Economy/Business - NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA

Afonne Emmanuel
Jan, Fri, 2021

Tony Elumelu Foundation unveils Entrepreneurship programme for 2021

183 total views today

By Lydia Ngwakwe

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), on Friday in Lagos unveiled the TEF Entrepreneurship programme for 2021, to empower women and men across the African continent.

The Chief Executive Officer of TEF, Mrs Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, disclosed this during an Online news briefing with Journalists across Africa.

She said: ” I want to welcome all of you as we unveiled the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme for 2021, the opening of the application portal which happened 12 midnight, Jan.1.

“As you all know, the TEF was founded in 2010, and in 2015, our founder, Mr Tony Elumelu, launched a 100 million dollars commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries, over 10 years.

“So, 2021 marks the seventh edition of the TEF entrepreneurship programme,” she said.

She added that opening the portal on Jan. 1, marked a new beginning, a renaissance, a beginning of recovery and a beginning of Africa taking its space in the global space as a strong thriving economy, led by SMEs who are the largest generators of job creators on the African continent.

She said that the 2021 application would be different from what was done in the previous years.

“Previously when you apply for the TEF entrepreneurship programme, once you apply, you put in your business plan within the application and those selected will be trained and funded.

“But, this year, just as we did last year, we want to train a lot more than we would fund, primarily because the feedback we have got from our entrepreneurs is that trainings been critical to the success of their businesses,”she added.

Ugochukwu disclosed that the foundation had trained, mentored and funded over 9,000 African entrpreneur till date.

She expressed excitement that the Price Waterhouse and Coopers, in conjunction with TEF had completed an impact assessment report which according to her, would be released in the Q1, to mark its 10th year anniversary.

She also disclosed that the foundation had partnered with the European Union to fund and train additional 2,400 women on a TEF Entrepreneurship program for 2021.

According to her, this is in addition to many other partnerships that the foundation have been running through the years. (NAN)

Afonne Emmanuel
Jan, Fri, 2021

Economy/Business

AfCFTA, new dawn in African integration – ACCI

205 total views today

By Emmanuella Anokam

The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) says the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is marking a new dawn in Africa’s drive towards economic integration as it takes off Friday.

Alhaji Al-Mujtaba Abubakar, President, ACCI who made this known on Friday in Abuja, said it would ensure that various recommendations for its implementation would be acted upon.

AfCFTA agreement comes into effect on Friday, Jan. 1, 2021.

According to Abubakar, today marks the realisation of a dream conceived in 1963 during the establishment of Organisation of African Unity, now African Union.

Across African capitals, from East to West and from North to South, the celebration is feverish as Africans today break decades of economic isolation by embracing unhindered trade access and interaction.

The continental trade is targeted at creating collective wealth and listing Africans out of the poverty bracket.

“As a leading Chamber in Nigeria, ACCI is elated to be part of this historic occasion, a process in which we actively participated from the beginning to fruition.

“We want to note that Nigeria has been fervently preparing for this day, especially through the mobilisation and strategic activities of the National Action Committee on readiness for the AfCFTA,’’ he said.

The ACCI president noted that various sub-sectoral groups have worked for months collating, designing and launching various sectoral action plans to put Nigeria’s private sector on a strong footing for the continental programme.

Abubakar affirmed that ACCI was a strong partner all through and set to ensure that various recommendations for accelerated readiness were acted upon.

According to him, Nigeria as the leading economy on the continent has a historic opportunity to deepen her economic reach and depth across Africa, leveraging on her affirmed strengths in services and manufacturing sector.

The president further said that Nigerian firms were already strongly rooted in many African countries.

He added that the new dawn would only enhance rather than diminish Nigeria’s economic influence on the continent.

Abubakar expressed ACCI’s commitment toward continuous mobilisation of her members to tap into the various sectoral action plans to enhance their capacities to trade within the context of the AfCFTA.

He said that ACCI would launch a Monthly AfCFTA Monitoring Review Roundtable to assess development within the free trade process, assess issues of interest and address disputation in the trading process.

The ACCI boss congratulated the Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment and the leadership of the Nigerian private sector and identified with fellow Africans on the development.

The AfCFTA was officially launched on March 21, 2018, in Kigali, Rwanda and as of December 2020, 54 AU Member States had signed the AfCFTA agreement.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari signed the agreement establishing the AfCFTA on July 7, 2019.

Buhari, thereafter, immediately directed the constitution of a National Action Committee (NAC) which had coordinated its implementation readiness. (NAN)