A NEW VISION FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
BY FREDERIC CASTEL
An African visionary, Nigerian banker Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu believes that a more empowered private sector – including small businesses and entrepreneurs – is a sustainable solution to Africa’s challenges. He maintains that “no one but us (Africans) can develop Africa.”
This jovial 53-year hard-working billionaire, always dressed in an impeccable suit with a red tie and scalloped white pocket handkerchief, has demonstrated his belief in Africa through the amazing success stories across the continent that his foundation has empowered in the past few years.
Tony Elumelu is an economist by training, an entrepreneur and a philanthropist.
If judged only by the numbers, he would already be an impressive figure.
A legend in Africa, he started as the brains behind a revolution in the continent’s banking system. After building United Bank for Africa (UBA) in Nigeria in 2005, he transformed it – in just five years – from a single-country bank to a global pan-African institution with over 1,000 branches in 20 countries. A few years ago, he was recognized as one of Africa’s 20 Most Powerful People by Forbes Magazine.
As part of his meteoric rise, Elumelu also founded the private investment firm Heirs Holding and acquired Transcorp, which he built into the largest conglomerate in Nigeria. He invested successfully in an amazing number of directions: oil, food processing, hospitality, healthcare, banking and finance, energy and infrastructure.
Not only did this low-profile businessman create a billion-dollar African business empire but in just a few years he also built up a huge philanthropic program across the continent. Elumelu has
always been deeply committed to paying back the continent and country where he was raised and educated.
In December 2014, the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship program, pledged $100 million over ten years to finance and support 10,000 African startups. Every year, a thousand young African entrepreneurs benefit from start-up investment, active mentoring and business training offered by the program, along with entrepreneurship networking forums and regional meetings that it organizes. The current 2,000 beneficiaries average from 18 to over 60 years in age, hail from all 54 African countries and are eligible to receive up to $10,000 in seed capital for their businesses.
Elumelu’s leitmotiv is Africapitalism: “The African private sector needs to invest in a manner that creates local prosperity for the community while creating value for investors. It becomes a win-win investment. In such a way, the African private sector has the power to transform the continent through long-term investments, creating both economic prosperity and social wealth.”
Elumelu was born in the city of Jos, in central Nigeria and was raised by middle-class Catholic parents. His father was an employee in the construction industry and his mother ran a restaurant. His family is from the Igbo ethnic group, an indigenous tribe of 32 million people, mainly Christian, that represents 20% of the people in Nigeria, the most populated African country.
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