The Minister of Youth Affairs Mohamed Orman Bangura and the Chief executive Officer of UBA Sierra Leone, Usman Isiaka, have called on Sierra Leonean entrepreneurs to apply for the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) entrepreneurship programme.
The objective of the programme is to empower women and men across Africa, catalyzing economic growth, driving poverty eradication and ensuring job creation.
As of date, 9,038 young entrepreneurs across 54 African countries have been empowered with access to training, mentoring, seed capital and business network through TEFConnect, the largest digital hub for entrepreneurs in the continent with over one million subscribers.
The CEO said that over the years, Sierra Leone has had a little over 100 applications with just a handful of those applications making it through to the final stage.
“Hon Minister and members of the press, you will be surprised to know that the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which last year celebrated its 10 years of impact, empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, through the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme with 9,038 beneficiaries across the continent, has less than 20 beneficiaries from Sierra Leone. This is the reason why we are moved to start this TEF awareness creation initiative in the country,” Isiaka said.
“This year the bank has decided to collaborate with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and the TEF Alumni to drive a higher participation level from Sierra Leone and have more Sierra Leonean youths benefit from this enormous opportunity.”
He said that as an integral part of their corporate social responsibility, UBA Sierra Leone remains committed to working with the Ministry of Youth Affairs, TEF Alumni and the media in promoting the call year-on-year, as they had put together an array of activities that will drive public awareness for this year’s call to ensure that increased number of young enterprising Sierra Leoneans apply.
The Minister of Youth Affairs, called on every Sierra Leonean to make use of the golden opportunity provided by the Tony Elumelu Foundation by applying for the grant. He said that application forms could be accessed at the Ministry’s portal.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation 2021 TEF Entrepreneurship programme application for this year opened on January 1, 2021 and will remain so until 31st March 2021.
The application portal for the submission of business proposal for the grant is available on TEFConnect Digital Platform (www.tefconnect.com).
The Tony Elumelu Foundation established in 2010 is the leading champion of entrepreneurship in Africa through its US$100 millon Fund for the identification, training, mentoring and the provision of US$5,000 seed capital to 1,000 young Africans entrepreneurs annually over a 10 year period that started from 2015.
By Alusine Sesay
25/01/2021. ISSUE NO: 7987