Tony Elumelu’s impactful strides at 62

Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu’s, CFR, who clocked 62, March 22, holds the undisputed record of Nigeria’s philanthropist extraordinary relentlessly dedicated to the training, mentoring and empowering of the highest number of young entrepreneurs across 54 countries in Africa, whose impactful agenda is to champion economic development and industrialization to end Africa’s decades-long dependence on global financial institutions and aid agencies for loans as well as bail outs for sustainable development.

Rather than turn to the ballroom on Saturday, and perhaps wine and dine, to celebrate his birthday with family and friends, the founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation has opted to devote the day presiding over the unveiling of a class of 3110 budding entrepreneurs who are the newest cohort of TEF Entrepreneurs.

The unveiling which has become an annual ritual is in line with Elumelu’s vision  to “unlock the obstacles that African entrepreneurs face, so that they, rather than aid agencies or governments will spur the continent’s transformation” which had given birth to his leading philanthropy, TEF, and the subsequent launching of its “Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015.

Back in 2010, the billionaire entrepreneur retired as chief executive officer of the UBA Group and founded Heirs Holdings and The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and propounded Africapiltalism—an economic philosophy aimed at “optimizing power of capitalism via entrepreneurship to liberate Africa from the shackles and hackles of multidimensional poverty and crass underdevelopment”.

According to him, the time was apt for Africans to look inwards, ensure effective deployment of human and natural resources to seek practical solutions to under development and myriads of social challenges like unemployment, multidimensional  poverty, hunger, amongst others as opposed to queuing endlessly for external loans at great strain to the individual nation’s financial resources.

In other words, craving for international funding for various projects in the continent should be a thing of the past while all hands should be on deck to accelerate social, economic and technological development on a large scale that will match the continent’s rapidly growing population with the ultimate objective of putting her on the path of attaining self-sufficiency in most of her needs.

Without doubt, his philanthropic strides and gestures have been driven by his strong belief that he is merely a custodian of wealth meant to uplift humanity. And true to this objective, TEF, since inception has empowered no fewer than 16,000 young entrepreneurs across 54 countries in Africa, through training, mentoring and funding them with start-up capital of $5,000 each ten years after the launching of an ambitious “Entrepreneurship Programme”, backed by a  $100million intervention non- refundable seed capital.

According to statistics, TEF till date has lifted a record over 2 million Africans out of poverty, provided 2.5 million young Africans with access to training on TEFConnect, and disbursed more than $100millon in direct funding to thousands of African entrepreneurs who have on their own; created over 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs and generated a whopping over $4.2 billion in revenue.

Similarly, it is note worthy that Elumelu’s uncommon passion for raising young generation of African entrepreneurs is not only unrivaled but attracted the open support of international bodies like the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, Africa Development Bank, (AfDB) and the Red Cross through various partnership.

Significantly, the Group Chairman, Heirs Holdings, has never hidden his ardent belief in the capability and potential of Africa’s entrepreneurs to excel in their chosen endeavors when he publicly declared: “I believe that Africa’s transformation will not be led by aid, but by empowering the next generation of African entrepreneurs—giving them the tools, the funding, the training, and the networks to build sustainable businesses that create jobs and drive economic growth,”adding that “our youths are determined, energetic, hungry to succeed and make a difference, and are extremely intelligent, but the environment makes it difficult for them to succeed.”

And given the success story of the Entrepreneurship Programme so far, Elumelu’s was right in his perception of African youths especially against the backdrop of his antecedent as an investor, banker and wealth creator. Beneficiaries of the Programme which is open to all entrepreneurs across Africa with innovative business ideas or existing businesses not older than five years is merit-based while applicants must be at least 18 years old.

In the words of the Foundation, “No other organisation is implementing entrepreneurship development at this scale across Africa. We have learned, we have refined, and we continue to improve, ensuring that African entrepreneurs—women and men—are at the forefront of solving our continent’s challenges and creating wealth for themselves and their communities.

Recall that at 34, Elumelu made waves as the chief executive officer, CEO, of defunct Standard Trust Bank and one of the youngest bank CEOs in Nigeria at the time. Also, he made history during Nigeria’s banking reforms for presiding over the biggest merger of STB and UBA and went further to leave his remarkable footprints of accomplishments as CEO of the reinvigorated United Bank of Africa (UBA) before taking a bow and transforming into the Group Chairman.

Upon exiting as CEO, and apparently determined to create hundreds of thousands of jobs for teeming unemployed youths,  the private sector leader made wise  investments in strategic sectors of the African economy through Heirs Holdings, Transcorp Group and UBA Group.

The results have been amazing. For instance, UBA is one of the largest employers in the financial sector on the continent, with 25,000 employees group wide and serving no fewer than 45 million customers globally. Operating in 20 African countries and the United Kingdom, France, the United States of America and United Arab Emirates, the financial institution provides retail, commercial and institutional banking services, leading financial inclusion and implementing cutting-edge technology.

Again Elumelu’s penchant for excellence and pace setting is evident in Transcorp Hillton, Abuja, a five-star hotel located at the heart of the Federal Capital Territory, where he has controlling interest. Truly, the hospitality masterpiece experience has shown, remains one of the top most exquisite hotels in Africa. He has replicated the same standard of excellence in other sectors including power, oil and gas, insurance thus making him stand out as one of the most outstanding business icons  Nigeria has ever produced.

Born in Jos Plateau state on March 22, 1963, Elumelu hails from Onicha-Ukwu in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. He is certainly one of the leading role models to  millions of Africans especially the young generation, never had greatness trust upon him but as a workaholic, rose to the pinnacle of his career by dint of hard work, perseverance and abiding faith in God. From just a corp member at Union Bank, some decades back, he emerged as one of the youngest CEOs of commercial banks in the country at a time, rose to his current Olympian heights as boardroom guru and chairman of  one of the largest banking conglomerates in Africa. His impactful strides at three scores and two therefore, reinforces the saying that there is no short cut to success in life and an important lesson to the youths. Happy birthday Group Chairman.