The Tony Elumelu Foundation and the African Development Bank Group are in partnership to empower young African entrepreneurs. How does this fit into the agenda for the AfDB and how can the private and public sectors work more collaboratively to achieve sustainable goals?

• There is an alignment in the vision of our institutions, in believing that entrepreneurship is the pathway to job creation and economic growth.

• It is what we want to promote in terms of inclusiveness and sustainable development where both public and private sectors are playing their role because nobody can do it alone, and we know that there are a number of barriers SMEs still have to overcome. By working together, we can address some of those challenges.

• Under our Jobs for Youth initiative, we aim to create 25 million jobs and empower 50 million youth by 2025. The partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation and its Entrepreneurship Programme to help African entrepreneurs by addressing these obstacles, to me, really aligns with that objective. 

• By extending our reach to additional, innovative youth-led products in many countries across Africa, we are making a statement that public and private institutions can share infrastructural know-how for empowering African entrepreneurs. Partnerships like this must be multiplied amongst different types of actors to leverage each other’s strengths.

Africa’s overall vision for sustainable growth and development is clear – why is gender diversity so important within this context?

• Gender equality is at the heart of the Bank’s 10-year strategy and its High 5 priority areas.

• We know that Africa has been struggling in the past few decades to make economic growth more inclusive, to create jobs, reduce inequality, and poverty and we have made progress.

• However, employment remains very low. We leave many people behind in the poverty trap; we have seen the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, which has only exacerbated existing, entrenched inequalities.

• So we, as Africans, whether its governments, private sector or other stakeholders, we need to really create the conditions for our economy to thrive, and deploy more inclusive and sustainable growth paths so that we can harness the power of our youth and all of our people.

• In this context, we know that women are the backbone of the African economy. We have the highest percentage of women entrepreneurs in the world, with about 1 in 4 women starting a business already dominating the private sector, particularly the informal one. That is a huge asset to harness.

• We also know from research that when women earn an income, they reinvest about 90% in education, the health, and the nutrition of their family and their community. So, we know that they provide the highest return on investment in terms of impact.

•  If we can ensure equal access to resources, women will unleash their proven competence, creativity, reliability and they can really contribute to not only the recovery efforts but also the sustainable growth of the continent.
   

What real challenges are there to achieve gender diversity and inclusive growth in Africa?

• If you look at the private sector particularly, women-led businesses are still struggling to survive, especially SMEs because their businesses are typically smaller, they have fewer employees and less access to capital.

• Something has to change.
• They do not have equal access to resources because right now they are marginalized from access to most productive resources whether its finance, training, information, networks, etc.

• We must place a much stronger emphasis on human development with investment in the social and economic safety of our population and that means particularly, access to education, addressing inequality in terms of access to social justice, and health services for girls so that we equip them from the very beginning with all the tools they need to be productive in society and to fully play their role and participate. 

The African Development Bank Group has a large portfolio of work they do across Africa. Is any focused on the promotion of gender diversity and inclusive growth across the continent?

• Gender equality and women empowerment lie at the heart of our 10-year strategy, focusing on two main mandates.

• On one hand, ensure that gender is mainstreamed in all of our operations. That means all of the investments that the Bank is doing, 8-10 million dollars a year, whether it is in infrastructure, education, energy, transport, it needs to take into account gender consideration.

• So, the best part of what we do is to ensure we have the maximum impact and to improve the quality of our operations.
• On the other hand, we have targeted initiatives that specifically reach women and girls. Our biggest flagship for women is the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa Programme (AFAWA), which aims to improve inclusive finance for women empowered businesses on the continent.

• It is really about three things. One, access to finance, specifically with guaranteed products. Two, technical assistance to the financial institutions so that they understand women businesses better. Thirdly, policy dialogue to support legal, policy and regulatory reforms and unlocking the structural barriers women face in access to finance, land and economic opportunities.

• We still have too many countries where women cannot own land and we know the effect that has on financial inclusion.
  
• We have also recently started a partnership with the ICRC looking at how together, we can support women living in fragile communities namely internally displaced persons and persons stuck in migration camps. 

• To support all that work, we invest in research, data collection, knowledge creation, so that whatever policy dialogue and policy engagement we do is really based on evidence.

• We have moved beyond the moral case in terms of women empowerment – we know it is the right thing to do and it is not about women against men. It is about making sure everybody has access so that all of us can do better.

What outcomes are expected regarding the next decade of sustainable growth in Africa, and how does gender diversity influence these outcomes?

• There are so many things I would love to see happen in the next decade and the Bank has a huge role to play. Its convening power comes with responsibilities.

• We must bring all partners together because no single actor can do it alone.

• In terms of our own work, number one is to ensure the full inclusion of gender in our operations. We introduced some tools such as the Gender Marker System two years ago that is now helping us to categorise all of our operations based on the potential impact on women and girls and gender equality.

• So far over the past two years, we have managed to cover almost 70% of our public sector operations. I want to see 100% and not just a hundred percent as a box ticking exercise but making sure that we have results and frameworks that show real impact for women and girls.

• On the other hand, the delivery of our AFAWA programme, the most ambitious effort of the Bank in the space of financial inclusion for women is important. We are grateful and we were lucky last year to mobilise global support from the G7, from the Netherlands and  Rwanda – we are also talking to other countries – and this resulted in the largest mobilisation efforts ever for women’s access to finance in Africa.

• Our objective over the coming years is to deploy this mechanism in all African countries. That means that all women across Africa will know that with the right viable business they could have access to guaranteed loans, to training, and that governments will be working hand in hand with the private sector to reform the environment for them.

• That is the picture of success. It is a highly ambitious one. It is not just about us but about all stakeholders. Governments have a huge role to play. The private sector has a huge role to play. Foundations like the Tony Elumelu Foundation have a huge role to play and we really value all those partnerships because together we can make a real difference. It is crucial to emphasise the need to work together as African partners so we can chart our own destiny.

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Africa is the world’s second largest continent in terms of population and the “youngest continent on earth” as more than 60% of its population is below the age of 25. This relatively young and active demographic of the continent present a veritable opportunity for investment in the creation of startup enterprises and social ventures in the continent.  

While external and third-party investment is crucial for the economic transformation of the African continent, it still stands obvious that the task of jumpstarting development, accelerating growth and catalyzing economic transformation in Africa lies primarily and largely with the continent’s young people and our ability to take ownership of the narrative on Africa is also dependent on our readiness to redefine and reimagine growth in the continent and our willingness to learn, grow, take risk and bring alive the innovative ideas needed to reposition Africa on the global map.

As founder of one of Africa’s most promising social enterprise ventures, I have come to discover first-hand the amazing potential that the continent’s natural and human resources present in terms of opportunities for job creation, poverty alleviation and revenue generation and I make bold to agree with the proponent of Africapitalism and Chairman of Heirs Holdings and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu that there is no better time than now to be and become an entrepreneur in Africa.

For one thing, the continent’s rating in terms of ease of doing business is taking an upward trajectory, corruption and financial mismanagement in the continent are going down, political stability is fast becoming the new normal in most parts of the continent, literacy levels are increasing by the day, more and more of us African youth are finding our way into the internet of things. Power supply is fast stabilizing on the continent and most important of all, opportunities for funding and support are becoming more available for the continent’s change-makers today than ever before. All of these go a long way to establish the favorable ecosystem that makes social entrepreneurship the next big thing in Africa today.

Yet, our governments, policy makers and angel investors have a crucial role to play in improving on the enabling environment, providing the much-needed seed funding and capacity building required to jumpstart job growth and accelerate development in Africa. The continent’s young people need to avail ourselves of the available opportunities, rise up to the challenges of an ever evolving world of work and establish Africa on the global market.

It goes therefore without saying that the challenge of entrepreneurship today lies more with us, the pride of Africa: the youth. The ball clearly is in our court and the decision to transform Africa now and in the future is ours to make.

Our ability to dare, to dream and to dive in remains a major ingredient for economic transformation in Africa. All successful ventures require an abundant amount of self-confidence, the ability to rise after a setback and a conscious effort to learn, innovate, adapt and embrace circumstances. Flexibility, therefore, becomes a crucial soft skill required for success in entrepreneurship in Africa and the most promising of all the news about entrepreneurship in Africa today is the availability of opportunities of mentorship and learning. If Africa today must take ownership of the fourth industrial revolution, it has to be through youth activity and ability to take ownership of Africapitalism on the continent, seize the amazing opportunities the continent presents and digitalize social entrepreneurship on the continent for job creation, poverty alleviation and revenue generation.

Che Azenyui Bruno is a Cameroonian Journalist, Social Entrepreneur, and Founder of Digifarms Africa.

The post An Entrepreneur writes on Contextualizing Africapitalism and Why the African Youth must take Ownership appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is collaborating with the Project Management Institute (PMI) on a 6-part series on “Idea to Reality: Project Management for SMEs”. Each part of the series will hold monthly, and at the end of the series, certificates of learning will be issued to participants who attend all 6 parts. 

The thrid session will hold on Monday, August 10, 2020 at 2 pm, West African Time. 

Click here to watch

Other speakers facilitating the masterclass include Stephen Townsend, Director, PMI Knowledge Networks and Otema Yirenkyi, MD Africa, Project Management Institute, who will tackle the challenges and processes of project management for startup businesses.

With a solid track record of setting and delivering strategy, managing large scale transformation agendas, and meeting growth targets for international organisations, the Project Management Institute serves more than three million professionals in nearly every country of the world.

About the PMI Executives:

Sunil Prashara is the global CEO and lead advocate for PMI’s global organisation, which serves more than three million professionals working in nearly every country of the world.

Otema Yirenkyi, PMI’s Vice President, Global Engagement, is responsible for PMI’s Africa region, helping to solidify PMI’s global impact through regionalization. 

Stephen Townsend, an expert in the field of project management, has exceptional knowledge of how organisations can maximize their execution potential through project management.

About the TEF Masterclass

The TEF Masterclass presents learnings and ideas for startup entrepreneurs, facilitated by global speakers and thought leaders.
Hosted by the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the weekly sessions are held every Monday.

Register to join the 6-Part Project Management TEF Masterclass

The post Tony Elumelu Foundation Collaborates with Project Management Institute on 6-Part Masterclass: Certificates of Learning to Be Issued to Participants appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank Group, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the Afric’innov Program,
Bond’innov, nor their boards of directors and donors.

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The post Challenges and Opportunities of Incubators in West Africa 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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