It seems Mr Elumelu has found the secret to sustainably developing Africa: entrepreneurship.
needed to make $123 million. His shares in Transcorp PLC had seen a
surge in value of up to 186% making his 5.7 billion shares equivalent to
around $188 million. If there is a man who is able to turn trash to
gold, it must be Tony Elumelu, who also happens to be a known
philanthropist. Elumelu had started buying shares in Transcorp in April
2011 and by the September, he was the chairman of the company.
THE MAGIC TOUCH
Tony Elumelu is the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, an investment company
with interests in financial services, real estate, energy, agribusiness
and healthcare. He also has a Non-Profit-Organisation under his name,
the Tony Elumelu Foundation which is known for its bias towards
promoting entrepreneurship and excellence in business in Africa. Through
Heirs Holdings, Elumelu acquired shares in Transnational Corporation of
Nigeria Plc, a conglomerate with interests in the agribusiness, energy
and hospitality sectors. It is here that he made his mark with the gains
in share value that had him making news headlines. However, this was
not a one hit wonder as Elumelu had earlier on worked a similar miracle.
True to his character, Elumelu had acquired an ailing bank, the
Standard Trust Bank and turned it into one of the largest in South
Africa. In 2005, he then led the bank into a historic merger to form the
United Bank for Africa, which then grew into a monstrous company with
customers in 19 African countries. That he later made history with
Transcorp no longer seems too surprising because Elumelu is a man who
always had it in him. Heirs Holdings only came to life following
Elumelu’s retirement from the United Bank in 2010.
A HEART FOR THE PEOPLE, A HEART FOR AFRICAPITALISM
Tony Elumelu is a well-known philanthropist who has managed to impact
Africa with his sustainable, forward-thinking ideas of charity in
Africa. In 2015, he announced he would fund 1,000 budding entrepreneurs
as part of a $100 million initiative to boost the African private sector
through his Foundation. The Foundation’s objective is to enhance the
competitiveness of the African private sector and with the Tony Elumelu
Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) going into its third year, Mr
Elumelu’s goal is within shooting range.
TEEP
has the mission to identify and grow 10,000 African entrepreneurs,
create 1 million jobs, and add $10 billion in annual revenue across
Africa over the next decade.
In 2015, he predicted, “…the African entrepreneur will explode on to
the global stage, as a new generation shows he world what those of us
doing business in Africa have long known: that our continent is home to
some of the most exciting and innovative entrepreneurial talent.” With
President Barack Obama’s Spark programme to recognize emerging global
entrepreneurs partnering with the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship
Programme, the sky is the limit for the young business people of Africa.
Apart from his Foundation, Afrikanpost says he was a member of the
World Economic Forum’s Regional Agenda Council on Africa. He was also
part of the Bretton Woods Committee and through his foundation, has a
partnership with the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative.
With a growing need for change in Africa, Elumelu’s idea of
Africapitalism: a rallying cry for empowering the private sector to
drive Africa forward, the continent will see big changes. The seeds of
Mr Elumelu’s movement have already been seen, not only in the 2,000
beneficiaries of the Entrepreneurship Programme but also such
groundbreaking business people as Mike Macharia, a Kenyan entrepreneur
who built a “pan-African company” in Sub-Saharan Africa who was
acknowledged by Mr Elumelu himself.
Also acknowledged was Takunda Chingonzo, a 21 year old who brought
President Obama to task over the impact of American trade restriction
policies on Zimbabwe. In his words, Mr Elumelu says, “African
entrepreneurs will play a central role in bringing together private
wealth and public need. They will prove a key tenet of Africapitalism:
that it is both necessary and possible for entrepreneurs and society to
prosper simultaneously.
The transformative impact of economic growth unleashed by a fully
empowered, socially conscious entrepreneurial class will dwarf the
results achieved by the previous aid-driven approach to Africa’s
development.” It seems Mr Elumelu has found the secret to sustainably
developing Africa: entrepreneurship.
Source: www.africanexponent.com
