The board of directors of the African Development Bank has approved a grant of $5m to enable the Tony Elumelu Foundation entrepreneurship programme to scale up its outreach and impact to 1,000 select youth entrepreneurs.
The grant followed the signing of a letter of intent between the bank and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which took place during the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme launch in March this year.
AfDB stated on Monday that the partnership would bring about future collaboration focused on strengthening small to medium-sized enterprises as well as talent and skills development for Africa’s youth.
It stated, “The partnership will support 3,050 young entrepreneurs across 54 African countries. The bank’s participation will enable an additional 1,000 entrepreneurs to benefit from the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme, which provides much needed opportunities to help stem the rising tide of unemployment and inequality facing the continent’s youngest citizens.
“The programme aligns with the Bank’s ten-year jobs for youth in Africa strategy launched in 2016, to support the creation of 25 million decent jobs across the continent. The strategy is also expected to equip 50 million young African people with employable skills that enable them to access economic opportunities and realize their full economic potential across the continent.”
It stated that the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme would deliver business training, mentoring, access to networks, markets and capital for business development to selected youth-led start-ups in order for them to grow and create jobs.