Africa’s leading entrepreneurship-focused philanthropic organisation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), has announced October 25, 2018, as the date for its 4thannual TEF Entrepreneurship Forum.
The largest gathering of African entrepreneurs and the broader entrepreneurship ecosystem will unite over 5,000 entrepreneurs, global investors, leaders from the African public and private sectors and developmental organizations at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos.
The event is a unique opportunity to generate ideas, forge networks and bring policymakers and the private sector together, in a spirit of robust debate and interaction. The 2018 cohort from the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme, as well as mentors and partners, will be present, as the culmination of their intensive twelve-week induction.
Five Gambian entrepreneurs have been listed in the 1000 African entrepreneurs selected for the 2018 Tony Elumelu Foundation programme announced early this year.
The Foundation announced that Almameh Manneh- agribusiness, Bakau Dem- Energy/Power Generation, Bankey Oliver Charles N’jie- ICT, Bubacarr J.B. Touray- agribusiness and Chan Mendy- Fashion will participate in the African founded 21st century philanthropic organisation programme. The Foundation is committed to entrepreneurship development and applications were received from over 150, 000 entrepreneurs.
Over the past three years, some other promising Gambian entrepreneurs including Momarr Mass Taal, Mbadiba Cham, Gabriel Gomez, Kaw Yerro Cham and Kujeh Kah have all benefited from the foundation’s programme.
In keeping with the Foundation’s track record―most recently with President Macron of France―of bringing politicians face to face with the new generation of young business women and men shaping Africa, the Forum will include an interactive session with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, moderated by TEF Founder, Tony O. Elumelu.
The Forum, according to TEF, will also feature the launch of the TEFConnect, the world’s largest digital platform for African entrepreneurs, dedicated to connecting African entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Founder, Tony O. Elumelu, CON, stated: “In just four years, we have directly impacted 4,460 entrepreneurs, and we are beginning to see the results – job creation, ripple effects, but most importantly a recognition that Africa’s economic well-being is driven by entrepreneurs: female and male, large and small – they are the engine of our continent’s transformation. We will be championing and celebrating them.
This year, we are truly achieving scale and impact; we received over 150,000 applications in 2017 alone, up from 20,000 applications in 2015. We are now calling on the current generation of African success stories and others to partner with us to see how we can all further create impact, genuinely transform millions of lives and increase the number of inspiring stories we will be hearing in Lagos”.
TEF CEO, Parminder Vir OBE stated: “The TEF Entrepreneurship Forum is the only event across the continent that brings together the complete African entrepreneurship ecosystem, demonstrating our commitment to capturing the whole continuum – from the entrepreneurs themselves, governments who must provide enabling environments, to capital, advice and perhaps most importantly access and network”.
Inspired by Tony Elumelu’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism and his vision to institutionalize luck and democratize opportunity for a new generation of African entrepreneurs, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has implemented one of the most ambitious entrepreneurship programmes globally.
Launched in 2015, the Programme is a 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor, and fund 10,000 entrepreneurs. Its goal is to invest in businesses that will generate at least 1,000,000 new jobs and contribute at least $10 billion in new annual revenues across Africa.
In its 4th year, the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme has empowered 4,460 entrepreneurs with a total investment of USD20million; 4,000 funded directly by the Foundation and 460 have been funded by partners.
