Along with Tony Elumelu, Chairman, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Somachi Chris-Asoluka recently led a small group to receive and host a European Commission team: Jutta Urpilainen (Commissioner for International Partnerships); Kadri Simson (Commissioner for Energy); and other senior leaders from the EU.
The meeting, which was held in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), reflected on how a TEF-EU partnership would further strengthen EU-Africa relations and build on the transformative approach of the US$100m TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.
In 2021, a TEF-EU partnership empowered 2,500 young African women entrepreneurs, disbursing €20 million in financial and technical support for women-owned businesses, across all 54 African countries.
Says Somachi: “We remain proud of our groundbreaking partnership with the EU, funding and empowering thousands of additional women entrepreneurs across Africa, and look forward to years of even more impact together.
“We must create economic hope and opportunity here on our continent to give our young people the futures that they deserve. It makes no sense that we are losing our brightest talent in millions everyday, we must create and sustain a system here in Africa that works for our youth”.