Entrepreneurship is one of the ways we can develop Africa – Tony Elumelu
Tony Elumelu, one of Africa’s leading investors and philanthropists, has identified entrepreneurship as one of the ways the African continent can develop in a manner that will be sustainable.
During a virtual Fireside chat hosted by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Heritage Foundation on Building Entrepreneurship, Economic Opportunity and Peace in Africa, Elumelu explained that Africa’s economic transformation lies in the hands of the young ones, young entrepreneurs.
According to him, “lt lies on our young entrepreneurs who have great ideas, energy and audacity and what and how they can contribute to the development of the African continent.”
“I see in Africa today people more determined than I was in their age. The difference between those guys and Tony Elumelu of today is access to opportunities, which I want to create. That is what I am mobilising others in the private sector in particular to do,” he said.
Addressing entrepreneurship, economic opportunity and peace in Africa, Elumelu advised the U.S. to shift its focus from aid that inevitably encourages dependency to support for youth empowerment and institutions that allow teeming youths to be productive.
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“On my own in 2010, my family founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation. Our purpose was simple; we wanted to democratise luck and create economic opportunities for people. We try to play our role in economically empowering our young ones and making them become better future Elumelus.”
“So far, we have supported over 16,000 Africans. We set out to support 10,000; 1,000 every year, but through collaboration with like-minded partners, we have increased and achieved over 16,000 in seven years since we set up the entrepreneurship programme.”
Elumelu also pointed to the TEF’s partnership with Google as an excellent example of the relationships that can foster entrepreneurship among young Africans. The tech giant recently committed a team to expand the training capacity of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s digital network, which already includes about a million active and aspiring entrepreneurs.
As the foundation’s program can only accept up to 2,000 students from 350,000 applicants, Google is helping develop a training platform with unlimited reach keyed to African conditions.
“That digital partnership is such critical support for Africa,” Elumelu said. “Our internet connectivity? Not so great. Available bandwidth? Not so great. Yet this young African is connected to the rest of the world. And that is an area we know we need to focus on.”
Elumelu added that entrepreneurship, peace and conflict are linked one way or the other, and young people who are engaged in bettering their own lives and their communities will reject the lures of extremism and crime.
