This is the first year that invitation to the Forum has extended beyond the 1,000 Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs, to include selected SMEs, media, hubs, incubators, academia and investors from diverse nations across Africa; from Mauritius to Cape Verde to Kenya and more.

A release to the Ghana News Agency said the assembled Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) would build networks, share knowledge, connect with investors and link with corporate supply chains.

“Since launching the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme – and committing $100 million to empowering 10,000 African entrepreneurs in a decade – we have unleashed our continent’s most potent development force, its entrepreneurs,” said TEF Founder Tony O. Elumelu, CON.

“In just 3 years, our first 3,000 entrepreneurs have created tens of thousands of jobs and generated considerable wealth. On October 13 and 14, the global entrepreneurship community will gather in Lagos to build a 'New Africa,' a thriving, self-reliant continent capable of replicating the results of our ground-breaking Programmes.”

The two-day Forum would feature plenary panels, master classes, sector specific networking opportunities and policy-led forums focused on enabling African business growth.

Parminder Vir OBE, TEF Chief Executive Officer, said: “This is the first year we have opened the Forum up to include the full pan-African entrepreneurship ecosystem. In doing so, we are enabling African SME communities to come together and expand the possibilities for intra-African partnerships. I am looking forward to welcoming our invited policy-makers and investors to join us at the Forum, as we empower the next generation of African business leaders.”

Speakers at the Forum would include: Wale Ayeni, International Finance Corporation; Stephen Tio Kauma, Afrexim Bank; Andre Hue, African Development Bank; Stephen M. Haykin, USAID Nigeria; Heikke Reugger, European Investment Bank; Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, United Nations Development Programme.

The Foundation’s long-term investment in empowering African entrepreneurs is emblematic of Tony Elumelu’s philosophy of ‘Africapitalism’, which positions Africa’s private sector and most importantly its entrepreneurs, as the catalysts for the social and economic development of the continent.