Tu esday, Jun 01, 2021/05: 50PM / By Tony Elumelu Foundation/ Header image credit: TEF & DEG

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Africa’s leading philanthropy that empowers young African entrepreneurs from 54 African countries, has partnered with DEG, the German development finance institution that supports the private sector in emerging countries, to empower 200 additional entrepreneurs across Africa.

The initiative will fund 200 additional young African entrepreneurs to complement the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Program, worth USD 100 million, which has identified, trained, mentored and funded more than 9,000 entrepreneurs from all 54 countries. Africans since 2015. The partnership will also help to scale up TEFConnect, the Foundation’s proprietary digital platform that supports African entrepreneurs and provides platform access to an additional 500,000 SMEs. The initiative is co-financed by DEG with 1.5 million euros from the develoPPP program financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

In line with TEF and DEG’s development policy, the partnership will create jobs and income, stimulate economic growth and generate local value in Africa. It will make an important contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by providing funds, technical skills and comprehensive business readiness to improve the performance of SMEs in line with SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure).

Entrepreneurs will be connected to networked support for skills development, knowledge sharing and market linkages through lifetime membership on TEFConnect. In addition, a periodic impact assessment of up to 10,000 SMEs will be conducted as part of the partnership to inform policies and laws that will improve the environment for small businesses in Africa, directly catalyze Africa’s economic growth and contribute to the continent’s prosperity and social development.

Commenting on the partnership, Tony Elumelu Foundation CEO Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu said, “In our continued quest to invest in African entrepreneurs, this partnership will fully empower young entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. DEG is a global player that encourages efforts in emerging markets and developing economies to create jobs, a mission to which we are dedicated through entrepreneurship. African entrepreneurs are the engines of growth, innovation and wealth creation in Africa, and there is no better time to invest in their development. The expected outcome of this partnership spans the entire entrepreneurial value chain and will create huge opportunities for entrepreneurs to start their businesses while equipping them with the skills to support their business growth. “

Bernd Tilemann, Head of the West Africa Office of DEG added that “ DEG is delighted to start this cooperation and particularly keen to support TEF’s digitization efforts and the drive for impact inclusion and its critical evaluation, which are subjects that fascinate DEG a lot. We believe these measures will provide a solid foundation for TEF to step up its efforts to boost entrepreneurship and small business development in Nigeria and across the continent. “

The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s $ 100 million entrepreneurship program was launched in 2015 to empower 10,000 entrepreneurs over 10 years. Successful applicants receive world-class business training, mentorship, US $ 5,000 non-refundable start-up capital, and global networking opportunities. The program is open to entrepreneurs from all countries in Africa, whether they are new start-ups or existing start-ups, operating in all major economic sectors.

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