African business leaders invest in Africa’s youth


By Olufemi Adeyemo -

September 27, 2015

Africa has been described, at best, as a sleeping giant. Quite an unfortunate description of a land blessed with an abundance of natural and human resources.

Yet the continent continues to struggle for existence, as its state of affairs- from political independence to the promise of economic emancipation- have confined it to the apron strings of the dubious colonialists it gleefully ushered to the airstrips and harbours several decades ago.

While much of the blame for Africa’s perpetual underdevelopment has been laid, justly, at the doorstep of its political leaders, whose ineptitude, greed and thoughtlessness have rendered their respective economies prostrate as they rule over a desensitized mass of people who have been orientated towards corruption, puerile politicking, terrorism, kidnappings, genocide, xenophobia, internecine wars, and the like.

On the other hand, it gladdens one to know that a few business leaders have taken up the challenge to empower their people, particularly young people, by building a culture of leadership, entrepreneurship and social investment.

It is instructive that if they do nothing, Africa, and the wealth they have painstakingly built to generate profit and employment for future generations, might be wiped out by political recklessness and ideological belligerence that is consuming the continent.

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has stepped up his desire to increase the quality and quantity of young African leaders by establishing, in conjunction with the World Economic Forum, a fellowship programme aimed at raising scores of young African leaders.

Tony Elumelu’s TEEP, a multi-year training, mentoring and funding programme, awarded $5,000 grant to each of the first one thousand young African entrepreneurs last March; with a mission to grow ten thousand African start-ups and businesses over the next ten years.

Technology pioneer, Demola Aladekomo, whose passion to use technology to solve social problems inspired the building of the world’s largest internet café in 2008, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, has continued his over twenty years commitment to youth empowerment through the Volunteer Corps and the management trainee programme that has developed today’s crop of senior managers in various sectors of corporate Nigeria.

Seni Adetu, a former managing director of Guinness Nigeria PLC, mentors young people by helping them hone their analytical skills and building their personal brands.

Spurred by the words of Goethe that, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it”, Patrick Awuah quit a lucrative post at Microsoft to set up Ashesi University in Accra, Ghana, to build the intellectual and social capacities of young Ghanaians, because he believes that everyone who goes to college now will be running the country one day- be it in the political space, public administration or private enterprise.

While more needs to be done to stem the tide of mutually assured destruction sweeping across the continent, the commendable efforts and sacrifices of these notable Africans and others, is a glimmer of hope for Africa’s renaissance.


Adeyemo is a visiting faculty at the School of Media and Communication of the Pan Atlantic University (PAU) in Lagos

http://newmail-ng.com/african-business-leaders-invest-in-africas-youth-by-olufemi-adeyemo/

Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu (born 22 March 1963 in Jos, Nigeria) is an economist by training, a visionary entrepreneur and a philanthropist. Tony is the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of[b] The Tony Elumelu Foundation[/b]. Elumelu holds the Nigerian national honours, the Commander of the Order of Nigeria (CON) and Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR). In 2011, New African magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in Africa[1] and a year later, he was recognised as one of "Africa's 20 Most Powerful People in 2012" by Forbes Magazine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Elumelu

Aliko Dangote GCON (born 10 April 1957) is a Nigerian billionaire,[2] who owns the Dangote Group, which has interests in commodities. The company operates in Nigeria and other African countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Togo,Tanzania and Zambia.[3] As of January 2015, he had an estimated net worth of US$18.6 billion.[2]

Dangote is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 67th richest person in the world and the richest in Africa;[4] he peaked on the list as the 23rd richest person in the world in 2014.[5] He surpassed Saudi-Ethiopian billionaire Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi in 2013 by over $2.6 billion to become the world's richest person of African descent.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliko_Dangote

Sir Demola Aladekomo (born 31 December 1957 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria) is a computer engineer by training. He is a Nigerian technology expert, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Aladekomo is the Chairman of SmartCity Resorts Plc,[1] Card Centre Nigeria Limited,[2] Treasure-nest Limited, Crops Nigeria Limited, Chams Consortium Limited,[3] Insider Concepts Limited and the founder of Chams Plc.[4] He is a Fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society (FNCS)[5] and the Computer Professional Registration Council (CPN); a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), and the immediate past President of the Lagos Business School Alumni Association (LBSAA)[6] and the Nigeria Computer Society, respectively. Aladekomo has also served as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of SmartCard Society of Nigeria. He is the founder of DATA Foundation[7] and Volunteer Corps,[8] non-governmental organisations engaged in corporate social investments in Nigeria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demola_Aladekomo

Tony Elumelu Foundation selects Inaugural 1,000 participants for $100M Entrepreneurship Programme

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) has announced the selection of its first 1,000 African entrepreneurs for the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).

TEEP is a $100 million initiative to discover and support 10,000 African entrepreneurs over the next decade, with a target of creating one million new jobs and $10 billion in additional revenues in the process.

Over 20,000 African entrepreneurs from 52 countries applied to the programme, representing the creativity and potential on display across the continent. The initial 1,000 selected for the 2015 class are a remarkable group of entrepreneurs who are a testament to the ability of Africa’s own entrepreneurs to drive Africa’s growth and development.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/178985-tony-elumelu-foundation-selects-inaugural-1000-participants-for-100m-entrepreneurship-programme.html