Tony Elumelu Foundation, GenU, IKEA Foundation partner to empower African youth

The Tony Elumelu Foundation, UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited (GenU), and IKEA Foundation have announce a strategic partnership to launch a pioneering Green Entrepreneurship Programme aimed at empowering African youth and tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource scarcity.

Building on successful initiatives like Generation Unlimited’s imaGen Ventures and Yoma solutions, the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s entrepreneurship programme, the Green Entrepreneurship Programme called BeGreen Africa is designed to provide young African entrepreneurs with the training, mentoring, and funding needed to develop innovative solutions for Africa’s sustainable future. Through a series of workshops, mentorship programmes, and funding opportunities, participants of the Programme will be empowered to create green businesses that address pressing environmental issues.

Key objectives of BeGreen Africa include:

1. Youth Empowerment: Co-created with young green innovators, the Programme aims to empower young African entrepreneurs, giving them the tools and skills necessary to take an active role in solving environmental challenges.
2. Green Jobs Creation: By supporting the development of environmentally conscious businesses, this partnership will help create jobs that contribute positively to the planet.
3. Address the Triple Planetary Crisis: The Programme will directly tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource scarcity by fostering sustainable entrepreneurship.
4. Foster Innovation: The Tony Elumelu Foundation, UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited, and IKEA Foundation believe in the power of innovation to drive positive change. This Programme will encourage young African entrepreneurs to think outside the box and develop groundbreaking solutions.
5. Build a Sustainable Future: Ultimately, BeGreen Africa aims to contribute to building a more sustainable and resilient future for communities and the planet as a whole.

The founding partners of BeGreen Africa will leverage their collective expertise, close relations with government, the private sector and youth networks, and extensive field presence across Africa, particularly in Kenya to: a) develop a green-focused curricula that addresses the gaps and capacity needs of the identified target youth, b) engage expert trainers to deliver the trainings via www.TEFConnect.com, c) facilitate mentor and alumni network connections, and d) provide seed capital funding that will empower the identified entrepreneurs to kickstart, develop, and scale their green businesses.

“We know the critical role that green entrepreneurship and agripreneurship play in driving innovative solutions to environmental issues and are keen to empower our young ones across Africa, starting with Kenya, to deploy innovative solutions to the climate crisis.”, said Tony O. Elumelu, CFR, Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation. “This initiative will empower young Africans with the entrepreneurial skills that are needed to accelerate the shift towards toward green economy. Working with great partners, IKEA Foundation and UNICEF Generation Unlimited, we will create new jobs, generate employment, improve livelihoods, help eradicate poverty and address climate issues in Africa. Our collective goal is to see young entrepreneurs in Africa build sustainable businesses for themselves and generate viable green jobs, so that our young ones are not left behind in the inevitable green economy that the world will transitioning to. Climate change is not just a threat to our future, it is also a threat to our present and there is no time to wait for climate action in Africa.”

The BeGreen waste management pilot in Kenya, supported by IKEA Foundation, will train 1,000 youth in the country and economically empower 120 of them, all under the age of 35, with new or existing green businesses. The initiative will leverage learnings and evidence to generate a model of youth entrepreneurship in high-impact green sectors, exploring how young entrepreneurs can contribute to circular economies and scale a sustained green revolution in Africa.

The government of the Netherlands is supporting additional BeGreen pilots in Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, and Morocco through the GenU Trust Fund, which will focus on green entrepreneurship across multiple sectors, and generate valuable insights in addition to the learnings on waste management from Kenya.

Across the five countries, BeGreen will train at least 1,600 young people in green entrepreneurship and waste management and will provide more than US$ 1 million in seed funding to 225 young entrepreneurs, which will enable them to generate revenue and create at least 8,000 jobs.

A statement said, “We know that on the one hand, there won’t be enough jobs to go around for a fast-growing population. On the other hand, we have finite resources in the world. So, we need to look at how we can turn waste into value and create viable green jobs that help us stay within our planetary boundaries. To transition to a green and circular economy, we urgently need partnerships and coalitions of the willing, who are ready to experiment and scale, and who aren’t afraid to take risks.” – Per Heggenes, CEO, IKEA Foundation

“Young people in Africa with a spirit of enterprise and innovation are key to powering an agricultural boom. By equipping them with relevant skills and supporting their solutions through mentorship and seed funding, we can empower a generation of agripreneurs who go on to drive sustainable economic growth in the continent and beyond.” – Kevin Frey, CEO, Generation Unlimited.

The multilingual Application Portal is open to young African entrepreneurs on www.TEFConnect.com until September 30, 2023.