By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) on Thursday called on women entrepreneurs to participate in its second annual edition as the application portal opens January 1, 2016.
Parminder Vir, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, made a call for an even broader participation in the 2016 edition, according to a statement from the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
“We encourage women and men with business ideas from all sectors, from every region, city, town and village across Africa, to apply. This is your programme and if you can demonstrate your passion and commitment, then this wonderful opportunity to become a Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur could be yours for the taking,” Vir said.
The Foundation advised budding entrepreneurs across Africa to now apply and join the annual TEEP for start-up businesses based in Africa.
The programme will accept applications until Midnight WAT on March 1, 2016 and
successful applicants on completion will receive the local currency equivalent of N850,000 as non-returnable seed capital, and are eligible for a further N850,000 in the form of either debt or equity, depending on business need and other criteria.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation affirmed that selected entrepreneurs will join the existing cohort of 1,000 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs, from 51 countries, who formed the inaugural 2015 cycle of the programme and have thus far, received considerable benefits from their participation.
The benefits received so far from promising entrepreneurs at the inaugural programme in 2015 include 12 weeks of training on how to set up and manage businesses with mentoring and financial support offered by the Foundation.
Accelerated growth where over 90 percent of the entrepreneurs with existing businesses have reported increased growth in the past year.
Other benefits are access to further funding whereby a significant portion of the entrepreneurs have accessed additional external funding through the platform provided by the Foundation and networking opportunities creating a flourishing alumni network which has developed to provide personal linkages and business opportunities across the Continent.
“I believe in empowerment that can change the face of Africa as we know it. African entrepreneurs are our future leaders and I am passionate about giving them the opportunity to succeed.
The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is a major, deliberate effort on my part, to institutionalise luck and provide seed capital funding, mentoring, business training, pan-African networking and springboard that our aspiring Entrepreneurs need to leap from,” Tony O. Elumelu, founder, of TEEP said.
TEEP is a commitment by the Tony Elumelu Foundation to identify and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs over a 10-year period and add $10 billion of revenues to Africa’s economy; provide over one million new jobs; and create a new generation of empowered entrepreneurs.
The inaugural edition began in December 2014, with a funding pledge of N17 billion ($100m equivalent) by the Foundation and it drew over 20,000 applicants from 51 African countries.
