September 5, 2017 By Hassan Gbassay Koroma
Some of The entrepreneurs pose with CEO Parminder Vir,
Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation has admonished the foundation’s selected Sierra Leonean entrepreneurs to continue working hard to ensure that they make headway in their business ideas.
Business ideas submitted by the entrepreneurs in applying for the 2017 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme have already been approved.
During his meeting with the entrepreneurs, Parminder Vir said he was happy with the business ideas submitted for their 2017 programme and urged them to work within that line.
The foundation on August 24, 2017 donated five hundred thousand United States Dollars to help victims of August 14 mudslide and flood disaster that hit the country.
According to madam Vir, the founder and owner of the foundation, Tony Elumelu, held meeting with selected entrepreneurs in every Africa country he had visited to provide them with the necessary advice on how to go about their business ideas and make it a reality.
Over 93,000 African entrepreneurs from fifty-five (55) African countries applied for the 2017 Entrepreneurship Programme with only one thousand selected as 2017 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs. Six Sierra Leoneans were among those selected from Africa.
Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is a Pan-African entrepreneurship initiative of the Tony Elumelu Foundation. It is a multi-year programme of training, funding, and mentoring, designed to empower the next generation of African entrepreneurs.
The programme will identify and help grow 10,000 start-ups and young businesses from across Africa over the next 10 years. These businesses will in turn create 1,000,000 new jobs and contribute $10 billion in annual revenues to Africa’s economy.
Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu, a Nigerian billionaire, investor and philanthropist, committed $100 million to create 10,000 entrepreneurs across Africa over the next 10 years.
The selected Sierra Leoneans and business ideas are Abdulsalam Kamara-Manufacturing, Bockarie Sama Banya- Commercial/Retail, Bridgetta Audrey Modupeh Amoateng-Agriculture (Agri-business, Farming), Dominic Andrew Boima- Agriculture (Agri-business, Farming), Henry Orlando Joseph Tucker- Agriculture (Agri-business, Farming) and Martin Kailie-Energy and Power Generation.