The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has said that selected Startups for the 2019 entrepreneurs Programme would be announced today.
The event, which marks the 5th round of the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme, will take place in Abuja, a statement said.
It also explained that annually, the Tony Elumelu Foundation opens its application portal to African entrepreneurs, with businesses of less than three years old. Through its $100million Entrepreneurship Programme, the Foundation empowers 1,000 entrepreneurs annually, who receive $5,000 in non-refundable seed capital, access to mentors, a 12-week training programme and opportunities to promote their businesses to a global audience.
It also added that in the five years since the Foundation launched its Entrepreneurship Programme, it has empowered 4,000 African entrepreneurs directly and an additional 470 entrepreneurs supported by the Foundation’s partners”.
The foundation’s incoming CEO, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, stated that each year “we see a significant uplift in applicants”.
She added that their partners are reviewing and finalising the applications. “Over 215,000 African entrepreneurs applied from across 54 African countries, up from 151,000 applications last year, with an increase in female representation from 62,000 in 2018 to 90,000 in 2019,” she said.
