167 Kenyans are among 1,000 entrepreneurs in the continent who will benefit from a new $5 million (Sh506.2 million) entrepreneurship support funding programme.
The funds have been unveiled by the Tony Elumelu Foundation which announced the disbursement at the just concluded Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi.
The funds will be disbursed in two tranches of Sh506,221 each, for initial seed fund which will be given as a grant and equity or debt later once the enterprises develop.
The money is part of the $100 million (Sh10.1 billion) fund aimed at creating and supporting 10,000 african entrepreneurs for the next 10 years.
Kenya has the largest number of beneficiaries, out of 1,000 startups chosen in the continent, after Nigeria.
According to the TEEP,the beneficiaries have already undergone a 12-week online training which culminated in a two-day boot camp in Nigeria early this month.
“The programme operates with the belief that entrepreneurship and business skills are teachable and learnable and that, once the aspiring entrepreneurs gains these skills then have the fundamentals tools to grow successful enterprises,” said businessman Tony Elumelu.
Elumelu, a Nigerian billionaire philanthropist behind TEEP and chairman of United Bank for Africa, was among investors who attended the GES.
“We need to look at creative ways to generate the jobs for African youths,” said Elumelu noting that 122 million young Africans will enter the labour force by 2020.
Once the business enterprises have developed, the beneficiaries will be supported by the programme to pitch their business ideas to global investors for capital injection.
