confidence that her company could transform Africa, which increased her confidence level and knowledge and capacity building during the program.

The seed funding has been very crucial in scaling her business by enabling her increase production.

“With the seed funding of $5000, she was able to purchase machinery and increase her turn out from 10 from 5000 pieces of pad per day; with this, she expanded the business and moved from producing at home to a NAFDAC-approved factory.”

Tabitha Abimiku has created 8 new jobs since funding and has increased her annual revenue from $6,000S to $47,000 since funding.

Furthermore, her business has gotten more visibility across the country and have produced sanitary products for reputable organizations like EHA clinic and Urban Shelter Limited.

“We had an increased visibility that helped our users from 50 per year to more than 50,000 users now and still counting with more than 10 distributors across the 36 states.”

She recently launched an impact project titled ‘Dignity for her product’ to provide a holistic approach to drive change through product, education, and Advocacy, bundled alongside comprehensive menstrual hygiene management and sexual reproductive health programming for adolescent girls. So far, 300 girls have been trained with the hope of training 2000 by the end of 2022.

A revenue model allowing these girls to earn commissions from the sale of Virtuous Reusable Pads was established, empowering them, and making them less vulnerable. The innovation is to assign the girls’ guardians as drop shippers for reusable pads in the community. The girls then sell these pads within their community, creating economic opportunities and helping break the poverty cycle.

She pitched for another grant and won an additional $15000, $5000 from AGS tribe Enterprise Challenge, winning first place during the pitch competition (Now Herconomy E), and $10000 from the funding space 2019   through the Rising tide Africa during the pitch competition.

ABOUT THE TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION


The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The post Meet 2019 TEF Alumni, Tabitha Abimiku Who is Making Reusable Sanitary Products Accessible & Affordable to Girls appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Identifying this problem

Olabisi Akanbi decided to provide a solution by setting up a business that collects, reuses, recovers, and recycles waste products. EMSMAT uses branded metal drums, plastic wheeled bins, and cellophane waste bags as storage devices and to evacuate solid waste from their clients every 7 days interval. We have started operation on a pilot scale since September 2012 by using hired vehicles before procuring our own truck which are been loaded and offloaded manually. Every client gets registered by filling out our registration form with a registration fee of N3,000 and receives the waste bin in less than 24 hours.

The Integrated Waste Business Solution

Our price range according to a major market segment in our customer base is as follows: Single Household/family dwelling (N500), Multifamily dwellings (N1,000), Light industries like bakeries, eateries, etc (N2,000), Small Hotels, banks, mini estate (N5,000), Big Hotels, Hospitals (N10,000) and among others. There are 4,197 clients in the area.

At full capacity by procuring at least two (2) numbers of fairly foreign used (Tokunbo) waste compacting trucks at (N4,900,000) each totalled (N9,800,000) to evacuate at least 1,200 Clients on weekly basis with the support of TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION PROGRAMME, the company will realize a monthly turnover of (N4,111,200) with about 15 employments will be newly created.   

“My business is changing the attitude of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways, drainages, uncompleted buildings and even on roads by the citizens of Keffi Nasarawa State Nigeria. We offer waste bins to Keffi community to curb the menace caused by the indiscriminate dumping of refuse, we collect this waste on weekly basis from individual premises, sorting, processing the recyclable waste materials and dispose non-recyclable materials for farmers as fertilizers.”

Although his business operation started on a pilot scale in 2012, there was need for funding to scale up his business and increase his revenue. The $5000 TEF grant has been the beginning of his business success. He has created 6 new jobs and has increased his revenue to $4500. His waste management business has also been beneficial to the environment as the child mortality rate has been reduced as over 10,000 people in the communities where they work now have access to a safe, clean and healthy environment. He also conducts public sensitization about how to maintain personal hygiene and safe environment.

ABOUT THE TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION


The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The post Meet 2015 TEF Alumni, Olabisi Akanbi Who is Improving the environment through integrated waste management practice appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Oluwaseyi Akanbi took the initiative to change the narrative of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways, drainages, and roads in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria by establishing his waste management company Zero-Waste Management Konsult.

“I am motivated to be an entrepreneur today because of the need to solve environmental problems, creating jobs for unemployed youth populations and to be financially independent.“

He offers waste bins to the Keffi community through his company to curb the menace caused by the indiscriminate dumping of refuse. He collects this waste weekly from individual premises, sorting, processing the recyclable waste materials, and disposing of non-recyclable materials for farmers as fertilizers.

“My business is changing the attitude of indiscriminate dumping of refuse on waterways, drainages, uncompleted buildings and even on roads by the citizens in my community.”

His business generates USD 550 every month. With the collaboration of the Nasarawa State Waste Management Bureau (NASWAMB), the agency in charge of waste management in Nasarawa state, he has acquired up to 180 customers with a team of 8, which he currently employs. More than 20,000 people have access to a clean, safe, and healthy environment through his intervention and the support he got through the TEF entrepreneurship program.

“Through TEF entrepreneurship program, my business has been standardized through the training I have received and also the networking opportunity I have been exposed to.”

About The Tony Elumelu Foundation


The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFconnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The post MEET 2017 TEF ALUMNI, OLUWASEYI AKANBI WHO RUNS BUSINESS IN THE WASTE MANAGEMENT SECTOR appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The application portal for BeGreen Africa is now open on TEFConnect, the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s digital platform, to all waste management start-ups in Kenya, and green start-ups in Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.

BeGreen Africa is a green entrepreneurship pilot programme co-created by The Tony Elumelu Foundation, UNICEF Generation Unlimited (GenU), IKEA Foundation, and young green entrepreneurs.

The key objective of this mission-aligned partnership is to create a holistic, sustainable, and youth-led green entrepreneurship initiative in the waste sector [in Kenya], and the green sector [in Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal and South Africa], to advance marginalized youth’s social and economic prosperity, while addressing the triple planetary crisis by reducing inequalities, and creating sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their peers.

The founding partners of BeGreen Africa will leverage their collective expertise, close relations with government, the private sector and youth networks, and extensive field presence across Africa and in Kenya to: a) develop a green-focused curricula that addresses the gaps and capacity needs of the identified target youth, b) engage expert trainers to deliver the trainings via www.TEFConnect.com, c) facilitate mentor and alumni network connections, and d) provide seed capital funding that will empower the identified entrepreneurs to kickstart, develop, and scale their green businesses.

In this pilot, #BeGreenAfrica aims to train 1,000 Kenyan youth in the waste management sector, and economically empower 120 of them, as well as empower 25 green sector entrepreneurs in Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa, all under the age of 35, with new or existing green businesses. The initiative will build evidence around youth entrepreneurship in high-impact green sectors, exploring how young entrepreneurs can contribute to circular economies and a sustained green revolution in Africa.

The multilingual Application Portal is open on www.TEFConnect.com from August 10 till August 31, 2023.

About the Tony Elumelu Foundation:

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and increasing women economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has provided over 1.5 million young Africans with access to training on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

About UNICEF GEN-U:

Launched by the UN Secretary-General at the 2018 UN General Assembly, and anchored in UNICEF, Generation Unlimited is a leading global Public-Private-Youth Partnership, bringing together global organizations and leaders including Heads of State, CEOs, Heads of UN agencies, and civil society champions with young people to co-create and deliver innovative solutions on a global scale.

Generation Unlimited is on a mission to skill the world’s 1.8 billion young people and connect them to opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, and social impact.

About IKEA Foundation:

The IKEA Foundation is a strategic philanthropy that focuses its grant making efforts on tackling the two biggest threats to children’s futures: poverty and climate change. It currently grants more than €200 million per year to help improve family incomes and quality of life while protecting the planet from climate change. Since 2009, the IKEA Foundation has granted more than €1.8 billion to create a better future for children and their families.

In 2021 the Board of the IKEA Foundation decided to make an additional €1 billion available over the next five years to accelerate the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions. In 2023, IKEA Foundation has already provided more than € 31 Million in emergency funding.

The post CALLING AFRICAN GREEN ENTREPRENEURS: APPLY TO #BEGREENAFRICA appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is calling for proposals from exceptional film production companies to create an exciting TV commercial that highlights the impact of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, with emphasis on its flagship Entrepreneurs programme.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs that is driving poverty eradication, catalyzing job creation, and ensuring women’s economic inclusion in all 54 African countries.

Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed nearly USD$100 million in direct funding to 18,000 African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.

The robust ability of the Foundation to impact the lives of young African entrepreneurs across geographies and sectors has been very visible, and has resulted in the emergence of strategic partnerships with the European Union (EU), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United States Government via the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), The French Development Agency (AFD), The German Development Finance Institution (DEG), The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), The African Development Bank (AfDB), and Google, with bespoke programmes including focus on women empowerment and sustainable growth in fragile states. 

The ToR (Terms of Reference) can be found here.

All interested film production companies can apply here.

Submissions close one week from the time of this publication.

The post Call for Proposals (RFP) – The Tony Elumelu Foundation (Film Production) appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.