The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), a leading philanthropic firm, a silent supporter of female entrepreneurs in Africa is set to give 3369 young women, a $5k non-returnable seed capital as part of the 2021 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme
In total, Tony Elumelu Foundation will be giving out $16.8m non-refundable grant to young African female entrepreneurs who make up over 68 percent of the total candidates selected this year, the top executive disclosed in a post announcing the news on his Instagram page.
“This year alone, the Tony Elumelu Foundation disbursement is $24.75m to 5,000 African SMEs for #TEF2021 Programme,” he added.
Since its inception, The Tony Elumelu Foundation has been a significant force in the empowerment of women.
In June 2021, the Foundation announced a $3million grant from Google.org to complement the 2021 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, which granted 500 aspiring African women entrepreneurs from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and select Francophone countries $5,000 seed capital.
Commenting on the announcement, CEO, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu said, “As Africa’s leading philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs, this grant support will provide financial and technical support for additional women-owned businesses and marginalized groups in the informal sector through the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.
“There is no better time to invest in women’s economic participation on the continent than now. Through this support, women will drive growth for local economies and enable better living conditions for their communities. We are delighted to disburse the Google.org grant to scale our ongoing work to empower young African entrepreneurs as we believe this will be instrumental in building the much-needed businesses and resilient economies.”
