Business

Tony Elumelu Foundation Announces 10th Cohort OF Entrepreneurship Programme – 20,000 Entrepreneurs Funded Across Africa

Published

1 year ago

March 25, 2024

9 Views

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the leading philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries, has announced the successful entrepreneurs in its tenth selection for the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.

This new cohort brings to 20,000, the number of young African entrepreneurs who have received funding, mentoring, and capacity-building support from the Foundation, double the initial commitment.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation has disbursed US$100,000,000 directly to young African entrepreneurs, who have created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs, contributing significantly to Africa’s economic growth and development. 45% of these beneficiaries are women, reiterating the Foundation’s commitment to gender inclusion and equity.

Past entrepreneurs selected across Africa include:

Stella Sigana, founder of Alternative Waste Technologies from Kenya, produces fuel briquettes by converting organic and charcoal waste from slum settlements, and dedicates a portion of the revenues to providing education, skills training, and job placement for adolescent girls and young women aged 18-24.

Since her selection, Stella has created 12 jobs, generated over $79,000 in revenue, and recycled over 500 tons of waste into fuel briquettes for cooking.

Her business model has also empowered hundreds of women entrepreneurs in slum settlements in Kenya, enabling them to build businesses by selling her products directly to their communities, thus significantly increasing household income and wellbeing.

Vital Sounouvou from Benin is the founder of Exportunity, an e-commerce platform that promotes export opportunities for Africans by connecting producers with traders. Through Exportunity, Sounouvou has engaged over 750 clients, and built a database of 85,000 companies trading with Africa. He has employed 32 people.

Nora Chaynane, a Moroccan entrepreneur, and founder of Shine Space, a socio-educational initiative aimed at bridging the knowledge gap and guiding students toward the right career path, helps young Moroccans develop technical and interpersonal skills beyond school curriculum requirements. Through Shine Space, Nora has upskilled and capacitised over 2,500 young Moroccans.

Since inception in 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has pioneered an innovative approach to seeding, capacitising and networking young entrepreneurs across Africa. Drawing directly from Founder Tony Elumelu’s entrepreneurial journey, the Foundation democratises luck, spreads opportunity, in a sector agnostic approach, and has developed a bespoke infrastructure that reaches every country in Africa.

The Foundation is driven by our Founder’s philosophy of Africapitalism, which advocates that the private sector, particularly entrepreneurs, must play the pivotal role in Africa’s development.

The robust ability of the Foundation to reach entrepreneurs across geographies and sectors has enabled it to conduct innovative partnerships with the European Union (EU), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the US Government via the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Paciﬁc States (OACPS), the French Development Agency (AFD), the German Development Finance Institution (DEG), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the African Development Bank (AfDB), Sèmè City Development Agency, and Google, with bespoke programmes including targeting female empowerment and growth in fragile states. Building on its existing partnership with Sèmè City Development Agency, the Tony Elumelu Foundation will fund an additional 100 young entrepreneurs from Benin Republic in 2024.

Tony O. Elumelu shared: “As we mark a decade of impact, I am immensely proud of the incredible journey we have embarked on. Our entrepreneurs represent the driving force behind Africa’s economic transformation, and their resilience, determination, and innovation continue to inspire us all. The future of our continent is brighter because of their efforts.”

As part of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s commitment to support young Africans, the following ongoing opportunities are currently open for applications from young entrepreneurs across Africa on TEFConnect

Business

MTN , Airtel , Glo Begin USSD Direct Charges from Today

The new billing model would allow mobile network operators to charge customers directly for USSD sessions, with charges deducted from airtime balance at N6.98 per 120 seconds.

Published

2 days ago

June 18, 2025

OCHEFA

32 Views

Telecom subscribers in Nigeria will now be charged directly by their mobile network operators for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services, starting Wednesday, June 18, 2025.

This was disclosed by Mr Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), and the Publicity Secretary, Mr Damian Udeh.

Adebayo said that the change is in line with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) determination of USSD pricing and services, developed in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other stakeholders.

” The new billing model would allow mobile network operators to charge customers directly for USSD sessions, with charges deducted from airtime balance at N6.98 per 120 seconds,” he said.

Business

CAC unveils new service fees starting August 1

For companies, notable revisions showed that the voluntary striking-off fee has been raised from N25,000 (for small companies) to N50,000, and N100,000 for public entities.

Published

3 days ago

June 17, 2025

OCHEFA

51 Views

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAc) on Tuesday, announces an increments for its service fees review certain service fees effective the 1st day of August 2025.

In a statement , the Commission said that the new fees are a reflection of the current economic conditions and rising operational expenses.

The CAC added that the new development is expected to have implications for business owners, legal practitioners, compliance officers, and stakeholders engaging with the corporate registry for post-incorporation filings and regulatory services..

Said CAC: ” the reviewed fee structure affects services offered to companies, limited partnerships, business names, and incorporated trustees.

For companies, notable revisions showed that the voluntary striking-off fee has been raised from N25,000 (for small companies) to N50,000, and N100,000 for public entities.

Relisting of a Company now costs N50,000 for LTD/GTE and N100,000 for public companies.

Due Diligence Search (Self-Service) has been fixed at N50,000 across all categories.

The commission said the request for an extension of time to hold the annual general meeting will now cost N100,000 for public companies, and N50,000 for others.

Historical Search Reports: Depending on the type, public users will now pay N20,000 to N30,000 per request.Other charges include N25,000 for restriction of the director’s residential address and N5,000 per certified true copy of documents or extracts.Under Limited Partnerships, the updated fees are as follows voluntary Striking Off and Relisting: N25,000, letter of good standing: N10,000, Registration and CTC of Documents: N30,000, Change of Name: N10,000.

For Business Names, the structure reflects modest increments of N10, 000 for voluntary striking off, relisting: N25,000, application for cessation N10,000, CTC of Documents/Extract: N5,000 each, restriction of Proprietor’s Address: N25,000.

The commission stated that name reservations across the board remain at N1,000 while name reservations for restricted words cost N5,000.”

Business

June Tax Returns: FIRS Extends Office Hours to Weekends

“As you are aware, the month of June marks the peak of the annual Companies Income Tax (CIT) filling season, with many taxpayers whose financial year ends 31st December expected to file their tax returns by June 30.“

Published

4 days ago

June 16, 2025

OCHEFA

32 Views

THE Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zaacheus Adedeji, has directed the extension of tax office operations to weekends for the month of June.

In a statement on Monday, Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, explained that the directive is part of Adedeji’s commitment to matching the agency’s customer-centric policy with tangible action.

The statement reads: “The weekends service, which started on June 14, will end on Sunday, June 29, “and it is aimed at helping companies who are mandated by law to file their tax returns by the end of the month meet up with the deadline.”

“With the directive, tax offices are expected to open for business from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday throughout the month of June.”

Consequent upon Adedeji’s approval, the Coordinating Directors of Large Taxpayers Group (LTG), Government and Medium Taxpayers Group (GMTG) as well as Emerging Taxpayers Group (ETG), Ms Amina Ado, Dr Dick Irri and Mr Kabir Abba respectively have conveyed the decision of the management to all staff in the tax offices in the three groups.

To ease the process for taxpayers, enhance service delivery, and maximize tax collection during this critical period, management has approved extension of tax office operations to weekends for the month of June 2025,” a directive jointly signed by the three Coordinating Directors said.

The FIRS chairman, on assumption of office, reorganized tax operations for ease of tax payment, leading the transformation of the agency from merely being a tax-collecting entity to a service-providing body.