Agric, capacity building entrepreneurs lead in Elumelu’s $100m programme

Entrepreneurs in agriculture and education/training are substantially represented as the Tony Elumelu Foundation selects the inaugural 1,000 African beneficiaries who will participate in the $100 million programme.

The selected entrepreneurs come largely from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa   and Ghana.

While agric entrepreneurs represent 25 percent of the selected 1,000 businesses, players in the education and training got  a12 percent stake. Similarly, those in commerce/retail and ICT represent got nine percent each, whereas manufacturers and fashion designers represent six percent each.

The selected entrepreneurs will continue  the programme cycle over the next nine months. The cycle includes an intensive online training curriculum, mentoring and participation in a two-day entrepreneurship boot-camp. The major criteria for the selection  are feasibility, market opportunity, financial understanding, scalability and leadership/entrepreneurship skills.

Announcing the selection of the beneficiaries yesterday, Tony Elumelu, chairman of the foundation, said the 1000 beneficiaries were selected from over 20,000 applications from 52 African countries, representing about 16 sectors.

According to Elumelu, the selection was carried out by Accenture, an independent consulting and management firm, an indication that none of the members of the foundation knows any of the beneficiaries.

“We have done this because we believe that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are the hope of Africa,” Elumelu said.

“They are the ones to create jobs and develop the continent. We did not know any other selected persons. We only assigned the job of selection to Accenture. This is because we believe in transparent process,” he said.

Elumelu said the selection of the entrepreneurs brings closer the ultimate goal to drive Africa’s economic and social transformation from within and to radically intensify job creation in the continent.

The $100m Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is targeted at spurring the entrepreneurship spirit among Africans while also boosting job creation and the Gross Domestic Products of African economies.

Parminder Vir, director at the Foundation, said for the first time 1000 entrepreneurs will meet in Lagos, build networks, develop peer-to-peer relationship and engage with others.

According to Vir, the foundation has created a platform that will enable investors from other  countries to listen to the African and start-up stories.

“We are planting the seed for intra-African trade. The idea is that  the entrepreneurs will begin a relationship online that will also continue off-line,” she said.

She said at the end of the session with the selected entrepreneurs, those who stayed the course would be qualified for the seed capital.