Chairman, United Bank for Africa,   Heirs Holdings and Transcorp, Tony Elumelu, has over the years contributed immensely to socio- economic development of Africa through his foundation. The Tony Elumelu Foundation promotes entrepreneurship in Africa and no fewer than 15, 000 Africans have benefited incalculably from the foundation from its inception.

As a successful businessman, he has travelled across the globe and would ordinarily be expected to name countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany among other developed countries as his second home after Nigeria, his country of birth. But that is not the case for the astute economist, and philanthropist.

For him, Cameroon  serves as his second home after Nigeria. Not only does Cameroon serve as his second home, it also does for his United Bank for Africa, a leading bank in the African continent. Out of the more than 5000 entrepreneurs who were empowered with an amount of US$500 in 54 African States in 2021, 213 Cameroonians benefited from the programme.

“Cameroon is like a second home to me,” he said without mincing words.  “Cameroon is like a second home to the UBA Group. That is why the TEF supported about 700 Cameroonian young men and women. Each of the 678 getting the non-refundable circa 5,000 dollars. Each of them being trained, we call it the 12-week MBA. Each of them being appointed mentors to help mentor them to do good business. We do this because we see Cameroon and the young generation as holding a strong future for our continent. So, talking about investment, we are already investing in Cameroon. At the business level, UBA has over 20 branches in Cameroon and we are still expanding.”

To demonstrate how dear Cameroon is to him and the UBA, he noted during his recent visit during the AFCON 21 that he discussed having a regional head office here.

“I love football, and I love to see the unifying force for all Africans, especially our younger ones, and that’s football, Elumelu said during his visit to AFCON.

“I was happy, to see Cameroon hosting AFCON and UBA (United Bank for Africa), participating or supporting the government of Cameroon in building a great stadium. It was an exciting moment to see the stadium, to watch the beautiful game, and also to identify once again with the good people of Cameroon.”

“United Bank for Africa likes to support small and medium scale enterprises, likes to support government to provide infrastructure for social and economic development of the countries. And since we operate in Cameroon as one of our 20 countries in Africa, I thought it’ll be a good time of the year to come, sit down with the presidency, and see what more UBA can do to help the country drive its economic and social agenda and, of course, find out the Tony Elumelu Foundation. It helps to connect the dot. I like to see young entrepreneurs; I like to sit down with government and push for the enabling environment and conditions that will help younger entrepreneurs to do well.

 “One of the conversations I had at the presidency was about the issue of a regional head office. A regional head office for Central Africa here in Cameroon. We are waiting on the necessary authorisation to commence construction. We want to further explore tourism opportunities here, and of course the whole world has been talking about energy transmission. We also think that Cameroon, just like Nigeria, has some potential. We need to see how we can work together to realise these projects. There are areas of future investment and business collaboration.”

Within the seven years that The Tony Elumelu Foundation has been in existence, the amiable banker said the foundation has empowered over 15, 000 African entrepreneurs. The figure, according to him, is over 5, 000 above the 10, 000 the foundation committed itself to empower.

His words: “First, it is our commitment to empower 10,000 young African entrepreneurs. We have surpassed that already. This is the seventh year and we have surpassed that. We have empowered over 15,000 young African entrepreneurs. But we did not do this alone. We also have global partners, that is people who come to realise that in the 21st century, Africa needs a different kind of intervention. That it is not just about aid, it is by investing in young Africans who will help take Africa to the next level. And that is what we do at the Tony Elumelu Foundation. We believe in giving people the opportunity to make their dreams come true. So, we have the United Nations Development Programme, the International Red Cross, the African Development Bank and in 2021, the European Union provided 25 million dollars for this programme just for one year to support the training of over 3,000 young African women.”

The programme, Elumelu said is growing and “we want to see more. For us, it is a call on successful African business people to show interest in our young ones. It is a call to the friends of Africa, development partners and agencies across the world that we need to train the young to be fishermen and not just eaters of fish.”

On his next plan, he said: “We want to see more of our people benefit from the programme. And when I say our people, I am talking of Cameroonians, Nigerians, Ghanaians, Egyptians, Algerians, in fact, all across Africa. As you know, the Foundation supports young African across all 54 African countries.”

In spite of his busy schedule, Elumelu is an ardent football lover and that was one of his reasons for visiting during the AFCON tournament. “ I am here for two reasons; first because I love football. I love to see a unifying force for all of Africa, especially our young ones. I was happy to see Cameroon host AFCON and the United Bank of Africa participated and supported the government of Cameroon in the construction of the stadium.

“Another reason is that UBA likes to support small and medium scale enterprises, and government to provide infrastructure for social and economic development of countries. Since we operate in Cameroon as one of our 20 countries in Africa, I thought it will be a good time of the year to come, sit down with the presidency and see what UBA can do more to help the country drive its economic and social agenda.”

Elumelu was born in Jos, Plateau, Nigeria, on 22 March 1963, to Suzanne and Dominic Elumelu from Onicha-Ukwu in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. He studied Economics at the Bendel State University (now Ambrose Alli University) obtaining a BSc and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Lagos.

“Deciding to study Economics at university is all about learning about the business world. Growing up around my parents and the other influences around us, I always felt that I would end up in the business world – what we call entrepreneurship today,” he said.

Elumelu hinted that his mother was a big influence in his career. “She owned a restaurant and during the holidays I would stay there and help. I used to think, imagine if she did this at a larger scale, she could get more customers and make more profits, so in essence I was becoming more aware of how the world of commerce worked. But these were not overriding thoughts at the time.

At that age, my aim was to finish my first degree in economics, do my masters and work in a bank. I wanted to dress like the power dressers in the banking sector – wear suspenders, brogue shoes, the whole outfit. I liked the lifestyle!

“In Nigeria, before you start work, you are required to join the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). I was posted to the country’s northern region where I found myself reading a weekly magazine column which explored business ideas such as bakeries or fish ponds.

“I started wondering how much setting up a bakery or any other enterprise would cost, how to manage it, how to make a profit and so on. I vaguely thought that perhaps one day, I would like to start a business myself. So, although I was more focused on becoming a banker and wearing my suspenders, my mind was subconsciously shaping and crystallising ideas that eventually led to where we are today.

Advising young entrepreneurs, Elumelu said: “My advice to budding young entrepreneurs when I interact with them is to be hardworking, don’t be scared to dream but know that dreaming is less than 1%; the 99% is about translating your dream into action, translating your dream to reality. That is what makes the difference.

“Also, I cannot repeat this often enough: that process of translating to action requires a lot of hard work, discipline, staying focused and making sacrifices for a better tomorrow. The Tony Elumelu you see today has not always had everything. In the past, for example, I have decided not to buy a car and planned instead to use the money to make investments and wait for the proceeds of that investment to help me buy the car, and that happened!

 “When I say sacrifices, I mean you have to learn to defer consumption. You need to think long term. It is when you visualise success that you can make the sacrifices, then you can apply the rigour and energy that will lead you to success. I think those are the values we need in our young ones and that we foster at the Tony Elumelu Foundation today. You can get there by taking that first step, the journey of one mile starts with one step. So start, count the steps consistently, and stay focused.”

In his early career, Elumelu acquired and turned Standard Trust Bank into a top-five player in Nigeria. In 2005 he led the acquisition of United Bank for Africa (UBA), later transforming it from a single-country bank to a pan-African institution with more than seven 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. In the same year, he established the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded philanthropic organisation.

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 the 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.

He was one of the co-chairs of the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, from 11 to 13 May 2016.