(ThyBlackMan.com) The legend continues. Early in January 2018, Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu, a nigerian billionare investor, founder of The Tony Elemelu Foundation announced a new chapter of his Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program to finance 1,000 young african entrepreneurs during this year. This program opens its 4th cycle.
Tony E. surnamed “TEF” encourages african youth to apply for this opportunity via an application form available on his official website. The application deadline is midnight on March 1, 2018. Applicants must be legal citizen or resident of an african country. The business in competition must be located in Africa, be for-profit and existing 3 years ago at least. The winners will be selected according to the leadership and entrepreneurial skills revealed by the application process. Their concept shall be in a long-term evolution, a significative need on the market and reflect a financial understanding.
Each elected will be offered a non-returnable grant of $5,000 as seed capital to be paid based on the official Central Bank of Nigeria naira equivalent value at the date of selection for the program. From May to December 2018, the winners will go for 12 weeks of a rigorous online training to create and manage a business. They will benefit the guidance of a world-class mentor to transform their business. They will have access to the largest network of African start-ups and T.E. Foundation’s own global contacts.
Indeed, since 2015, aged 55, TEF, Commander of the Order of the Niger(CON), Member of the Order of the Federal Republic( MFR), economist, chairman of 3 companies in Nigeria, Heirs Holding, United Bank of Africa, and Transcorp got involved in a wide challenge, as he said himself to the medias worldwide “the TEF Entrepreneurship Program is a 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train mentor and fund 10,000 entrepreneurs, capable of changing the face of business across Africa». TEF named his philosophy “ africapitalism ” he defined as “ a call on the African Private Sectors to invest long term in key sectors of the African economy that create prosperity and social wealth”.
He believes Africa’s private sector and most importantly entrepreneurs are the catalyst for the social and economic development of the continent. The T.E. Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Heirs Holding, a firm investment. TEF explained his vision “In 2015, I heralded the ‘Decade of the African Entrepreneur’, the first of its kind and scale in Africa. Since then, our alumni, across all 54 African countries, have begun growing businesses and improving lives, contributing to our goal of empowering 10,000 entrepreneurs who will collectively create one million jobs and generate $10 billion in revenue. We are committed to giving from the perspective of empowering the recipient, rather than making them dependent on us, because prosperity is assured only when ALL Africans are financially independent.
My vision for the Foundation is to unlock the obstacles that Africa’s entrepreneurs face, so that they, rather than aid agencies or governments will spur the continent’s transformation. At the end of our 10-year commitment, thousands of businesses will grow and flourish, driving sustainable prosperity across Africa. I invite you ALL to learn about what the Foundation does, what we hope to do and to discover what we can do together. In doing so, I am confident that we will achieve sustainable development in Africa”.
He added “We are funded by an annual grant from Heirs Holdings and supported by the group’s investee companies. In turn, we provide support to the philanthropic activities of the Heirs Holdings Group. In the last five years, we have spent over N2 billion toward our mission, which includes supporting the philanthropic goals of other institutions and foundations working in and for Africa. In 2010, we launched the Tony Elumelu Foundation to spur our continent’s development through entrepreneurship and competitiveness”. Among numerous awards, TEF was recognized as one of “Africa’s 20 most powerful people in 2012” by Forbes magazine.
He has two degrees in economics from nigerian universities, a bachelor’s degree from Ambrose Alli University and a master of science degree from the University of Lagos. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programme. He has written his Africa economic development approach in prestigious publications as The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times. He meets many firm chairmen, many head of states including President Barack Obama. His net worth is estimated $1.4 Billion as seen on Forbes, 2018 Rating. So called the African Warren Buffet, the prophet of “africapitalism”, TEF was invited in January 2018 at the World Economic Forum on a panel on State of Start-Ups to clarify the start-ups ecosystem influence in the world development. TEF with over 150,000 applications in the first 3 years alone is the Africa’s largest philanthropy supporting entrepreneurship.
TEF, married to Awele Vivien Elumelu, a medical doctor have 7 children. His slogan is “Let stop talking and let start doing”. www.tonyelumelufoundation.org, Twitter: @TonyElumeluFDN
Staff Writer; Abu-Jahlil Astrid Chacha
One may also connect with this brother on Facebook; Segla A.