Mr. Tony Elumelu, Chairman of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, has called for global assistance for young African entrepreneurs to promote real and long-term reform on the continent. Elumelu, the Chairman of UBA Group Plc and Heirs Holdings, made the announcement while speaking at the Legacy Builders Palm Beach Conference in Florida, US.
According to him, African youngsters are critical to the continent’s change, and this motivated the establishment of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which aims to support African entrepreneurs. “Today, we have given 2.5 million Africans access to training through TEFConnect, our online portal, and lifted more than 2 million people out of poverty.
“Wehavealsodisbursed more than $100millionin direct funding to over 21,000 beneficiaries, who have created 1.5million jobs, and generated $4.2 billion in revenue across the continent.”We also discovered that we can’t do it alone – our program receives over 300,000 applications each year.
So we now collaborate with the EU, the UN, the Red Cross, and family foundations. We developed a program with the Ikea Foundation, and they use our implementation skills, while we accentuate the good.”
While acknowledging that many African youths are creating jobs and eradicating poverty, with their impact felt in their communities and across the continent as they devise solutions that are transforming Africa, Elumelu stated that every young African with a dream should have a fair chance of realising it.
This, he added, necessitates information exchange, mentorship, and the formation of networks that support and elevate, highlighting the need to do more to create a continent where young entrepreneurs are not paralysed by structural impediments, but rather spurred ahead by opportunity. We shall restore hope.
“Africa will not rise by chance—it will rise because of purposeful action, because of individuals who refuse to accept the existing quo and choose instead to create the future we deserve,” he stated.”
