The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Africa's leading philanthropy dedicated to empowering African entrepreneurs will begin accepting applications for the 2020 cohort of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, from January 1, 2020.

A statement from the Foundation said the applications would be made through TEFConnect, the digital networking hub for the African entrepreneurship ecosystem, created by the Foundation.

The TEF Entrepreneurship Programme is open to entrepreneurs from across Africa, either with new startup ideas or existing businesses of less than 3 years existence, operating in any sector.

It said successful applicants would join the over 9,000 current beneficiaries, from 54 African countries and receive business training, mentoring, a non-refundable $5,000 of seed capital and global networking opportunities.

"Last year, the Foundation received about 216,000 applications, with 42 per cent coming from women entrepreneurs, from every country on the continent," it said.

The Programme is a 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 young African entrepreneurs.

The goal is to create millions of jobs and the revenue required for the sustainable development of the continent, implementing the philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector as the growth engine for Africa and emphasises the importance of creating social and economic wealth.

The statement said according to the Foundation's 2018 Impact Report, 70 per cent of the total number of businesses in its alumni network are still operational two years after benefitting from the Programme.

It said the report also identified an increase of 189 per cent revenue generated and 197 per cent increase in the number of additional jobs created by beneficiaries post-graduation from the Programme, as well as a 100 per cent commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.