Tony Elumelu is ‘MAN OF THE YEAR’

By Philemon Adedeji

Nigerian NewsDirect Newspaper has selected the Chairman of United Bank of Africa (UBA), Mr Tony Elumelu Nigerian NewsDirect Man of the Year.

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Nigerian NewsDirect said the selection of Tony O. Elumelu is in recognition of his purposeful leadership, empowerment of over 15,847 young African entrepreneurs, support of 1.2million Africans through the Tony Elumelu Foundation ( TEF) Connect, all inclusive-participatory governance and programmes as demonstrated in the running of the affairs of United Bank of Africa Group (UBA) during the year.

According to Ibiyemi, the impact made by Elumelu in addressing unemployment challenges directly and indirectly made him the winner of NewsDirect MAN OF THE YEAR at a time of high and rapidly rising youth unemployment in Nigeria Africa and the Middle East deserves recognition..

This became necessary considering Nigeria’ unemployment rate of 33.3 per cent in 2022 from 32.5 per cent in 2021 and 9.71 per cent in 2020. His selection also was approved by the board to encourage him to increase empowerment of youth and creation of jobs for youth as entrepreneurs considering the rise in Youth unemployment rate from 40.80 in 2021 to 53.40 per cent in 2022 according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In 2022, the UBA Group as an organisation sustaining growth across the continent officially opened for business in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates in 2022.

Tony Elumelu is known as a thoroughbred Nigerian Economist and a philanthropist with a heart of mother.

He has received first -ever global “seven stars man of the year hospitality award empowering African entrepreneurs.”

He is a strategic investor and owner of several blue Chip companies. He owns a controlling interest in Transcorp; a publicly traded Nigerian conglomerates. Transcorp has interest in agriculture, power generation, oil production and hospitality.

Elumelu as the Chairman of Transcorp Group has invested heavily with passion to end power supply challenges in the through the Transcorp Power Limited, which owns Ughelli and Afam power plants.

The Chairman of the United Bank for Africa UBA, Heirs Holdings and Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu, is one of the most sought-after banker and entrepreneur, who through tenacity, resilience and philanthropy has continued to thrive where others fear to tread.

Elumelu’s business model is winning him respect and recognitions from notable organisations and leaders across the globe.

UBA currently is one of the most recognised financial institutions to originate from Sub-Saharan Africa with thriving operations in 20 African countries – Republique du Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Congo Brazzaville, Congo DRC, Cote d’lvoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Tchad, Uganda and Zambia.

UBA also operates in the United Kingdom and France and we are the only sub Saharan African bank with a deposit taking license in the USA.

We have proven expertise and capacity

UBA provides corporate, commercial, SME, consumer and personal (retail) banking services to more than 27 million customers, served through diverse channels: over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points with 2,669 ATMs, 87,223 PoS, and robust online banking services. Additionally, UBA offers pension custody and related services.

The bank has proven expertise and capacity in key sectors of economies across Africa, especially in Oil and Gas, Infrastructure Finance, Agric, and Commodity/Export, and this positions us as a preferred partner for structured solutions to key governments and corporates operating in/into Africa.

Heirs Holdings is a family-owned African proprietary investment company committed to improving lives and transforming Africa, through long-term investments in strategic sectors of the African economy including financial services, hospitality, power, energy, technology and healthcare. Today, HH and its investee companies employ over 30,000 people, while empowering thousands more across Africa

Tony also set up The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) in the same year as an extension of his unwavering belief in the youth as catalysts for Africa’s transformation.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation

TOE at 2022 TEF Selection Announcement Event TEF ANNOUNCES START-UPS SELECTED FROM ALL 54 AFRICAN COUNTRIES FOR ITS 2022 ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME ON DECEMBER 7,2022

During the programne, each entrepreneur received non-refundable US$5,000 in recognition of the role women in building national development and elimination of poverty,56 per cent of beneficiaries are women entrepreneurs

This took place in Kinshasa, DRC which was outside Nigeria for first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Hosting the 2022 selection announcement of the pan-African Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme in DRC is highly significant, as it underlines TEF’s commitment to democratizing luck and increasing access to opportunity for all Africans across the continent.

This highly symbolic occasion represents the next chapter of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, and was co-convened in the capital city of Kinshasa, in partnership with the DRC Minister of Finance; H.E. Nicolas Kazadi, under the leadership of the DRC Head of State, H.E. President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, and supported by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in DRC. In attendance were the DRC Minister of Finance; H.E. Nicolas Kazadi, the DRC Minister of State for Entrepreneurship; H.E. Eustache Muhanzi Mubembe, and the DRC Prime Minister; S.E. Sama Lukonde, and other honourable members of the government and key public-private sector players from the DRC entrepreneurship ecosystem.

In 2015, TEF Founder, Mr. Tony O. Elumelu, and his family committed USD$100million to democratise luck and spread economic hope across Africa, by empowering 10,000 African women and men, over 10 years, through the annual Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme.

After only 7 cycles into this Programme, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has disbursed over USD$85million to young and enterprising beneficiaries and empowered 18,000 African women and men, who have gone on to achieve their innovative concepts and who are solving Africa’s most challenging problems.

Army’s Recognition Award

Charity, they say, begins at home. At the just concluded 2022 Chief of Army Staff Conference in Sokoto, Elumelu received a Recognition Award from President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Award from the Army was in recognition of The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s economic empowerment for wives of soldiers who lost their lives fighting to keep Nigeria safe and secure.

Tony Elumelu Foundation’s Economic Empowerment for widows of the Armed Forces of Nigeria gives widows of slain soldiers business training and seed capital of $2,000 each to begin their entrepreneurial journey and cater for their families.

Commenting on the award, Elumelu who is known to be always passionately disposed to helping the less-privileged, expressed profound gratitude to men and women of the Army who continually risk their lives daily to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria. Also, he thanked President Buhari, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Staff for considering him worthy of the award.

Excellence Award from ECOWAS

Elumelu was honoured recently with the 2022 ECOWAS Prize of Excellence Award for Deserving Citizens of the Community by the President of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS), Dr. Omar Alieu Touray.

According to Touray, the award was in recognition of Elumelu’s contribution to promoting regional integration, peace and socio-economic development across Africa through his work at Heirs Holding Group and the impact of his philanthropy through the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

CFR National Honour

On October 11, 2022, Elumelu also received the National honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic.

Elumelu, who is known for short but concise speeches reacted this way: “I am humbled and honoured to have received Nigeria’s second highest national honour – Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) – conferred by H.E. President @MBuhari, today at the International Conference Centre Abuja.”

Impacts

Elumelu as the Chairman of leading African financial services group, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), with presence in 20 African countries, and offices in Paris, London, and New York is known to be a goal getter Despite challenges in the financial services industry globally, UBA chaired by Tony Elumelu is recognised for operating for over seven decades of uninterrupted banking operations. The bank

The Delta State-born internationally-acclaimed businessman sits on numerous public and social sector boards, including the global advisory board of the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL), USAID’s Private Capital Group Partners Forum (PCG), and is Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute’s Global Food Security Working Group.

He serves on the international boards of the Washington DC-based think tank the Wilson Centre and a member of the Global Advisory Council, Harvard Kennedy School’s Centre for Public Leadership, Harvard University, Global Advisory Council, UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited (GenU), an initiative of the United Nations refocused youth agenda, Member, Global Shapers Foundation, World Economic Forum and Member, World Economic Forum Community of Chairmen.

Elumelu who is a Fellow of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI), 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. This partnership is called the Blair-Elumelu Fellowship Programme. He is co-chair of the Africa Energy Leaders’ Group (AELG).

Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu has been honoured by Time as one of recipients of the TIME 100 impact awards. The award took place at the Museum of the Future in Dubai on March 28, 2022.

Though a recipient of various international awards for his selfless humanitarian activities, and support for business up-scaling for Africans in Africa, in his acceptance speech, he insisted that the world needs investment and opportunities more than ever before.

His Tony Elumelu Foundation, known for empowering African entrepreneurs and catalysing Africa’s development has been a strategic way of supporting Africans for the past 10 years.

Secret of Success

Recently, Elumelu revealed that luck brought him where he is today, but was quick to add, “luck is important but that doesn’t make it a substitute for hard work or labour. Hard work and passion are the two most important ingredients for luck.

“I am where I am today because of luck. Let me be clear, luck is important, but it is not a substitute for hard work or labour. Luck is part of the cocktail that you need for success.

“There are two ingredients for luck – hard work and passion. The more work you put into something and the more passion you apply, the ‘luckier’ you find yourself.

“You have to work hard and be more passionate and committed about what you do, to be successful and make your own luck.”

Tony O. Elumelu as NEWSDIRECT MAN OF THE YEAR is a great investor, a risk taker and amiable philanthropist empowering youth across Africa to eliminate poverty.