By Elizabeth Adegbesan

The Tony Elumelu Foundation, TEF, said it has disbursed over $100 million seed capital to over 18,000 beneficiaries across 54 African countries in 13 years.

The Foundation also noted that it trained 1.5 million entrepreneurs during the period that created over 400,000 jobs of which 58 percent were created by female entrepreneurs.

These businesses, according to TEF, had generated $2.3 billion revenue since 2015.

Speaking at a Symposium in honour of the Chairman, United Bank of Africa, UBA, Mr. Tony Elumelu, who just turned 60 years, yesterday in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of TEF, Somachi Chris-Asoluka, said: “On agriculture and green sector, they are showing us that even if agriculture already employed 60 percent of the all Africa in Sub Saharan Africa, there is still so much potential that is untouched.”

The Co-founder of TEF and wife of Elumelu, Mrs Awele Elumelu, thanked the organizers of the Symposium and guests present noting that the celebrant was always ready to assist people both home and in the office.

Beneficiaries of the TEF seed capital and training from different countries narrated their success stories before and after encountering TEF.

Mrs. Temitayo Johnson-Laleye, founder TJL Signature, a sustainability Fashion accessory brand and a beneficiary of TEF seed capital of $5,000 thanked Elumelu saying, “Applying for the first time I found it had a rigorous process. But I was not selected. I was eventually selected the 3rd time. This helped me to be resilient. It helped me to include sustainability practices in my templates”.