The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), headed by business leader and former Nigeria-based Standard Trust Bank CEO, Tony Elumelu, has announced the appointment of Sierra Leonean Ms. Désirée Younge, as its Director of Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development.
The pan-African foundation, whose CEO is Dr. Wiebe Boer, a former Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, has been deploying its resources to generating solutions to challenges that inhibit growth in Africa’s private sector.
Younge comes to the Foundation with extensive experience in philanthropy and impact investing through her work with US-based Synergos Institute’s Global Philanthropists Circle, and the Robin Hood Foundation, according to the Nigerian Guardian.
Désirée Younge served as Senior Manager, Global Philanthropists Circle from June 2008 through October 2010 and for the last three years, she has run her own philanthropic strategy advisory firm headquartered in the United States, working with philanthropists, non- profit organisations and businesses to consult on strategy and execution for their philanthropic missions.
“I am excited to join The Tony Elumelu Foundation, an African foundation that’s thinking about philanthropy from a non-traditional perspective, and finding innovative solutions to drive long-term economic and social impact to improve the capabilities, and showcase the untapped leadership potential of Africans,” Younge said.
Tony Elumelu through his Foundation has sought to achieve his mission by enhancing the capacity of African businesses, supporting and driving policies that promote competitiveness, deploying financial capital through impact investments, and educating public and private sector actors through rigorous research.
In September, he was appointed to the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Private Capital Group for Africa (PCGA) Partners Forum. Forbes Africa has also nominated him for the 2012 Forbes Person of The Year Award due to his contribution to what he terms “Africapitalism.”
