Empowerment not Dependency

We have always given in Africa; It’s a part of who we are. But the way we have given in the past has not been impactful nor sustainable.We need to give from the perspective of empowering the recipient rather than making them dependent on us. The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is a demonstration of a shift in the paradigm towards structured, impactful and sustainable giving in Africa and the realisation of a life-long dream.

Ever since I first had the opportunity as a young entrepreneur to run my own business, I have been spurred on by a personal commitment to pave the way for others whom I knew would come after me. On December 1, 2015, I committed $100 million to African entrepreneurs, to invest in them and empower them to succeed in every economic geography in Africa. Today, we have trained 2,000 of the 10,000 which we intend to over a 10-year period.

2015, our first year, was a watershed year for The Tony Elumelu Foundation. 20,000 entrepreneurs from 52 countries across Africa vied for just 1,000 spots available and were selected after rigorous review from consulting partners Accenture. While it was exciting having the programme finally up and running and to interact with entrepreneurs online and over the phone; meeting 1,000 entrepreneurs in person and hearing their stories, witnessing their enthusiasm and answering their questions in one space at Covenant University in Ogun State was simply astonishing.

This year we are proud to have achieved full Pan-African representation in the programme and to have tripled representation from our women entrepreneurs. We witnessed an exponential jump in applications selecting the 2016 cohort from over 45,000 applicants from the 54 countries in Africa. I am encouraged by these statistics as it indicates that the spirit of entrepreneurship is thriving across the continent despite the challenges being faced across Africa and the global economy and I can see that the investment we have made, believing that entrepreneurship is the key to unlock our economic and developmental potential, has been worthwhile.

We are building a generation of dynamic African business owners, who will prove that local business growth will drive Africa’s economic and social transformation. I believe that by the end of this “Decade of African Entrepreneurship,” thousands of businesses will grow and flourish, driving sustainable prosperity across Africa. Furthermore, they will create ripples and waves of economic transformation across the continent. This is my vision.