By Adedapo Adesanya
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship Programme 2020 has opened its application portal – www.tefconnect.com for African entrepreneurs to apply.
The TEF Entrepreneurship Programme is open to start-up entrepreneurs, with innovative business ideas or businesses that have been in existence for less than 3 years, in any sector, from across Africa.
The $100 million brainchild was launched by African investor and philanthropist, Mr Tony Elumelu, and is set to empower 10,000 entrepreneurs in 10 years, with the goal of creating millions of jobs and new revenue on the continent.
The programme embodies Mr Elumelu’s Africapitalism philosophy, which positions the private sector as the catalyst for African economic transformation, and an investment approach that values the creation of both social and economic wealth.
This year’s edition is the 10th anniversary of the foundation and organisers said that there will be enhancements to the programme, with more people absorbed.
The changes in the 2020 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme emphasise a personalised entrepreneurship journey for every applicant and opening the platform to ensure a higher number of people trained, amplifying the programme’s impact and reach.
It was disclosed that in just five years of operation, the programme has empowered over 9,000 beneficiaries from all 54 African countries, with training, mentorship and seed funding.
During his remark at the launch of this year’s programme, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, said: “The transformation of Africa begins with empowering our young African entrepreneurs.
“With the recent enhancements made to our Programme and our growing list of partners, the Tony Elumelu Foundation is significantly increasing its impact across the continent.
“We encourage all start-up African entrepreneurs across the 54 African countries to apply for the Programme, as we continue to empower the very best ideas that will create the much needed employment and revenue on the continent”.
It was also disclosed that the multilingual Application Portal is open on TEFConnect.com, the digital networking platform for African entrepreneurs, from January 1 to March 1, 2020.
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Modupe Gbadeyanka