Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu has helped fund thousands of African entrepreneurs and a new partnership with the United Nations could empower more.
The United Nations Development Program, the global development network of the United Nations, has partnered with the Tony Elumelu Foundation to train, mentor and financially support 100,000 young entrepreneurs in Africa over the next 10 years, according to a press release.
The partnership, which is known as the Tony Elumelu Foundation-United Nations Development Program Sahel Youth Entrepreneurship partnership (TEF-UNDP), aims to generate millions of new jobs and contribute at least $10 billion in new annual revenue across Africa, AllAfrica reports.
The partnership will target young Africans in underserved communities starting with the Sahel region which has the youngest population in the world, according to the press release.
More than 194 million people or 64.5 percent of the population are under age 25 in the Sahel, which includes Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Mauritania.
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The U.N.’s YouthConnekt initiative, which is active in Liberia, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, and Zambia aims to connect African youth with opportunities, mentorship and funding to enable economic transformation.
YouthConnekt’s resources are expected to be leveraged to boost Elumelu’s entrepreneurship program while the U.N. plans to mobilize funding and support for youth-led businesses as part of their contribution to the partnership, according to TheIndependent.
Through the TEF-UNDP partnership, selected applicants are each expected to receive $5,000 seed capital, access to mentors, a 12-week business training program and networking opportunities.
This builds on the work of the Elumelu Foundation to empower youth entrepreneurs.
In 2014, Elumelu committed $100 million to fund 10,000 entrepreneurs across Africa over 10-years, Forbes reported.
So far the foundation has supported and funded 7,520 entrepreneurs, investing $25 million of the total $100 million pledge to date, according to the foundation’s website.
Five years into the program, the foundation is on track to reach its goal and exceed it thanks to this new partnership with the U.N.
Around 2,000 entrepreneurs selected through the U.N. are expected to join more than 3,000 previously announced beneficiaries of the 2019 cohort of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s entrepreneurship program, AllAfrica reports.
The fifth edition of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Forum takes place between July 26 and 27, 2019.
