Tony Elumelu

Tony O. Elumelu (born 22 March 1963 in Jos, Nigeria) is an economist by training, a visionary entrepreneur and a philanthropist. Tony is the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation. Elumelu holds the Nigerian national honours, the Commander of the Order of Nigeria (CON) and Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR). In 2011, New African magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in Africa^[1] and a year later, he was recognised as one of "Africa's 20 Most Powerful People in 2012" by Forbes Magazine.

Early life and family

Elumelu was born in Jos, Nigeria, in 1963. He has two degrees in Economics from Nigerian universities,^[2][3] a Bachelor degree from Ambrose Alli University and a Master of Science degree from the University of Lagos. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Programme. Tony Elumelu married Awele V. Elumelu, a medical doctor, in 1993 and has five daughters. He has four siblings including the Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, a member of the Nigerian Federal House of Representatives.

Career

In his early career, Elumelu made a name for himself when he acquired and turned Standard Trust Bank into a top-five player in Nigeria.^[4] In 2005, his corporate reputation as an African Business Leader was sealed when he led the largest merger in the banking sector in Sub-Saharan Africa to acquire United Bank for Africa (UBA). In five years he transformed it from a single-country bank, to a pan-African institution with over 7 million customers in 19 African countries.

Following his retirement from UBA in 2010, Elumelu founded Heirs Holdings, which invests in the financial services, energy, real estate and hospitality, agribusiness, and healthcare sectors; all of which help to create economic prosperity and social wealth across the continent. In the same year, he established the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded, philanthropic organisation dedicated to the promotion of excellence in business leadership and entrepreneurship, to enhance the competitiveness of the private sector across Africa.

In 2011, Heirs Holdings acquired a controlling interest in the Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), a publicly quoted conglomerate that has business interests in the agribusiness, energy and hospitality sectors. Elumelu was subsequently appointed Chairman of the Corporation.

Elumelu serves as an Advisor to the USAID’s Private Capital Group for Africa (PCGA) Partners Forum. He sits on the Nigerian President's Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council (ATIC). He is also vice-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN) whose formation he was a key driver in, and serves as Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute Dialogue Series on Global Food Security. He additionally chairs the Ministerial Committee to establish world-class hospitals and diagnostic centres across Nigeria, at the invitation of the Federal Government and the Presidential Jobs Board, engineered to create 3 million jobs in one year. He also serves as a member of the Global Advisory Board of the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL) and USAID’s Private Capital Group for Africa Partners Forum.

Philanthropy

The Tony Elumelu Foundation

Following his retirement from United Bank for Africa in July 2010, Elumelu founded The Tony Elumelu Foundation. His stated objective was to "prove that the African private sector can itself be the primary generator of economic development."^[5] The Foundation is charged with the mission of driving Africa's economic development by enhancing the competitiveness of the African private sector. As a premier pan-African-focused not-for-profit institution,the Tony Elumelu Foundation is dedicated to the promotion and celebration of entrepreneurship and excellence in business leadership across the continent, with initiatives like The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).

The Foundation strives to deploy its resources to generate solutions to challenges that inhibit the growth of the African private sector. Through its commitment to catalytic philanthropy, the Tony Elumelu Foundation seeks to achieve its 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.^[6]

Other non-profits

• Tony Elumelu was a member of the World Economic Forum's Regional Agenda Council on Africa.^[7]
• His presence on the Bretton Woods Committee, which brings together senior leaders in the global banking industry, is recognition of his work on African development.
• He is a Fellow of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI).^[8]
• He is involved, through his foundation, with the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative (AGI) in a partnership to strengthen the private sector's role in the economic transformation of select African countries.^[9] This partnership is called the Blair-Elumelu Fellowship Programme.
• Elumelu is a Trustee of the Infant Jesus Academy in Delta State, Nigeria.^[10]

Philosophy

Elumelu is the originator of the term Africapitalism.^[11] According to him, Africapitalism is an economic philosophy that embodies the private sector's commitment to the economic transformation of Africa through long-term investments that create both economic prosperity and social wealth. Elumelu sees Africans taking charge of the value-adding sectors and ensuring that those value-added processes happen in Africa, not through nationalisation or government policies, but because there is a generation of private sector entrepreneurs who have the vision, the tools and the opportunity to shape the destiny of the continent. He insists that Africapitalism is not capitalism with an African twist; it is a rallying cry for empowering the private sector to drive Africa's economic and social growth.

Elumelu subscribes to Michael Porter's concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV).^[12] He studied under Professor Porter at Harvard Business School and Professor Porter is the Founding Patron of The Tony Elumelu Foundation. CSV refers to the idea that “companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together.” It asserts that “businesses acting as businesses, not as charitable donors, are the most powerful force for addressing the pressing issues (society) face(s).”^[13]

Recognition

In 2003, the Federal Government of Nigeria granted Tony Elumelu the title of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR), a national honour.^[14] In 2006, Elumelu was voted African Business Leader of The Year by the Africa Investor magazine and was recognised African Banker of the Year in 2008 by the African Banker magazine.^[15] In 2009, the Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'adua asked him to serve on the Presidential Committee on the Global Financial Crisis.^[16]

In 2012 he was awarded the prestigious National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) for his service in promoting private enterprise.^[17] He was recognised as one of "Africa's 20 Most Powerful People in 2012" by Forbes Magazine.^[18] In addition, the New African Magazine featured him in their list of the "100 Most Influential Africans in Business."He was awarded an honorary doctorate of science degree from the Benue State University and an honorary doctorate of business administration from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.^[19]

In 2013, Mr Elumelu received the Leadership Award in Business and Philanthropy from the Africa-America Institute (AAI) Awards.^[20] He was also named African Business Icon at the 2013 African Business Awards.^[21]

Writings and books

• How to Excel at Work – Proven strategies for achieving superior work performance] by Bili A. Odum.

He also contributed to the Nigeria Leadership Initiative White Papers, writing on Leveraging private sector approaches in transforming government delivery.^[8]

• The Power of Vision: Insights on Tony Elumelu is a testimonial compiled on the occasion of his retirement as Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer at the United Bank for Africa. It contains messages from Aliko Dangote, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Professor Michael Porter, former World Bank managing director and Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, President of Sierra Leone; Ernest Bai Koroma, former United States Comptroller of the Currency, Eugene Ludwig and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.^[22]

He has written about his philosophy and the economic development of Africa for several publications around the world including The Economist,^[23] the Wall Street Journal ^[24] and Financial Times.^[25]

References

External links

• Profile at SourceWatch