Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu, has been named among the top 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine.
This recognition comes off his track record of business turnaround and value creation, and economic empowerment of young Africans. Elumelu, a leading investor and philanthropist is one of the three Nigerians on the 2020 list; Tomi Adeyemi and Tunji Funsho.
The Time Magazine list which is now in its 17th year recognizes the activism, innovation, and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.
Here are some facts about Tony Elumelu, one of the world’s most influential individual;
- He 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.
- Elumelu 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.
- He is 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 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.
In terms of his philanthropism, it should be pointed out that since the inception of his foundation; he has funded just fewer than 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.
As a matter of fact, the self-funded 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.
InlandTown! 2020
