The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) joined the United Nations and other global organisations to mark the International Youth Day on August 12, 2020, with a line-up of pan-African speakers discussing the theme, “Investing in Africa’s Future: Youth Empowerment through Entrepreneurship”.
The event emphasised the “Youth Engagement for Global Action” agenda and the role of African entrepreneurs in pushing for sustainable development. It also examined the critical role of the youth in igniting their potential, population, and influence to create mechanisms for sustainable development across the continent.
Moderated by TEF CEO, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, the event featured a line-up of pan-African entrepreneurs and speakers from the development sector.
Addressing the audience, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu drew attention to the plight of startup African entrepreneurs during the pandemic while highlighting the importance of SMEs, especially during this period. “The SMEs are the major contributors to African economies. We must not underestimate the level of disruption and uncertainty that young people all over the world have faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.”
Ifeyinwa emphasized the need to empower the youth to tackle the menace of poverty on the continent.
Wambui Gichuri, Ag. VP Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, African Development Bank stated: “Entrepreneurship is an essential part of Africa’s employment challenge and it is where we have to put our focus as a multilateral development bank”.
She added: “We need to do whatever it takes to empower our youth because they are the future of the continent”.
Martha T.M. Phiri, PhD, Director, Human, Youth and Social Development, African Development Bank, stated that the $5million partnership between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2019 to empower additional young African entrepreneurs, was a step in the right direction to create jobs on the continent. “That was a very exciting partnership and we feel this should be the way forward if we are going to create jobs on the continent,” she said.
Shoroke H. Zedan, Chairman, World Youth Skills, Egypt said: “It is important that governments start looking at entrepreneurship as a fundamental core topic that needs to be integrated into the educational system”.
Speaking on incorporating the youth into policymaking decisions, the Global President, AISEC, Alexandra Robinson stated: “I advocate for any policy that involves young people as co-owners of the policymaking process. I really believe that when young people are given co-ownership of the table, not just invited to someone else’s, they are able to have those meaningful conversations”.
Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, Founder, Wecyclers Nigeria and past fellow of the Tony Elumelu Foundation recalled the moment when she got accepted into the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme: “In 2012, when I was invited to the Tony Elumelu Foundation to pitch my idea, I was very fortunate to pitch directly to Mr. Elumelu and I was surprised a couple of days after, we got the grant. That grant was very important for Wecyclers”.
Speaking as an entrepreneur doing business on the continent, Leroy Mwasaru, Founder, Greenpact Kenya and an alumnus of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s flagship Entrepreneurship Programme highlighted the need for transparency to attract more investors: “It is as a result of sharing what we have been doing that we hope there are less failures and more successes”.
Earlier in the year, due to the pandemic, the Tony Elumelu Foundation announced the postponement of its flagship TEF Entrepreneurship Programme and TEF Forum, the largest gathering of African entrepreneurs on the continent. Celebrating its 10th year anniversary later in 2020, the Foundation counts over 9,000 young African countries across all 54 African countries as beneficiaries and alumni of its Entrepreneurship Programme. It continues to support African entrepreneurs with expert-led masterclasses, business management training and market linkages on its digital networking platform, TEFConnect.
Like!! I blog quite often and I genuinely thank you for your information. The article has truly peaked my interest.
These are actually great ideas in concerning blogging.
These are actually great ideas in concerning blogging.
Thanks for fantastic info I was looking for this info for my mission.
high line pointe reviews
south denver apartments
south denver apartments
south denver apartments
adeline bababikov
adeline bababikov
south denver apartments
Heya! I know this is kind of off-topic but I had to ask. Does operating a well-established blog like yours take a lot of work? I’m completely new to blogging but I do write in my diary daily. I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my own experience and views online. Please let me know if you have any ideas or tips for new aspiring bloggers. Appreciate it!
What’s up, constantly i used to check webpage posts here early in the break of day, as i love to gain knowledge of more and more.
Thank you for any other fantastic article. Where else may anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect method of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am at the look for such information.
ГГУ имени Ф.Скорины
I blog quite often and I genuinely appreciate your content. This article has really peaked my interest. I am going to book mark your site and keep checking for new information about once a week. I subscribed to your RSS feed as well.
Thank you for some other informative website. Where else may I am getting that kind of info written in such a perfect method? I have a undertaking that I am simply now running on, and I have been at the glance out for such information.
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This post posted at this site is actually nice.
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My website has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any methods to help stop content from being ripped off? I’d certainly appreciate it.
I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty value enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.
Hi I am so glad I found your webpage, I really found you by error, while I was researching on Digg for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a marvelous post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the minute but I have saved it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the awesome job.
Article writing is also a fun, if you be acquainted with after that you can write otherwise it is difficult to write.
Строительство автомойки требует тщательного планирования и учета всех нормативов. Опытные специалисты помогут реализовать проект любой сложности с гарантией качества.
It is perfect time to make a few plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this submit and if I may just I wish to recommend you few interesting things or advice. Perhaps you could write next articles relating to this article. I want to read more things approximately it!
Does your site have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it but, I’d like to send you an e-mail. I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.
I visited multiple sites but the audio quality for audio songs current at this site is in fact marvelous.