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Why Youth Entrepreneurs Are Key To Tackling Climate Change in Africa By Tony Elumelu

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Tony Elumelu
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I am a proud Nigerian and a proud African. I am also a philanthropist and entrepreneur—and I have seen firsthand that to effectively tackle climate change within the African context, from Egypt to Nigeria to South Africa, we must look to the people it impacts.

Too often our businesses have not created value on our continent or traded commodities for short-term profit, not long-term investment. Fostering entrepreneurship, sustaining young entrepreneurs, who will grow businesses and create sustainable employment, is a crucial pathway to achieving long-term climate solutions.

In 2010, my wife and I had an idea. Concerned with escalating poverty, we founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and committed $100 million to identify, mentor, and fund young African entrepreneurs—young people with brilliant ideas and the drive to tackle the continent’s most pressing challenges. They lacked capital, connections, and mentors. They lacked luck. We wanted to change that. It was a bold bet aimed at empowering Africa’s most vulnerable and populous demographic, encouraging them to create their own wealth, rather than relying on aid. And the bet paid off.

Since its inception, the foundation has empowered 20,000 entrepreneurs across 54 African countries, who have created 400,000 direct and indirect jobs and generated over $2.3 billion in revenue. We have provided access to business training to more than 1.5 million young people.

Given the scale of the task, we partner with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the European Union (EU), and other partners to deepen our reach and impact. We provide funding, mentorship, business training, and advocacy support to entrepreneurs—specifically, in fragile regions, conflict zones, and underserved communities.

Together, we address challenges like youth unemployment, poverty, and insurgency through entrepreneurship. In 2022, we partnered with UNICEF Generation Unlimited (GenU) and IKEA Foundation, to launch a Green Entrepreneurship Program that empowers youth whose businesses address the triple planetary crisis. Of the 20,000 young men and women entrepreneurs that TEF has empowered, more than 500 are directly or indirectly solving challenges related to climate change, and over a third (35%) working in the agricultural sector.

By empowering young people, we are establishing a dynamic engine that drives economic growth and development across the continent. These entrepreneurs also become vital pillars of support within their communities. They are not only creating essential jobs and income, but also uplifting families and breaking the cycle of poverty. And now, more than ever, is the time to bring a climate-lens to this entrepreneurship.

Africa is warming more quickly than the rest of the world. By 2030, an estimated 118 million Africans are projected to face drought, and rising sea levels threaten coastal regions, potentially displacing millions. Climate change is impeding access to basic necessities: water, power, food, and education. But these challenges also offer extraordinary opportunities for those with an entrepreneurial mindset to tackle climate change, while simultaneously creating significant economic value.

For instance, how can we enhance the sustainability of smallholder farmers, which comprise 80% of all farms in sub-Saharan Africa and employ 60% of the continent’s workforce? What strategies can be employed by African nations with vast forests—such as Gabon, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Congo—to effectively leverage these critical carbon sinks?

To unlock the full potential of green solutions in Africa, we must nurture entrepreneurship—and this cannot be achieved by governments alone. We need to integrate government incentive schemes, with the opportunities presented by the private sector. It is imperative that we unite philanthropies, policymakers, and businesses. I refer to this movement as “Africapitalism”—a call for partnership led by the private sector, focused on fostering prosperity for all.

Global warming is not an inevitable fate. Entrepreneurs are inherently problem solvers; they possess the curiosity to explore opportunities and challenges, the creativity to devise innovative solutions, and the determination to transform obstacles into successes. Youth entrepreneurship can be a solution to averting the looming crisis of climate impact. It’s time to harness this power.

 

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Lucid Had Another Record Quarter Thanks To Tesla Owners Who Jumped Ship

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2025 Lucid Air Sapphire © insideEvs.com Copyright
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The American luxury EV maker had its fifth consecutive record quarter.

  • Lucid Motors delivered 3,109 cars in the first quarter.
  • That’s a 28% increase year-over-year.
  • A big reason for the uptick? Tesla owners.

The Lucid Air is a phenomenal machine, albeit a very expensive one. It’s the longest-range electric vehicle on sale today, with up to 512 miles on a full charge. It’s also extremely comfortable, but it costs between $70,000 and $250,000.

Despite the high price tag, the Air just helped Lucid achieve its fifth consecutive record quarter for deliveries. Thanks in no small part to Tesla owners ditching their EVs for other battery-powered cars, Lucid delivered 3,109 units in the first quarter of this year–an impressive increase of 28% over last year.

“Tesla owners always have been a source of customers for us,” said Lucid’s Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff during a Fox Business interview last week. “We saw a dramatic uptick in the last two months. Right now, 50% of all the orders that we have are from Tesla owners.”

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Compared to last year’s fourth quarter, Lucid delivered just 10 more vehicles, but a record is still a record. When it comes to manufacturing, the California-based startup built 2,213 cars at its facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, with an additional 600 units in transit to Saudi Arabia, where they will be assembled at the company’s AMP-2 facility. Compared to Q1 2024, Lucid built 28% more cars in the first quarter of this year.

Deliveries of the new Gravity SUV are yet to begin, with the first demo units scheduled to be finalized by the end of April. As a reminder, Lucid also built a handful of Gravity SUVs late last year, but that was a limited run intended for employees and company friends. In other words, although Lucid doesn’t split the delivery numbers for its two models, all the cars delivered in Q1 were likely Air sedans.

With the Gravity, Lucid is broadening its appeal to a wider audience that may not be so convinced about a luxury electric sedan. “More than 75% of our Gravity orders are from people who don’t own a Lucid,” said Winterhoff. That said, don’t expect Lucid’s first SUV to be affordable. The Gravity Grand Touring starts at $94,900–this gets you up to 450 miles of range on a full charge and seating for up to seven adults. A cheaper Touring trin, which will start from $79,900, will go on sale in late 2025.

Lucid Motors Deliveries

PeriodUnits Delivered
Q4 20221,932
Q1 20231,406
Q2 20231,404
Q3 20231,457
Q4 20231,734
Q1 20241,967
Q2 20242,394
Q3 20242,781
Q4 20243,099
Q1 20253,109

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Ford’s EV, Hybrid Sales Surge In Q1 Ahead Of Tariff Chaos

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Ford Q1 2025 Sales © InsideEVs
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It was a record start to the year for electrified vehicles, mainly led by the Mustang Mach-E. But that could get pricier soon.

  • Ford sold 73,623 electrified models in the U.S. in the first quarter, a 26% year-over-year growth.
  • It was a record start to the year for hybrids, up 33% while Ford’s EVs were up 12%, mainly led by the Mustang Mach-E.
  • Deliveries of the 2025 Mustang Mach-E, with improved range and more features, is imminent. But it could cost substantially more with President Trump’s 25% tariffs.

Ford sold more than half a million vehicles in the U.S. across powertrain types in the first quarter of this year.

While its overall sales sank marginally, electrified vehicles grew 26% year-over-year. Hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully electric models now together account for 15% of Ford’s overall sales, a 3% jump over last year.

The Dearborn automaker sold 501,291 units in the first quarter, a 1.3% year-over-year drop. Gas-powered vehicles accounted for 427,668 units (85%) of the total sales, whereas fully electric models made up 22,550 units (4.4%) and hybrids totaled 51,073 units (10.1%).

2025 Mustang Mach-E Rally_04

 

Photo by: Ford

The Mustang Mach-E outsold the gas-powered Mustang again and every single Lincoln model on sale. Ford sold 11,607 Mach-Es, a 21% increase year-over-year. By comparison, buyers drove home only 9,377 combustion-engined Mustangs, a sharp 31.6% drop.

Sales of the E-Transit electric van increased nearly 30% to 3,756 units. However, the F-150 Lightningdid not perform as well, even though the overall F-Series trucks grew by 24.5%. Only 7,187 Lightnings found homes so far this year, a 7.1% drop.

By comparison, sales of the Chevy Silverado EVgrew 125% to 2,383 units. General Motors also just launched cheaper versions of the 2026 Sierra EV, which has the potential to put the automaker at the forefront of the electric truck race in the coming months.

However, Ford’s momentum with its electrified models risks stalling as President Trump’s 25% tariffs on imported cars and auto parts went into effect on Wednesday. While most Ford cars are assembled in the U.S., all of them get over half of their parts content from overseas—mostly Mexico—according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

2025 Ford F-150 Lightning with the

 

Photo by: Ford

A whopping 78% of the Mustang Mach-E’s parts are sourced from Mexico and the crossover is also assembled there. Even the hugely popular Bronco Sport and the Maverick are assembled across America’s southern border.

Unless the president provides American automakers with some tariff relief or trade concessions, their momentum risks getting wiped out, at least in the short term.

Have a tip? Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com

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Children are turning to ChatGPT over their PARENTS for life advice

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Dame Rachel de Souza has warned that children are increasingly turning to online chatbots instead of their parents for answers to life’s biggest questions (file photo)
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Children are increasingly turning to online chatbots instead of their parents for answers to life’s biggest questions, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.

Dame Rachel de Souza will say in a speech today that the ‘apathy’ of many parents is causing a ‘crisis in childhood’ that is leading to many children feeling ‘disconnected’.

The Children’s Commissioner will say that artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT could end up filling knowledge gaps for children unless parents can show they will respond quicker than online chatbots.

Her comments come amid a national conversation about how the internet and social media are affecting children, which has been prompted by the hit Netflix drama Adolescence.

Today Dame Rachel will address the inaugural Festival Of Childhood alongside Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, where she is expected to say that children just ‘want to be listened to’.

Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has warned that the ‘apathy’ of many parents is causing a ‘crisis in childhood’ that is leading to many children feeling ‘disconnected’

 

She will warn that childhood must not be conflated with adulthood ‘because to do so abdicates us of our responsibility to making sure every child has all the things they should always have, and no child experiences the things they never should’.

Dame Rachel will say: ‘If we want children to experience the vivid technicolour of life, the joy of childhood, the innocence of youth, we have to prove that we will respond more quickly to them than Chat GPT.’

She will add: ‘Some of these foundations of childhood are cracking. A different version of childhood is playing out – one that we are struggling to be honest about. A crisis developing in childhood.

‘There is a risk of inaction, of apathy – and the antidote to this is listening. Connecting. That is why we must listen to children, to engage them on the decisions about their lives.’

The Children’s Commissioner has also carried out a new survey using her statutory powers to obtain responses from around 19,000 schools and colleges, representing almost 90 per cent of schools in England.

Dame Rachel de Souza has warned that children are increasingly turning to online chatbots instead of their parents for answers to life’s biggest questions (file photo)

 

The research has found that more than half – 55 per cent – of schools are worried about the online safety of their children.

The survey also found that 71 per cent of schools are concerned about children’s access to adolescent mental health services, while 46 per cent are worried about the impact of poverty on children.

Dame Rachel is also expected to set out her focus for the next 12 months, which will include looking at children’s trust in the police, harms cause by AI ‘deepfake’ technology, and the use of mobile phones in schools.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said she pledged, upon entering office, that this would be a ‘child-centred government’.

She added: ‘This is exactly what we are delivering: better life chances for every child, wherever they live and whatever their background, putting their best interests at the heart of everything we do.’

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