Africapitalism conference held by Tony Elumelu Foundation ( TEF entrepreneurship programme)

Uganda had the opportunity to host one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Africa, TEF Founder, UBA Group Chairman and philanthropist, Tony O. Elumelu, at a conference held at 3:00 pm at Makerere University on April 11th, 2018. The Tony Elumelu Foundation in partnership with UBA group held a Founders’ conference on the topic of the lecture as africapitalism and entrepreneurship.

The purpose of the conference was for young Ugandan entrepreneurs to gain valuable insight for success in business
and leadership from Mr Tony Elumelu himself. The conference was more like an interactive session and
it was filled to the brim with Young Minds eager to soak up the knowledge, like a new sponge.

The founders’ forum thought it prudent for the future entrepreneurial success stories for this year’s TEF entrepreneurship programme to have this knowledge.

All successful Ugandan applicants of the 2018 TEF programme received an invitation to attend the lecture but the attendance also included the entrepreneurs that didn’t get into the programme but hope to get in next year.

The conference is recent in a string of visits that the TEF has been making around Africa as part of its Africapitalism research project. Last month, the TEF released a report, and Africapitalism- Exploring the Role of the Private Sector in the Sustainable Development of Africa pertaining to the africapitalism research project it is doing in conjunction with Edinburg University.

The aim of the project is to explore how African business leaders can pursue the goals of profit and social wealth creation and identify the extent to which they do this. In order to provide a balanced view, policymakers were included in their study to understand how they view the role of the private sector and also the purpose of business
in Africa.

Following the release of the report, the foundation is carrying out more conferences and lectures on the topic. It’s in this light that the foundation forum set a date to hold a lecture on Africapitalism in Uganda and also potentially meet with the president of the country and discuss further on the topic.

Beyond his philanthropic ambitions, Tony Elumelu was also in Uganda visiting the staff and leadership of UBA Uganda and the governor. The UBA bank also recently opened a branch in Makerere University serving as one of the reasons to meet the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University.

UBA is also working on several projects with the government MDAs laying the foundation for meeting to discuss these projects among other things with President Museveni. This was, as well, a good opportunity for the successful applicants for the TEF programme to interact with the founder of the organization.

Uganda ranks higher on Tony Elumelu Foundation’s TEF entrepreneurship programme

In a session concluded last month, 126 Ugandan entrepreneurs emerged as successful applicants for the 4th cycle of the annual Tony Elumelu Foundation’s TEF entrepreneurship programme. The successful applicants emerged out of over 2,000 applications from Uganda.

From the statistics, Uganda had the third highest number of applications for the programme after Nigeria and Kenya. Mr Tony O. Elumelu said;

that the increasing number of applicants each year illustrates the strength and depth of entrepreneurial promise and commitment in Africa.

There was a near 50-50 split between male and female applications, reflecting the entrepreneurial ambition of Africa’s women. Agriculture was the leading sector among selected entrepreneurs at 30.5%, followed by technology (10.5%) and Education and training (9%).

Speaking about the selections for the year 2018, Mr Elumelu said;

The number and quality of applicants, 151,000 in total, was outstanding – it illustrates the strength and depth of entrepreneurial promise and commitment on our continent.

TEF CEO, Parminder Vir said;

Over the next nine months, the entrepreneurs will receive online training and mentoring and will use the skills acquired to develop business plans prior to receiving $5,000 in seed capital. This will bring TEF’s total Programme investment so far to $15 million in direct funding to entrepreneurs and $5.8 million in Programme & technology development and operations.

Following the conclusion of the conference in Uganda, the 126 lucky Ugandan applicants are more excited about the TEF programme and more entrepreneurs around East Africa are hoping to get a similar opportunity to host a TEF conference or two in the area of africapitalism and what it would mean for the African economy.