When Heirs Holding announced it had bought a 45% stake in an offshore oil field, not many people were surprised. The Chairman of Heirs Holding, Tony Elumelu is one visionary who continues to show confidence in the opportunities in Nigeria and Africa.
Defining a man like Tony Elumelu in a word, sentence or even a book is a task for the brave. There is a depth to him that draws you in, and as you go through layer after layer of his story and what he embodies, you might not remember to stop. His life, his journey so far is one filled with opportunities for discovery, insights and lessons that inspire in a powerful and transformative way.
When in 1997, a flailing commercial bank named Crystal Bank Ltd neared extinction, not many could have bet on the leadership of a 34-year-old banker to turn things around there. But Mr. Elumelu was no ordinary young man, and such was the strength of his vision and pitch that he was able to get a small group of investors to join him on an uncertain voyage. Seeing opportunity where others saw disaster, he led the takeover of the bank and immediately renamed it Standard Trust Bank Ltd. Emerging from entrepreneurial foundations laid by his parents, coupled with a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Economics, he had excess in the tank to steer the bank until it became profitable. By 2005, he had overseen the largest merger in Sub-Saharan Africa’s banking industry; a merger with the United Bank of Africa (UBA). He retired 5 years later having infused his pan-African vision into the centre of the bank’s operations, expanding to 20 African countries and three global financial centres.
2010 saw the establishment of his family-owned investment company, Heirs Holdings, with a vast investment portfolio cutting across various industries and a mandate to transform Africa and lives through long-term investments. Heirs Holdings is powered by Mr. Elumelu’s unique philosophy, a term he coined as“Africapitalism”, an economic philosophy grounded in the belief that the private sector is the stimulus for Africa’s socio-economic development, the key to unlocking the continent’s economic potential. It is in the furtherance of this philosophy that he established his foundation named the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the platform through which he launched his audacious TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015.
Through this programme, a $100 million funding commitment, entrepreneurs with innovative startup ideas or existing businesses are identified, then trained and mentored before getting funded. The goal is to unlock the potential of all the economies on the African continent and drive them through businesses that create a million jobs over a 10-year period and generate annual revenues of $10 billion. Just over five years in, over 9,000 entrepreneurs from 54 countries have already become beneficiaries. It is on pace to far surpass what was projected. TEF has also established Africa’s largest entrepreneurship networking platform, TEFConnect, where over a million Africans connect and have access to market opportunities as well as helpful discourse around business.
Not one to restrict himself to a path, Tony Elumelu has placed his footprints in Nigeria’s power and hospitality sectors through the country’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp Plc, for which he is chairman. He is also the chairman of Trans-Niger Oil & Gas Limited (TNOG), a sister company of Heirs Holding and Transcorp, through which he has acquired a 45% stake in OML 17 onshore oilfield. A firm believer in Africa’s ability to create its own value, this move is a giant step in that direction, as he seeks to use African natural resources to drive African power networks.
When one changes the economic landscape of a continent the way Tony Elumelu has, global acclaim, awards and recognition follow. In every leg of his journey, he has garnered them. The billionaire was named amongst Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World 2020 and was included in Forbes Magazine’s list of Africa’s 20 Most Powerful People 2012. He became the first ever African to receive the Dwight Eisenhower Global Entrepreneurship Award in 2017, as his outstanding work in promoting Entrepreneurship in Africa and globally was recognised.
Furthermore, he sits on the Global Board of UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited as well as the Global Advisory Council of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Centre for Public Leadership. A renowned economist and serial entrepreneur, he is also on the World Economic Forum Community of Chairmen. In Nigeria, he holds national honours, namely the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) and National Productivity Order of Merit.
At the height of all his accomplishments and recognition he remains grounded on his resolve to leave a legacy of empowering generations after him. His story is one of a man who walks his talk, a philanthropist not just in the speaking, and an economist and entrepreneur with a track record of impact and results. Most importantly, he has changed the lives of thousands of people in many unimaginable ways. Tony Elumelu is many things to many people, and every one of those things is a rip-roaring compliment.
Contributor:
Iweka Kingsley is a writer and media entrepreneur contributed this article for Africa Interviews from Lagos, Nigeria. Kingsley is a World Summit Awards Youth Ambassador.
