52 South Sudanese will this year benefit from Tony Elumelu Foundation’s (TEF) $100million entrepreneurship programme, the Nigerian-based foundation announced on Friday.
A total of 3,050 African entrepreneurs from 54 nations were selected.
Over 216,000 applications, TEF said in a statement, were received this year, an increase from last year’s 151,000. Also, 90,000 applications, it added, came from female entrepreneurs, an increase of 45%, illustrating the foundation’s strategy to achieve gender balance.
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.
“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,” TEF founder, Tony O. Elumelu said at the announcement of this year’s winners.
He added, “We must rally together to empower them and accelerate the change we want on the continent”.
Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, TEF’s incoming CEO said the foundation entrepreneurship programme has so far successfully empowered 7,520 entrepreneurs in the first five years of the 10-year programme.
Meanwhile, Aisha Buhari, the wife of the Nigerian President commended the programme’s impact on the continent, charging the selected entrepreneurs to contribute to Africa’s advancement.
TEF is the leading African philanthropy committed to empowering African entrepreneurs. Since its inception in 2015, the foundation with support from its partners has so far empowered 7,520 entrepreneurs.