Uganda’s Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Dr. RuhakanaRugunda on Saturday spoke at this year’s Tony Elumelu EntrepreneurshipFoundation (TEF) forum in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. Rugunda who represented the government of Ugandapraised TEF for addressing the mind-set of emerging African entrepreneurs.
“This program is promoting Pan Africanism. Itwill help to consolidate unity of African take advantage of the Free Trade Areathat has been established by our leaders on the continent. We need to give moresupport and mentorship to them so that they can compete without cultural andproperty ownership problems that are working as impediments,” Rugunda said.
He added, “And I believe that the Elumelufoundation is a good example of innovatively working out a program which suitsthe youth and has demonstrated success where almost 5000 young Africans havebenefitted from the program. And the program has been so successful that it hasattracted partners like our friends from Europe, African Development Bank andmany other institutions and indeed, it has also mobilised us in government inAfrica to support that program. Therefore, I salute this program because it isgoing to touch on mind-set change.”
Over 250 Ugandans were among those selected to participatesin the 2019 Tony Elumelu Foundation Program and will each receive a capital seedof USD 5,000. in Uganda’s currency ( 18,650,000) as part of the TEF Program
TEF is the brainchild of UBA Group Chairman Mr.Tony Elumelu, with the vision of empowering 100,000 African Entrepreneurs onthe African Continent through his foundation. This year’s forum taking place at the iconicTranscorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, held under the theme; “Empowering AfricanEntrepreneurs,” exposes African Entrepreneurs to UBA special products andservices that will support their business and personal development.
The forum, now in its fifth year featuredmasterclasses, a dynamic pitching competition, electrifying panel debates, andthe Presidential Dialogue. It engaged an audience of 5,000 comprising ofstart-up entrepreneurs, development institutions and policymakers.
The two-day forum, which was launched on Friday,July 26 and ended on 27th July, brought together over African Entrepreneursfrom across the African Continent on an all-expenses paid trip to sell theirgoods and products to over 5,000 guests at the largest gathering of AfricanEntrepreneurs, policymakers and business leaders in one location. On Saturday 27th July 2019, Africanleaders including; Rugunda, Felix Tshisekedi, President the Democratic Peoples Republicof Congo (DRC), Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Macky Sall of Senegal and Nigeria’sMuhammud Buhari spoke at the president’s forum. Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Presidentof AFDB was also at the forum.
On the high risks faced by young people inbusiness, Rugunda said; “I think one of the problems is that we may betransferring models of loans that are for the well to do, imposing them onyoung people and they find that they cannot copy. So the problem may be morewith us other than being with young people. therefore, let us be innovative,look at the young people, interact with them and see whatworks for them andsupport.”
Happening on the side-lines of the forum was theUnited Bank for Africa (UBA) Marketplace that exhibited their products and allthe funding aspect is done through UBA.The UBA Marketplace is an online storethat was made physical to pre-launch the TEF forum.
As part of the activities, the event also playedhost to businesses and business owners in various industries including food,fashion, beauty, home/interior and gadgets.
Through the UBA Marketplace, the foundation hopesto connect over one thousand businesses on the continent to boost intra Africantrade through this summit that brings together African entrepreneurs,dignitaries and business owners to share ideas on the growth of the Africaneconomy.
Inspired by Tony Elumelu’s economic philosophy ofAfricapitalism and his vision to institutionalise luck and democratiseopportunity for a new generation of African entrepreneurs, the Foundation hasimplemented one of the most ambitious entrepreneurship programmes globally.Selected entrepreneurs from previous years have transformed their businessesand their communities after gaining from the Programme’s 7 pillars: $5,000 inseed capital; business development training; one-on-one mentoring; access toTEFConnect; Pan-African meetups; TEF network.
