<<Print>>

Africa stands at the crossroads of liberty. Crushing national debt, rampant illegal immigration, insane business regulations and staggering national unemployment are pushing the continent into unchartered territory.

In Ghana alone, report showed that unemployment rate is higher among urban dwellers - the survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said youth unemployment rate was 5.5 percent of which females represent 5.7 percent and males, 5.2 percent.

The problem has compelled the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu to describe unemployment in Africa as a “Time bomb” which may burst soon if not attended to.

“Unemployment is a serious problem, it’s a time bomb waiting to just explode. I say this because the economists tells us that, in 2020 we will have 120 million young Africans enter the job market and the capacity for Africa to create job employment will give as 50million people so we will have a deficit. So the question is how do we engage these people? That is going to be a major challenge” he said

Adding that – “Unemployment to me is one of the single most critical threat we have as a continent. Young people if not fully engaged will misapply themselves and it will be a consequence on the continent.”

The visionary entrepreneur and philanthropist was speaking to Peacefmonline.com after participating in a roundtable discussion with a group of private business leaders active in the West African sub-region to discuss the overall impact of Ebola on private businesses particularly small and medium enterprises - the discussion was chaired by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.

Helping to solve unemployment in the continent, Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu has a foundation dubbed - Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).

TEEP’s vision is to establish the pre-eminent pan-African entrepreneurship programme and create 10,000 startups across Africa within the next 10 years that generate significant employment and wealth.

The foundation is creating businesses that can generate at least 1,000,000 new jobs and contribute at least $10 billion in new annual revenues across Africa.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme is a tool for implementing this vision. The programme is open to young compelling businesses with strong market feasibility, clear financial models and run by capable teams.