In 2015, Tony Elumelu announced that his foundation would spend $100 million to back 10,000 African entrepreneurs over ten years. At a time when African business news was dominated by mining deals and foreign investment, a Nigerian banker had decided to bet on small start-ups from Lagos to Lusaka.
A young banker
Elumelu was born in 1963 and grew up in Nigeria. He started his career in banking in the late 1980s. In the 1990s he led a group of investors that took over Crystal Bank, a struggling small bank in Lagos, and turned it into Standard Trust Bank. Under his leadership it grew fast and became one of Nigeria’s top banks.
The UBA merger
In 2005, Standard Trust Bank merged with United Bank for Africa, one of Nigeria’s oldest banks. It was a smaller bank taking over a bigger one, and it created one of the largest financial institutions in the country. Elumelu led the merged UBA and pushed it across the continent, opening subsidiaries in many African countries, including Ghana.
Heirs Holdings
Elumelu stepped down as UBA’s chief executive in 2010 and founded Heirs Holdings, an investment company with interests in banking, energy, hospitality, health and other sectors. He later returned to UBA as chairman. Heirs bought oil assets in the Niger Delta and became one of the most active Nigerian investors in the energy sector.
Africapitalism
Elumelu promotes an idea he calls Africapitalism: the belief that the African private sector, especially long-term investment by Africans, can drive the continent’s development. Critics have called it a slogan; supporters say it describes something real. It runs through his speeches and his foundation’s work.
The foundation
The Tony Elumelu Foundation runs an entrepreneurship programme that offers training, mentoring and seed capital to young African business founders. Its 2015 commitment of $100 million over ten years was aimed at 10,000 businesses, and the programme has since been expanded with partners. Each year, selected entrepreneurs gather at a forum where Elumelu speaks.
Ghana connections
UBA Ghana is part of his group, and many Ghanaian entrepreneurs have been selected for the foundation’s programme. Ghanaian founders often appear among the beneficiaries announced each year.
A public figure
Elumelu is a regular at international forums and has served on economic advisory bodies. He is one of the most recognisable faces of African business, a man who talks about entrepreneurship and opportunity in the same breath.
Ten thousand entrepreneurs in ten years was a bold number when he announced it. It changed what people expected a rich African businessman to do with his money.
