By Edwin Muhumuza
259 Ugandans have been selected to join the Tony Elumelu Foundation-TEF Entrepreneurship Programme. They are part of the 3,050 African entrepreneurs, drawn from all 54 African countries, selected to join the 5th cycle of the initiative worth $100million.
This following a presentation of the selection process by Accenture Development Partners. Over 216,000 applications were received, an increase from last year’s 151,000. Nearly 90,000 were submitted by female entrepreneurs, an increase of 45%, illustrating the Foundation’s strategy to achieve greater gender balance.
In Uganda, the number of selected applicants grew from 165 applicants in 2018 with entrepreneurs running businesses majorly in the agriculture and manufacturing industries.
The selected Entrepreneurs will each receive non-refundable $5,000 of seed capital, access to mentors, and a 12 - week business training programme, directly focused on the needs of African entrepreneurs.
TEF Founder, Tony O. Elumelu, said: “Every year, we face an almost impossible task – to select 1,000 entrepreneurs, from the hundreds of thousands that apply.Our entrepreneurs are hungry to effect change. We know we are only scratching the surface, we see the depth of entrepreneurial talent, that all of us – government, business indeed African society, must harness to transform our economies and livelihoods. We must rally together to empower them and accelerate the change we want on the continent”.
In her speech, Her Excellency, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, commended the Programme’s impact on the continent, charging the selected entrepreneurs to contribute to the advancement of the African continent.
Incoming CEO, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, said they launched TEFConnect - the digital networking platform for African entrepreneurs and open to all - to further democratize the access to opportunities for the thousands of entrepreneurs that cannot directly benefit from our Entrepreneurship Programme to further demonstrate our commitment to empowering our entrepreneurs who hold the key to unleashing the true potential of the African continent.
On July 26 – 27 2019, they will gather at the TEF Entrepreneurship Forum, the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship ecosystem on the continent.
Marking the fifth anniversary of the 10-year programme, this year’s selection includes 2,050 entrepreneurs, supported by the Foundation’s partners in addition to the Foundation’s annual commitment of 1,000, bringing the total number of entrepreneurs empowered by the Foundation to date to 7,520.
The Foundation’s growing list of partners includes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Federal Republic of Benin (Seme City), the Anambra State Government, Indorama, the Government of Botswana and the African Development Bank (AfDB).