By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings and the founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation has advised business leaders to make decisions that will increase economic and social wealth, and promote development in the communities and nations in which they operate.
Elumelu gave this advice in his closing keynote speech titled,“Africapitalism as a Catalyst for Development in Africa” delivered at the Oxford Africa Conference, Oxford University on May 22, 2015.
The Africa’s top entrepreneur discussed what already-established businesses could do to advance Africa’s development through an economic philosophy he calls “Africapitalism” – which focuses on the private sector’s critical role in driving economic and social development across Africa, according to a statement from Heirs Holdings on Monday.
“Africapitalism means we cannot leave the business of development up to our governments, donor countries and philanthropic organizations alone,” he said. “We in the African private sector must wake up, recognize and embrace our role in driving the economic growth and the social development of Africa, and we must act on that responsibility in tangible ways,” Elumelu affirmed.
The statement said earlier in the week, Elumelu also championed the cause of access to power at the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Global Advisory Board ?meeting in New York whose board was co-chaired by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general and Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank.
“Good governance is good for Africa; our continent is open for business. There are lots of opportunities and the return on investment is extremely high,” he noted.
Africa’s power deficit is huge and may not be cleared in the next couple of years, the power sector is therefore a goldmine for investors,” Elumelu added.
In the same vein, the top Africa’s entrepreneur also represented Africa’s private sector in France, on May 20, during a global business dialogue on influencing the agenda for the 2015 Conference of the Parties (COP 21), the leading annual negotiating summit on climate issues. “Mr Elumelu was invited along with an exclusive group of 40 global business leaders, including Jack Ma, the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla,’ the statement said.
