Business
Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme announces second round of $100 million support for African entrepreneurs
US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, said of the initiative: “I am pleased to see Tony Elumelu investing in entrepreneurs through The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme across Africa to work towards fostering communities of innovation.”
“I set out to institutionalize luck with the Foundation and give back to the Continent that made me,” said Tony Elumelu, the serial entrepreneur investor and philanthropist, who established the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2010.
Elumelu added: “Entrepreneurship can chart a new course of development for Africa, with Africans taking responsibility for wealth creation, creating value adding businesses here in Africa and this is why I encourage applications from across the Continent, regardless of age, gender, religion or colour.”
TEEP is driven by Elumelu’s philosophy of Africapitalism, which calls for the African private sector to focus on long term investments that create social and economic prosperity in Africa and take the lead role in Africa’s transformation.
The Chief Executive Officer of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Parminder Vir, said: “Africa does not need aid alone, it needs investment and it needs entrepreneurs. TEEP brings both and our ability to bring capital and the necessary support, for those who will help Africa harness its enormous potential is creating extraordinary opportunities across the continent.”
In addition to directly supporting African entrepreneurs with “Empowerment Capital”, the Tony Elumelu Foundation uses data gathered to conduct research and advocate for policy improvements to the enabling environment. Earlier this year, the Foundation released a report titled: “Unleashing Africa’s Entrepreneurs: Improving the Enabling Environment for Start-ups,” which included insights based on the most comprehensive and diverse data set on African entrepreneurs ever compiled.
The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is open to citizens and legal residents of all 54 African countries.
Application for 2016 opens on January 1 and can be made by any for-profit business based in Africa in existence for less than 3 years, including new business ideas.
