Tony Elumelu Tells How To Drive Economic Growth Across Africa
Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings Group and United Bank for Africa (UBA), has described as vital, the role of Africa’s private sector in driving economic growth across the continent.
The founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation stated this during a fireside discussion at Future Investment Initiative’s New Africa Summit – an initiative the extraordinary businessman co-chairs with CNN host, Eleni Giokos in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The subject of discussion which Mr Elumelu dubbed “very close to my heart” was “The Landscape of African Entrepreneurship: How Can Vision Transform to Venture?”
“This is why I champion Africapitalism—the belief that Africa’s private sector must play the lead role in the continent’s economic development,” Tony Elumelu told a gathering of the world’s most influential leaders.
He stressed further that the Heirs Holdings Group in partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation – his family-funded philanthropic initiative – demonstrated Africapitalism by “empowering young African entrepreneurs each with $5,000 non-refundable seed capital, world-class mentorship and business training to enable build thriving businesses. To date, we have empowered 20,000 young men and women who have gone on to create 400,000 direct and indirect jobs.”
Elumelu, who maintained that access to funds alone can not guarantee the prosperity we all dream of on the continent, insisted the private sector and the government must synergize efforts to get Africa out of the woods.
He said: “Success does not come easy. And access to capital does not address all the challenges. When I meet with African governments and policymakers, I emphasise, “If you want to develop, you must improve access to electricity, reform taxation systems, and create policies that ease challenges for entrepreneurs to succeed.” Too often entrepreneurs are stifled. It is a combined effort – while the private sector creates economic opportunity and funding, governments must create the enabling environment for businesses to succeed. This is the essence of strategic private-public partnerships that will propel Africa forward. And it is for Africa to offer its solutions. We cannot and should not rely on others.”
