The event emphasised the “Youth Engagement for Global Action” agenda and the role of African entrepreneurs in pushing for sustainable development. It also examined the critical role of the youth in igniting their potential, population, and influence to create mechanisms for sustainable development across the continent. 

Moderated by TEF CEO, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, the event featured a line-up of pan-African entrepreneurs and speakers from the development sector.

Addressing the audience, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu drew attention to the plight of startup African entrepreneurs during the pandemic while highlighting the importance of SMEs, especially during this period. “The SMEs are the major contributors to African economies. We must not underestimate the level of disruption and uncertainty that young people all over the world have faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.”

Ifeyinwa emphasized the need to empower the youth to tackle the menace of poverty on the continent.

Wambui Gichuri, Ag. VP Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, African Development Bank stated: “Entrepreneurship is an essential part of Africa’s employment challenge and it is where we have to put our focus as a multilateral development bank”.  

She added: “We need to do whatever it takes to empower our youth because they are the future of the continent”.

Martha T.M. Phiri, PhD, Director, Human, Youth and Social Development, African Development Bank, stated that the $5million partnership between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2019 to empower additional young African entrepreneurs, was a step in the right direction to create jobs on the continent. “That was a very exciting partnership and we feel this should be the way forward if we are going to create jobs on the continent,” she said.  

Shoroke H. Zedan, Chairman, World Youth Skills, Egypt said: “It is important that governments start looking at entrepreneurship as a fundamental core topic that needs to be integrated into the educational system”. 

Speaking on incorporating the youth into policymaking decisions, the Global President, AISEC, Alexandra Robinson stated: “I advocate for any policy that involves young people as co-owners of the policymaking process. I really believe that when young people are given co-ownership of the table, not just invited to someone else’s, they are able to have those meaningful conversations”.

Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, Founder, Wecyclers Nigeria and past fellow of the Tony Elumelu Foundation recalled the moment when she got accepted into the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme: “In 2012, when I was invited to the Tony Elumelu Foundation to pitch my idea, I was very fortunate to pitch directly to Mr. Elumelu and I was surprised a couple of days after, we got the grant. That grant was very important for Wecyclers”. 

Speaking as an entrepreneur doing business on the continent, Leroy Mwasaru, Founder, Greenpact Kenya and an alumnus of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s flagship Entrepreneurship Programme highlighted the need for transparency to attract more investors: “It is as a result of sharing what we have been doing that we hope there are less failures and more successes”.  Earlier in the year, due to the pandemic, the Tony Elumelu Foundation announced the postponement of its flagship TEF Entrepreneurship Programme and TEF Forum, the largest gathering of African entrepreneurs on the continent. Celebrating its 10^th year anniversary later in 2020, the Foundation counts over 9,000 young African countries across all 54 African countries as beneficiaries and alumni of its Entrepreneurship Programme. It continues to support African entrepreneurs with expert-led masterclasses, business management training and market linkages on its digital networking platform, TEFConnect.  

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His statement is backed by his experience as an economist, a philanthropist, and more importantly, an investor through his investment vehicle, Heirs Holdings, in Africa’s key sectors – power, financial services, oil & gas, hospitality, real estate, and healthcare. While he has been an avid investor, his hard work, and bet on the continent’s potential to generate a worthy return on investments, do not come without its own challenges. For decades, the private sector has worked with the hope that business necessities, including electricity, infrastructure and security would be fixed by African governments; sadly, the hope is yet to become a reality. Yet the private sector holds firm in its belief. In 2015, Tony Elumelu committed $100 million through his Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme to empower 10,000 young African entrepreneurs to validate his conviction in the potential of the private sector to catalyse transformation. In 2019, Tony Elumelu’s Transcorp Power invested an undisclosed amount into acquiring Afam Power station in the hope that, combined with its existing assets, it would raise the standard of living in Nigeria, by contributing 25% of the total power generation capacity in the country. He replicated this same conviction across several of his businesses including Transcorp Hotels Plc with an upgrade worth billions of naira, and a recent commitment in a yet to be disclosed energy deal. Many more private investors like Tony Elumelu have exhibited the same faith in the future of the continent.

The Importance of a Private-Public Sector Partnership

The private sector continues to play its part, backing words with action. However, it recognises that a mutually beneficial partnership with the
public sector is needed at this time. As stated by Tony Elumelu at the recently concluded virtual roundtable involving African business leaders, there was a consensus that the pandemic is indeed the reset that Africa needs to catalyse the much-needed transformation on the continent. This stance was corroborated by Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former finance minister, Tidjane Thiam, African Union Special Envoy on Covid-19, and moderator Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations, as they jointly discussed the topic “Resilient World: An African Call for a New World Order,” at the New York Forum Institute Virtual Roundtable. Okonjo-Iweala emphasised the need to diversify the economy through strengthening the manufacturing sector, Thiam harped on the need to create more jobs on the continent, and Songwe stated that the African Continental Free Trade Zone may just be the policy needed to kickstart the transformation – this is the best time to achieve it. For Elumelu, prioritising the youth, ensuring access to electricity and stabilising the macroeconomic environment are additional focus areas needed at this time.

A Task to Reset Africa Calls for a Marshall Plan

In the near future, African currencies will depreciate significantly, and servicing our external debts will become even more of a challenge. Today, many African countries already spend more annually on debt servicing than on education, healthcare and social welfare combined. Therefore, mobilising the level of finance that will give Africa room to begin this hard task of resetting, will require a Marshall plan, akin to America’s Marshall Plan for Europe after World War II. This Marshall Plan for Africa will be in collaboration with the World Bank, IMF, G20 countries
and all other relevant agencies but must be led by African multilateral financial institutions as in the case of AFREXIM under the leadership of Prof. Okey Oramah, whose efficient and immediate deployment of US$3 billion to finance and support trade and SME business through African banks, is commendable and deserves emulation.

The Covid-19 pandemic presents a bittersweet moment of clarity and reflection which we must seize to reset our continent. It provides the opportunity to finally place Africa on the right path of sustainability built on the bedrock of competitiveness.

Sustained Investment in Infrastructure

We can engender African competitiveness by sustained investment in basic infrastructure, electricity, internet access and digital connectivity, and most importantly by enabling and encouraging entrepreneurship. This combination will provide economic hope and opportunity that will productively engage our young Africans who account for over 60% of our 1.3b population. This is the only way we can reset the economy, create employment, eliminate poverty, generate revenue and attract capital to the continent.

Be Ready for Disruption

Africa must embrace the new normal. The disruptions we have seen across sectors (healthcare, logistics, supply chain, digital economy, IT) are here to stay. This presents a unique opportunity for a united Africa, a strong regional bloc acting in a coordinated fashion in response to this new era. As globalisation, trade and foreign policy adjusts in response to these times, Africa will only enjoy more traction, increased leverage and
more influence by forging a united front. This is the time for the continent to fully leverage its competitive advantage in agriculture, through focused investments in mechanisation, storage facilities, logistics, pest control, quality assurance, and processing, while strengthening our expertise in textile, manufacturing, supply chain etc.

In truth, disruption is here. It may not be ideal, but disruption, in the many facets it presents itself, has heralded new eras, and economic powers. If Africa treats this pandemic as a warning and begins to put in place the systems to ensure economic stability, this could be the beginning of the next global economic power, all business leaders agreed.

The post Amidst the Panic, Does the Pandemic Present an Opportunity to Reset Africa? Tony Elumelu, Other African Business Leaders Think So. appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The TEF Masterclasses cover insightful topics around business growth and innovation to help startup entrepreneurs remodel their business for the new normal, despite the pandemic. It will be conducted live, and thereafter hosted on TEFConnect.com, for easy access.

The TEF Masterclasses is one of the ways the Foundation supports the entrepreneurship community while fulfilling its mission of empowering African entrepreneurs to accelerate the development of the continent.

To register for the Monday Masterclasses, which take place at 12noon (West African Time), click HERE.

To access previous classes, click HERE.

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لكن مؤسسة توني أيلوميلو سوف تجهز بتدريب عبر TEFConnect مجانا ومشاركة مع ذوي الأمور والحكومات والمعاهد التمويلية التنمية لأجل تحريك التأييد المزيد للملتزمين الأفريقيين بعد أزمة فيروس كورونا. وتضيف TEFConnect إطلاعا حاسما حول الوباء لأجل صون صحة وأمان جميع الأفارقة مع إصدار أخبار تأثيرية من ملتزمين أفريقيين إلى غاية إحداث تبددات بارعة ضد هذه الوباء المنفجرة.

الصحة والأمان هما المقدمان عندنا، وترغب المؤسسة الجميع بأن يكونوا على الحذر وأن يلتزموا الوصايا الصحية الصادرة من التنظيم العالمي الصحي (WHO) والحكومات الدولية وسائر التنظيمات الصحية المناسبة.

للمزيد من الأخبار وما بقي من الخطوات التالية للمتميزين الذين قد قدموا استخداماتهم لبرنامج 2020، زوروا موضع الاسئلة المسؤولة عنها دائما (FAQs) على الموقع بضغط هنا.

Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu
CEO
مؤسسة توني أيلوميلو
لاغوس, Nigeria.

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The post الإعلان الاشتراكي تأجل مؤسسة توني أيلوميلو البرنامج التنظيمي TEF 2020 وملتقى TEF إلى عام 2021 appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.