Tony Elumelu is Chairman/CEO of Heirs Holdings, the pan-African proprietary investment company, which he founded in 2010/FILE
NAIROBI October 28, 2016 – 75 Kenyans are among 1,000 startup entrepreneurs from Africa who will benefit from the US$100 million (Sh10 billion) Tony Elumulu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) this year.
The group was selected from over 45,000 applicants in 54 African countries after completing the programme’s innovative 12-week online training on entrepreneurship.
Launched in 2015, the programme funded by United Bank for Africa Group Chairman Tony O. Elumelu seeks to identify and empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs, create a million jobs and add $10 billion in revenues to Africa’s economy in the next 10 years.
The seed capital funding will be released at the close of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Foundation (TEEF) Entrepreneurship Forum.
TEF Entrepreneurship Forum has been organized to showcase African startups to a global audience of entrepreneurs, incubators, business, corporations, government, investors, academia and foundations.
The entrepreneurs represent sectors as diverse as agriculture and fashion. Thirty-six per cent of those chosen were women, a significant increase on the first year’s twenty-four per cent. Entrepreneurs range from 18 to 54 years old.
“We are proud to have established a unique platform for African entrepreneurs to forge relationships and business partnerships. In doing so, we are creating an ecosystem that fosters innovation and collaboration, on a scale few believed possible,” TEF CEO Parminder Vir OBE said.
The Forum allows entrepreneurs to share and gain knowledge, build cross border partnerships, and connect with investors and policymakers.
The Foundation’s long-term investment in empowering African entrepreneurs is in pursuit of Tony Elumelu’s philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions Africa’s private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the continent.
