Entrepreneurs benefit from Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme

Twenty-nine local entrepreneurs have been selected to be part of the prestigious Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme 2018. The entrepreneurs who range from sectors including; consulting, media and entertainment, education and raining, Commercial, manufacturing and construction form part of the 1 000 entrepreneurs selected from 54 African countries within over 30 business sectors.

The Entrepreneurship Programme is the brainchild of Nigerian billionaire and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu. His organisation has committed $100 million to identify, train and fund 10 000 African entrepreneurs over a 10 year period, with the goal of realising $10 billion in revenue for the continent and creation of a million jobs. Successful applicants are given US$5 000 working capital which Elumelu says is currently not enough but can make a difference for starting small business. Once the funded entrepreneurs are successful, Elumelu hopes that they will be able to address some of the socio-economic challenges in Africa. Each year, 1 000 entrepreneurs receive funding. The 10 000 start-ups selected from a pool of applicants across Africa will participate in a comprehensive programme which will include: A customised 12-week business skills training course Start-Up Enterprise Toolkit Mentoring Resource Library Two-day Boot Camp Seed Capital Funding Elumelu Forum Alumni Network The application portal that opened on January 1, 2018 closed on March 1, after a two-month long opening for this year’s intake.