By NDUMBE BELL GASTON
A relatively new partnership between the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme known as the TEF-UNDP Entrepreneurship Programme has preselected 5,240 young African entrepreneurs out of 81,000 applications from seven Sahel countries to receive business training.
Out of this number, official statements from UBA Cameroon say their philanthropic arm, the UBA Foundation, is making arrangements to organise what they call a pitching competition with the goal of choosing a final selection of 2,100 applicants to be known on December 15. They will now be eligible to join 7,531 known to be members of the TEF alumni network and given access to TEF’s networks digital platforms and receive other benefits such as non-refundable seed capital financing based on their business needs.
The TEF-UNDP Entrepreneurship Programme which was announced by the partners at the Africa Union Summit that held in Niamey, the capital of Niger in July, is said to be part of strategic efforts to fulfill Tony Elumelu Foundation’s vision to empower 100 000 African entrepreneurs over a 10-year period using TEF’s “unique approach of identifying, training, mentoring and funding young Africans most likely to create impact”, on the continent and beyond.
Additional details provided in the partnership is said to target Sahel countries in the programme’s first year while promoting gender inclusion and post-conflict economic growth in Nigeria, Niger, Mauritania, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. The partnership is also aimed at delivering capacity building skills, job creation, increase opportunities and reduce poverty, whose scarcity is known to fuel political instability and migrations. Application submissions were said to be 43% rural and 57% urban while gender submissions of business owners were 30% female and 70% male. The training will last for four weeks delivered through TEF connect, the foundation’s platform while others will take place in selected physical locations, The SUN has learnt.