March 24, 2021
Tony Elumelu Foundation, through its foundation United Bank for Africa has remained unfazed by the COVID 19 Pandemic in positioning itself as a continental beacon of hope for entrepreneurial advancement. Its 2020 Newsletter was well cut out to convey the abiding spirit of the Founding Father, Tony Elemelu.
The referenced Newsletter dubbed: Power of Entrepreneurship is a gold mine for those driven by the ardent desire to making fortunes in business ideas that can be developed to scale. A-Z Newspaper has decided to do a serialized publication of excerpts of the said letter starting with letter from the Founder:
In 2020, the world stopped, but we did not. When we launched the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2010, we did something new in Africa – we “democratised” luck. In my own entrepreneurial journey, I knew luck had played an important role, and I was determined that others, many others, would get those same chances. We created an institution with a single focus: young African entrepreneurs. Ten years ago, we knew that if we equipped young people with the tools and the opportunities to succeed, this was the only sustainable, dignified way to create a path to prosperity for all; substituting hand-outs for self-reliance and pioneering a 21st century philanthropy. We wanted to change how Africa is perceived and how Africa grows – creating something transformative, scalable, inclusive, youth-focused and African-led. Aid has a role, it has saved many lives, but it does not challenge the status quo. Entrepreneurship, not charity, gives us control and allows us to grow our talents, harness our drive and our resilience, as Africans. As we celebrated 10 years, we looked back on initiatives that created independence and self-sustenance: The Elumelu Professionals Programme brought MBA students from leading global business schools to African businesses, demonstrating the opportunities on our continent; the Tony & Awele Elumelu Prize, recognising hundreds of top-performing students from universities across Africa; an Entrepreneurship Fund of $100,000 for seed funding 20 leading Fund of $100,000 for seed funding 20 leading African tech businesses; the Impact Economy Innovations Fund (IEIF) – a joint, US$650,000 initiative with the Rockefeller Foundation to identify and fund catalytic start-ups across Africa; and in 2015, partnering with the US Government to launch the SPARK Initiative, a private sector platform to foster greater global cooperation and collaboration for entrepreneurship Most importantly, we celebrate our Entrepreneurship Programme, that has funded and mentored over 9,000 young entrepreneurs, in less than seven years, and with the help of our TEFConnect hub, reached millions in Africa. Many global partner institutions such as the European Commission, the United Nations Development Programme, the Red Cross and the African Development Bank have now joined the movement. What we do became ever more important in 2020.
The COVID 19 Challenge
It was imperative that we responded immediately. We were among the first to catalyse pan-African Covid-19 recovery e‑orts, with a donation of US$14 million through our United Bank for Africa Foundation, to governments across Africa. Africa needed to quickly galvanise its own resources and ensure that we continue to protect people and businesses, lives and livelihoods. TEFConnect, – the largest digital community for African entrepreneurs, cutting across borders, culture, language, and sectors, also played a critical role. The platform helps to ensure the competitiveness, growth, and scale of the African private sector. We rapidly deployed TEFConnect to address the needs of an entrepreneurial community, significantly challenged by the pandemic. While the world shut down, we offered expert-led masterclasses to encourage the African SME ecosystem, covering insightful topics around business growth and innovation that contributed to how businesses can adapt to the new normal.