By the universal property of the tensor product $(T=M \otimes N, b)$ we have that for the bilinear map
$$h: M \times N \to M^\prime \otimes N^\prime$$
$$ (m,n) \mapsto f(m) \otimes g(n)$$
there exists a unique $R$-module homomorphism $l : M \otimes N \to M^\prime \otimes N^\prime$ such that $l \circ b = h$.
We have $h((m,n)) = f(m) \otimes g(n) = l(b(m,n)) = l(m \otimes n)$. Hence we have that $f \otimes g := l$ is an $R$-module homomorphism $m \otimes n \mapsto f(m) \otimes g(n)$.