104 Cameroonians have beeen selected for the 2019 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme to be held from July 26-27.

The Cameroonians are among  3,050 African entrepreneurs, drawn from all 54 African countries, selected to join the 5th cycle of the $100million TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.

The announcement was made on March 22 at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja, following a presentation of the selection process by Accenture Development Partners.

This year, over 216,000 applications were received, an increase from last year’s 151,000. Nearly 90,000 were submitted by female entrepreneurs, an increase of 45%, illustrating the Foundation’s strategy to achieve greater gender balance.

The selected Entrepreneurs will each receive non- refundable $5,000 of seed capital, access to mentors, and a 12-week business training programme, directly focused on the needs of African entrepreneurs. On July 26 – 27 2019, they will gather at the TEF Entrepreneurship Forum, the largest annual gathering of African entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship ecosystem on the continent.

“Every year, we face an almost impossible task – to select 1,000 entrepreneurs, from the hundreds of thousands that apply. Our entrepreneurs are hungry to effect change. We know we are only scratching the surface, we see the depth of entrepreneurial talent, that all of us – government, business indeed African society, must harness to transform our economies and livelihoods. We must rally together to empower them and accelerate the change we want on the continent,”TEF Founder, Tony O. Elumelu said.

In her speech, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, commended the Programme’s impact on the continent, charging the selected entrepreneurs to contribute to the advancement of the African continent.

In her speech, Her Excellency, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, commended the Programme’s impact on the continent, charging the selected entrepreneurs to contribute to the advancement of the African continent.

The TEF’s growing successes has attracted partners like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Federal Republic of Benin (Seme City), the Anambra State Government, Indorama, the Government of Botswana and the African Development Bank (AfDB).