The Tony Elumelu Foundation Grant 2022 is the latest edition of TEF yearly grant, a $100million commitment made by the Elumelu family to empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs over a 10-year period through training, mentorship, and funding. The goal is to create at least 1million jobs and contribute over $10billion in revenue to the African economy.
The Foundation empowers African entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship ecosystem across 54 African countries. The TEF training curriculum has segmented entrepreneurs based on their capability and knowledge. This opportunity is open to all African citizens, both residents and non-residents. Also, legally residents in the country can apply.
TEF has empowered 15,847 African entrepreneurs since its inception in 2015, with a non-refundable grant of $5000 each. In 2021, TEF disbursed USD$24.75 million to 5000 African entrepreneurs.
Source: TEFCONNECT
The training will educate and help the entrepreneur with the right capacity to start or grow the business and overcome the challenges faced by entrepreneurs across the African continent. The curriculum focuses on practical, iterative learning that is useful even long after the training period.
The training programme is a strict process. Unless you complete them, you will not submit and review your business plan, take part in the pitch competition, or receive any seed funding.
Information about the Tony Elumelu Foundation Grant 2022
Note that you will not be eligible if you are less than 18 years, or have received the seed funding before.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE PROGRAMME
The Entrepreneurship Programme identifies outstanding African entrepreneurs who have start-ups or business ideas with the potential to grow. The Tony Elumelu Foundation Grant 2022 will be in different phases, as listed below:
- Application Phase
- Training and Mentorship Phase
- Business Plan Submission Phase
- Pitching Phase
- Seed Capital Phase
Application Phase
ALL APPLICANTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO:
- Complete all mandatory fields in the online application form on TEFConnect.
- Submit the form
- Attach all the requested documents (valid identity card and photo headshot) and upload the required documents
- Expect Foundation comments.
PLEASE NOTE: A single email account can only access TEFConnect. It is important that all applicants register with an email to which they have regular access.
How to APPLY for Tony Elumelu Foundation Grant 2022
Application Form
The application form comprises four parts:
- Personal information (You will have to upload any of international passport, driving licence, residency or Citizen’s Card, Voter’s Card, Tax ID). Upload the scanned ID in any of these formats .pdf, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .gif or .doc)
- Commercial information
- Cognitive assessment (This assessment can only be taken once and has 4 sections that will require 45 minutes to be completed. You must answer all questions.
- Declaration section
To ensure a transparent application process, all applicants will need to have a valid government-issued ID and show their name on the application form on TEFConnect exactly as it appears on the ID card.
This will take place from January 1 to March 31. Applicants are expected to fill the application form, which provides information about you and your business. Psychometric and cognitive assessment multiple-choice questions follow this. The last part of the application form is a declarations page. Based on answers provided by the applicants in the assessment section, they will score your application and display eligible status to the applicant.
- Visit the TEF portal
- At the sign-up, input your name, email address and password.
- A verification link will be sent to your email, confirm your email and sign in to continue with registration.
- After signing in, you will start the onboarding process. You will choose between two profiles: Entrepreneur or Mentor. Select a profile that matches your ability.
- After selecting a profile, you will start your TEF Registration. Fill in your name, gender, age, country, business industry. There are many business industries, such as Agriculture, Healthcare, Manufacturing, ICT, Fashion, Event Planning etc. Select the one that matches your business.
- You will now be logged in to the TEF Dashboard
- Select the 2022 TEF Flagship Programme, it is the current programme and select APPLY
- Select your language, and you will move to the next page, where you are advised to read the terms and conditions and continue your application. Make sure you fill in the correct business details and answer the cognitive assessment correctly.
- They are 23 questions and involve some elements of business calculations and logic.
The Training in the Programme
Once the Tony Elumelu Foundation Grant 2022 applications period closes, they will place eligible applicants on different training path based on their capabilities:
PREPARATORY
This means you do not have the skill set needed to start a business. You will go through the general training on Tefconnect. You will, however, not be eligible for mentorship or seed capital.
START-UP/ BEGINNER
This means you are a starter according to the business start-up profiling. You will go through the beginner training modules, and you will have access to world-class mentors during the programme.
INNOVATOR/ INTERMEDIATE
This means that they identified you to be an intermediate entrepreneur. You have a good potential to be a successful entrepreneur. You will go through the Intermediate training modules, and you will have access to world-class mentors during the programme.
DISRUPTOR/ ADVANCED
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This means they identify you as a natural or a seasoned entrepreneur. You will go through the advanced training modules, and you will have access to world-class mentors during the programme.
THE TRAINING AND COACHING PHASE
Once shortlisted and placed on the training path suited for you, you will attend a virtual orientation programme to learn more about the process and we will share timelines and resources available for you to succeed.
You will take part in our rigorous business management training and coaching sessions, which is a balanced mix of online self-paced learning and webinar-style training. There will be weekly multiple-choice questions to track your performance.
At the end of the training phase, entrepreneurs are shortlisted based on performance, ensuring regional and gender spread.
They will expect shortlisted entrepreneurs to develop and submit a BUSINESS PLAN
Business Plan and Financial Submission Phase
At the end of the training phase, they will require you to combine all the lessons from the training into a single cohesive document. A business & financial plan template will be available for you; this will be in the online resource library. This template will help you create the first draft of your business plan. Write a business plan. After the BUSINESS TRAINING & BUSINESS PLAN SUBMISSION, only successful candidates (who complete the MCQs and score above the cut-off mark and submit a business plan) would be eligible to move on to the next stage: the PITCHING COMPETITION.
Pitching Phase
This is an opportunity to show your business knowledge and convince the judge about the feasibility of your business. At the pitching stage, entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas virtually, which will be scored by a panel of judges. Only the successful candidates, based on performance scores from the pitching competition, will receive seed capital funding and have access to mentorship and the Alumni network to support their business ambitions.
Other factors that will be considered for the selection of the final entrepreneurs will include:
- Regional spread
- Gender spread
- Partner requirements
If you successfully completed all required training requirements and submitted a business plan, but was unsuccessful after the pitching competition, you can reapply in the subsequent year.
Seed Capital Phase
They will require all entrepreneurs who have successfully completed all the above steps and selected after the Pitching Phase to open business accounts and seed capital will flow into these accounts created. An entrepreneur who is eligible to receive seed funding will be given a CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION AND ACHIEVEMENT from the Foundation.
NOTE: This post is for informational purpose, and we do not have any affiliation with the TEF Programme. The Grant is also free, do not pay to anyone to help you access it, rather go to their portal tefconnect.com and apply directly.
We wish you success in your Tony Elumelu Foundation Grant 2022 application.
