By Ezaruku Draku Franklin

Kampala – At least 296 Ugandan Small and Medium Size Enterprises are part of the 4,949 businesses from 54 African countries that have won the 2021 edition of the Tony Elumelu Foundation funds. This list was announced yesterday in the Nigerian Capital City of Abuja.
Of the 296 Uganda entrepreneurs 212 are females while 84 are males. Each of the selected entrepreneur will each receive non -refundable USD 5,000 seed capital.

A statement from the Tony Elumelu Foundation says the 2021 beneficiaries were selected from a pool of over 400,000 applications, based on their innovation, performance, and growth potential to create jobs and eradicate poverty on the continent. Consisting of both new start-ups and existing small businesses, the statement says the 2021 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs have undergone world-class business training, mentorship and coaching and will have a life-time access to the Tony Elumelu Foundation alumni network.

Tony Elumelu, the Foundation president asked the winners to work hard to lift the continent out of poverty and ensure there is financial discipline while managing their businesses

“To you young African entrepreneurs – work hard, dream dreams, and be very disciplined. You must continue to think of impact. The entrepreneurship journey is not linear – there are ups and downs, but by staying focused and resilient, ultimately success will come your way. The future of our continent is in your hands. What you do as entrepreneurs will go a long way in lifting Africa out of poverty. I am happy that our female entrepreneurs are doing very well, with 68% representation this year,” Elumelu said.

He also challenged the African leaders create an enabling environment for the young entrepreneurs to thrive and expand their businesses.

“To our African leaders – these young, intelligent, energetic hardworking, resilient Africans are ready to go. We need to keep creating the right enabling environment to enable our young ones to succeed. We must realise that their success is success for all of us on the continent. We must prioritise them because nations and continents that prioritise their people, succeed,” he said.

“To my fellow business leaders, let us realise that in the 21st century and beyond, it is about impact, legacy and about how we work together to power people out of poverty. It is such a great feeling to see 5000 young Africans also commence their own entrepreneurial journeys today,” he added.

The Director-General, International Cooperation and Development, European Commission, Mr. Koen Doens said the partnership between the foundation and the is moving into the active stage, with over 2400 women benefiting from the foundation’s training programme this year, and will get seed capital to support their ideas.

“I am extremely happy that at the European Union, we are able to be part of this great endeavour and to support it. I remember very well, a few years ago in Brussels when I first met Tony Elumelu at one of the events his Foundation was organising. Both of us were struck by how there was such a clear match between his vision on how he could support African entrepreneurship and the European Union’s own vision on how we wanted to support African entrepreneurship. Ever since, our partnership has embodied this same spirit that ultimately African growth cannot neglect the huge potential, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit that harbours so many Africans, especially young people and women,” he said.

The Assistant Administrator, UNDP/Director, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa stated its partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation on youth entrepreneurship is paying off because  Africa will only succeed when young Africans are given the opportunity to excel.

“This is what has inspired us to invest more than $20 million in emerging African entrepreneurs since we entered into our partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation. Our joint ambition is to empower 100,000 young African entrepreneurs over the next ten years across Africa, recognising that entrepreneurship is the only way dreams can be realised,” she said.

Tony Elumelu Foundation CEO, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu said the organisation has trained ten times more young African entrepreneurs than trained from 2015 to 2019 combined.

“Today in 2021, we will be paying out a record US$24,750,000 directly to the hands of African entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries,” she said.

Since its inception, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has now funded a total of 15,847 entrepreneurs who have created more than 400,000 direct and indirect jobs and counting. Through TEFConnect, the Foundation’s proprietary digital platform, it has provided capacity-building support, advisory and market linkages, to over 1.5 million Africans.