Tony Elumelu Archives - Investadvocate

Agriculture, Electricity, Entrepreneurship will create jobs in Africa, says Elumelu

InvestAdvocate — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 06:06:16 +0000

Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings

24/7/2017/Heirs Holdings

The Chairman of Heirs Holdings and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony O. Elumelu, CON, has called on African leaders and development institutions to help address the deepening job and employment crisis bedevilling the continent by lending support and paying more attention towards the agricultural sector, creating access to electricity and developing entrepreneurship.

Elumelu who said this while speaking on the theme ‘How do we create 10 million jobs by 2020?’ at the Youth Connekt Africa Summit in Rwanda yesterday, opined that access to electricity and increased focus in the agricultural sector would enhance entrepreneurship and tackle the challenge of unemployment through the creation of more jobs in the continent.

Elumelu, a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship and Africapitalism, also upheld the notion that the private sector has the responsibility to play the lead role in contributing to job creation in Africa, and cited the example of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and its various investments in these key areas, adding that this is visible from the $100million commitment towards supporting African entrepreneurs over the years.

He said, “Today we have businesses in 20 African countries and employ 30,000 people directly and 50,000 people indirectly. Agriculture, access to electricity and entrepreneurship have the potential to create more jobs in Africa”.

The TEF boss stated that Africa can be self-reliant and self-dependent if the right infrastructure and government support are put in place to boost these sectors. In this regard, he commended the effort of President Paul Kagame for his brilliant initiatives in the areas of entrepreneurship and attracting key investments to the African continent.

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, who supported Elumelu’s stance, acknowledged that agriculture can create jobs for the teeming African population if youths approached the sector, not just as a way of life, but as a business.

He seized the opportunity to commend Elumelu for his work in entrepreneurship and pledged to support the work of the TEF in the creation of jobs. “I applaud Tony Elumelu’s work in entrepreneurship, because entrepreneurship is key. We will help to scale up what Tony Elumelu is doing. If others are doing same, we will succeed in Africa”.

The Rwandan Development Board also hosted Elumelu at a roundtable breakfast meeting with the Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma to discuss investment opportunities in Africa.

The Youth Connekt Summit hosted by the President of Rwanda, H.E. Paul Kagame, gathered 2,500 invited guests from the private and public sectors.

The opening plenary session was moderated by Adeyemi Babington Ashaye, Head, Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum; other panelists include; Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank; Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa; and Diane Karusisi, CEO, Bank of Kigali.

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Elumelu Calls on African Governments, Donors to Treat Farmers as Entrepreneurs

InvestAdvocate — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 05:45:54 +0000

26/4/2016/Heirs Holdings

…And for the U.S. Government to fight famine with flexibility

Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa and Founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation has called on African governments and donors to treat the agricultural sector in Africa as a commercially viable sector with a potential to create millions of jobs and dollars in revenue.

The African Business leader and Philanthropist, who stated this while delivering the keynote address to agribusiness investors and stakeholders at The Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, DC, said agriculture should not be seen as a social welfare program, rather African farmers should be treated as entrepreneurs as governments create the enabling environment for MSMEs to access finance.

Organised by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on April 26th 2016, the event, which gathered a host of multi-disciplinary stakeholders in agriculture and food business, including Elumelu – a member of The Aspen Institute Global Food Security Strategy Group – presented a platform to discuss transformations in the global food system necessary to feed growing cities.

Speaking from an African standpoint, Elumelu advocated for public and private sector collaboration, recommending the adoption of an Africapitalist approach to achieve the transformation and growth needed to meet the increasing demand for safe and sustainable food. Africapitalism promotes the private sector’s commitment to Africa’s development through long-term investment in strategic sectors of the economy that create economic prosperity and social wealth.

“If the public and private sector work together in shared purpose, we will be able to retain the desired knowledge and manpower in rural areas in order to support agriculture. We will also be able to control the rate of urbanisation, because we would have made it possible for our young people to earn a good living and grow their businesses right where they were born and raised as agro-allied entrepreneurs,” he added.

On the private sector responsibilities, he advocated for large investments that promote mechanized farming and processing as well as capital to partner with the government to provide key infrastructure supportive of sustained growth in the agriculture sector. “I believe that if we transform the agriculture sector, we will transform the African continent!” said Elumelu.

He concluded by appealing to the U.S. government for a decisive congressional action to reform emergency food assistance by providing USAID with the flexibility to ship or purchase food regionally to avoid distorting local markets, further impoverishing local small holder farmers in Africa. According to him, flexibility is the right way to approach food aid that will save more lives. “Food aid must not become an industry. As an African, I want to appeal to the U.S. Congress and the next president of the United States to make the correct and courageous decision in the next re-authorisation of the farm bill to fight famine with flexibility.”

Statistics reveal that an estimated 6.3billion people will live in urban cities by 2050 putting a strain on the supply of safe and sustainable food to feed the population. With multiple challenges facing small scale farmers and easy access to markets still an uphill task, the symposium was an avenue for stakeholders to discuss and recommend specific actions on how to tackle problems of global food security. The Council also released a major report on action points for the US government to advance food security in an urban world.

Delivering his speech, co-chair of the Global Food and Agriculture Program, Dan Glickman, stated that action and innovation by the private sector are important to feed cities. “Feeding the world’s cities is an enormous challenge but also an enormous opportunity”.

Other international speakers present at the event were Doug Bereuter, Co-chair, Global Food and Agriculture Program; Member, U.S. Senate, Honourable Jack Reed; and Rajiv Shah, senior advisor to The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a distinguished service professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, among others.

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Tony Elumelu, UBA Chairman Bags Lifetime Achievement Award in Abidjan

InvestAdvocate — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 10:27:19 +0000

L-R: Chairman of the National Council of Employers, General Confederation of Enterprises of Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI), Jean Kacou Diagou; Minister of industry & Mines Côte d’Ivoire, Jean Claude Brou; Chairman, Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa Plc and keynote speaker /recipient of the CGECI Lifetime Achievement Tony O. Elumelu; and Chairman of Centum Group, Christopher John Kirubi, at the 5th edition of the annual forum of the CGECI Academy 2016 held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

21/4/2016/UBA

At the 5^th edition of the annual forum, CGECI Academy 2016, the Ivorian National Council of Employers, General Confederation of Enterprises of Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI) presented African businessman and investor, Tony Elumelu, with its 2016 CGECI Lifetime Achievement Award on April 21, 2016 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The formal presentation was to honour Mr. Elumelu on his leadership and key role as an African business champion. The event was attended by over three thousand delegates across Africa including top government officials, business leaders, established and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Addressing guests present at the event, Chairman of African investments company, Heirs Holdings, UBA Plc and Transcorp Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu delivered a keynote speech where he advocated for the collaboration of the private and public sectors to create value in the global competitive business landscape. He said, “SMEs are the backbone of any economy anywhere in the world. And when governments ignore the private sector and fail to attend to their obligations to create and sustain enabling environments for businesses to thrive and flourish, the consequences are stark – low GDP growth, mass unemployment, ethnic strife and possibly, even food and health crises and in some cases, violent conflict”.

Mr. Elumelu also addressed entrepreneurs, urging them to seek opportunities to accelerate their business success — including through The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP). “We are champions of African development because we are Africapitalists. Through Africapitalism, I seek to evangelize what works for successful business investments and inspire other entrepreneurs like yourselves; to also make the promotion of national and regional development a strategic priority for your businesses”, he said.

TEEP is his 10-year, $100 million commitment, to identify and empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs, create one million jobs and add $10 billion in revenues to Africa’s economy. So far, seventeen (17) entrepreneurs from Côte d’Ivoire have received grants and training from the programme.

Since its initiation in 2012 by the Ivorian National council of Employers, the annual economic forum, CGECI Academy, has provided a platform to raise awareness among African entrepreneurs about existing sources of capital and investors available to help grow and develop their businesses. The forum seeks to change the paradigm of access to finance in Côte d’Ivoire, creating a platform for sharing experiences and expertise. Furthermore, it aims to present the Ivorian private sector to regional and international partners and highlight the achievements and the opportunities within it. Other activities during the event include the announcement of the yearly business plan competition and a segment dedicated to sharing the experiences and testimonials of entrepreneurs.

The ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, Daniel Kablan Duncan, and the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, among other business leaders and senior government officials.

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