Elumelu makes ‘Time 100’ most influential people

President Buhari praises his “vision of Africapitalism”

TIME magazine has named Tony O. Elumelu, one of Africa’s leading investors and philanthropists, in the 2020 TIME100, the annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

The list, now in its 17th year, recognises the activism, innovation, and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.

Apart from Elumelu, only three other Africans made the 2020 list. According to a statement from TIME, the accomplished businessman and philanthropist is recognised for his track record of business turnaround and value creation, and economic empowerment of young Africans.

In a congratulatory message, President Buhari commends Elumelu’s “vision of Africapitalism, which espouses that Africa’s private sector must play a leading role in the continent’s development through long-term investments, entrepreneurship, and regional connectivity, adding that it was just a matter of time before such caught global attention,”, according to statement by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.

Adesina said, “President Buhari says Elumelu’s commitment to the development of African youths, whom he has given a voice and empowerment, investing $5,000 in 1,000 young entrepreneurs per year across 54 countries, pedestals him as a visionary, with milk of human kindness, “and such, among others, must have qualified him for the Time Hall of Fame.

“The President wishes Elumelu greater successes on all fronts, and recommends his strides to other high net worth people.”

Tony Elumelu is the Founder and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, his family-owned 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 and healthcare.

He is chairman of top pan-African financial services group, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), which operates in 20 countries in Africa, the United Kingdom, France, and is the only African bank with a commercial deposit taking licence in the United States.

The bank provides corporate, commercial, SME and consumer banking services to more than 21 million customers globally.

Among other enviable posts he occupies, Elumelu also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, one of the leading generators of electricity in Nigeria and Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s foremost hospitality brand.

Elumelu is the most prominent champion of entrepreneurship in Africa.

In 2010, he created The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, catalysing economic growth, driving poverty eradication and ensuring job creation across all 54 African countries.

Since inception, the Foundation has funded just under 10,000 entrepreneurs and created a digital ecosystem of over one million as part of its ten year, US$100m commitment through the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.

Self-funded, the Foundation is increasingly sharing its unique ability to identify, train, mentor and fund young entrepreneurs across Africa, with institutions such as the UNDP, the ICRC and leading European development agencies. The Foundation makes his interventions with no strings attached