NEWS
Tony Elumelu makes TIME’s 100 most influential people list 2020
American weekly news magazine and news website published and based in New York City, TIME 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, TopNaija reports.
The list, now in its seventeenth year, recognises the activism, innovation, and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Mr Elumelu, who is one of only four Africans on the 2020 list, is recognised for his track record of business turnaround and value creation, and economic empowerment of young Africans.
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 the 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. 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.
Mr 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.
Heirs Holdings, which serves as a corporate role model for African businesses, and the Tony Elumelu Foundation will both celebrate 10 years of impact in November. Their mission continues to be inspired by Mr Elumelu’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the continent.
To see the full list of the 2020 TIME 100 and tributes, CLICK HERE!
An elated Tony Elumelu has expressed his excitement and gratitude with a long post via Instagram, as reproduced below.
“Not every day do you wake up to this – honoured to be named to the 2020 #Time100 from @TIME. This has been a tumultuous year for all of us – challenging, humbling, and forcing us all to reflect. Why am I there? When in 2010, we launched the @tonyelumelufoundation to champion African entrepreneurship, we had clear goals to catalyse and, yes, showcase the capacity, determination and power of the African entrepreneur. Young women and men shaping economies, creating jobs and singlehandedly confronting the clichés that often surround Africa. Africa is not a “continent of unrealised potential”, but one of innovation, pulsing with productivity, as our entrepreneurs are reimagining and building a new future for the continent. It is also about businesses like Transcorp Power, Nigeria’s largest power producer; @ubagroup, a bank in 20 African countries democratising financial services and breaking down barriers to trade; Avon Healthcare, innovating in delivering healthcare – our Group CEOs like Dr. Awele Elumelu, Owen Omogiafo, Simbo Ukiri, Dupe Olusola, Uzo Oshogwe, and Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu ideally females! We are changing the African narrative – thanks @TIME for recognising this.
Business and philanthropy have taught me that talent is evenly distributed. Yes in California’s “Silicon Valley”, but also Lagos’ “CC-hub”, the young people are just as gifted, but the structures of institutionalised support, the networks committed to and invested in their success could not be more different. Success occurs when preparation meets opportunity – where there is more opportunity, inevitably, there will be more success. It is this imbalance, the uneven access to opportunity for entrepreneurs in Africa that ignited my 2015 US$100 million commitment to empowering African entrepreneurs. Our rejection of the status quo propelled us to fund, mentor and train 10,000 entrepreneurs and counting, creating a digital ecosystem of support for over one million Africans. The results have been phenomenal.”
