Female Entrepreneurs Create 500,000+ Jobs Under TEF

• TEF Chairman Tony Elumelu unveils the 2025 cohort of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme
• Under the foundation, women entrepreneurs have created around 500,000 jobs

During the 2025 cohort of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, the chairman of the foundation Tony Elumelu reiterated his commitment towards empowering African entrepreneurs in the presence of his wife. The event took place in Abuja where he also mentioned about transforming the economic landscape continent.

Tony said, “Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has granted over 2.5 million young Africans with access to training on its proprietary digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed over USD$100 million in direct funding to more than 21,000 African women and men.”

Under the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), female entrepreneurs have created around 500,000 jobs, jointly owning about 45% of the businesses while generating $320 million.

In addition, Jutta Urpilainen, Commissioner for International Partnerships, European Union mentioned about the impact of the partnership, stating, “This partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation will help women participate in economic development, realise their full potential, and accelerate economic inclusion. Empowering women entrepreneurs is a key driver for sustainable jobs and growth, in line with the objectives of our EU-Africa Strategy. Women and girls represent half of the world’s population, and they deserve equal opportunities.”

More than 150,000 jobs have been created under the foundation that offers entrepreneurial opportunities to all the people from Africa. The beneficiaries have created generated about $200 million in revenue who are living with some disabilities.

TEF Chief Executive Officer Somachi Chris-Asoluka added, “We have an intensive monitoring and evaluation platform at the Foundation. For each entrepreneur that we fund, for the first six months, we expect you to begin to set up your business and follow the approved business plan you submitted to the Foundation. We track you after a year. We track you after two years. We then begin to track quarterly.”