This post is a call to action to all African startups wishing to participate in the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF). When the clock hits midnight on January 1st, 2019, at exactly 12am, the TEF will have opened the door and start receiving applications from budding entrepreneurs from across the continent.
After the application window is closed, the foundation will then pick the top 1,000 entrepreneurs, who will join its current list 4,470 beneficiaries of the TEF Entrepreneurship Program. Since TEF’s inception back in 2015, it has empowered a total of 4,470 entrepreneurs from across the African continent. Each entrepreneur received $5,000 seed capital funding, taken through a twelve-week long accelerated business training that took place online, given access to a network of mentors, and became a life-long member of the biggest entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa.
The program has also made it possible for exchanges between entrepreneurs from Africa with other local and global public sector leaders, development partners, and investors. Thus, raising the business profiles of the concerned entrepreneurs across borders, while showcasing their products to a much wider audience.
TEF also works to strengthen the business environments across the continent. For instance, this year, the Foundation convened a meeting that brought President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya. In June, they also held a forum with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the young entrepreneurs from across Africa.
The TEF program is a $100 million program that seeks to identify 10,000 African entrepreneurs throughout 10 years and equip them with the funding, ideas, network, and opportunities to see them flourish in their businesses. The program’s goal is investing in at least 1,000,000 new jobs and create at least $10 billion new revenue stream for the continent of Africa.
The program is open to all citizens and legal residents of any of the African countries, who is running a business based on the continent and one that is at least three years old.
Entrepreneurs eager and looking forward to taking part in the 2019 leg of the TEF program, the site www.tefconnect.com should be bookmarked, and ready to be visited come January 1st, 2019 at 12AM WAT.