Good morning All,

• The Primate of all Nigeria, His Grace, The Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba;

• The representative of the host Governor for the youth conference, Governor of Enugu State, His Excellency, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi;

• The representative of the Governor of Delta State, His Excellency, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa;

• The Vice Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Charles Arizechukwu Igwe;

• The eminent dignitaries from the Church of Nigeria gathered here today;

• And to the thousands of young ones gathered here at the University of Nsukka for the Joshua Generation International Youth Conference, all twenty-one thousand of you, I say well done for participating at this important event coming immediately after Easter.

• I must begin by thanking the Primate of all Nigeria, The Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba, for several reasons:

• First, for his organising this timely and important event, and for ensuring its great success. Looking at the crowd present here as I have been following the programme online.

• The youth are our greatest force on the African continent, and events like this that prioritise our youth must be commended.

• So thank you Big brother, thank you great man of God.

• I also thank the Primate for his warm invitation to me and indeed your consistency in following up with me to ensure that I deliver the opening keynote of this conference.

• Thank you also for the apt choice for the topic and theme of this event: ‘Africa: unlocking our potential, securing our future’.

• Let me introduce myself, I am Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.

• UBA operates in 20 African countries and this is a wonderful opportunity to talk with the youth of Africa.

• In Nigeria, UBA operates close to 700 branches in every part of the country, we serve 25 million customers and most of them are young ones across Africa.

• Our young Africans are proud customers of UBA, they use our platforms, cards and digital bot Leo for their transactions.

• When I got this invitation, I thought what a wonderful way to speak to these young ones.

• I am also the Chairman of the Heirs Holdings Group. And most importantly to me, I am the Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

• And because of this session, I will speak briefly about what we do at the Foundation.

• The kind speaker that introduced me spoke about more people to signing up to the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme on tefconnect.com.

• And I firmly believe that applying to the Tony Elumelu Foundation is one of the ways to be empowered as youth, and I want to encourage everyone here to apply.

• Take advantage, visit TEFConnect.com and be guided on how to apply.

• Apply for the non-refundable $5000, which is our own commitment to actually empowering young Africans which we believe at TEF at the future of the continent.

2. Context

• Let me therefore to set some useful context to guide our discussion today:

• Africa is the world’s youngest continent.

• Almost 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25.

• In Nigeria, youths of 35 years and under are estimated to constitute 70% of the population of the country.

• However, the jobless rate in Nigeria has now risen to about 30% in March 2021.

• Some states have as high as 56% of all their youth population as unemployed.

• In Africa, the situation is not much different:

• We have 65% of all Africans below the age of 35 and many of these people are not gainfully employed. 

• The Covid pandemic and resulting lockdowns have exposed the vulnerabilities in our population structure.

• We now have, as a continent, the largest young generation in history – this youthful population is Africa’s hope, it is our pride, and it is our potential.

• The urgency and need to unlock the potential of this generation is imperative for the security of our collective future.

• This is why I commend all of you and the Primate for choosing this topic.

• What should we do? How do we unlock the potential of African youth to catalyse the socio-economic development of the continent.

• Youth Restiveness is a ticking timebomb and we continue to face issues daily around:

• Extremism
  • Banditry
  • Robbery
  • Senseless killing
  • Kidnapping
  • Political thuggery, to mention just a few

• The question becomes: what are we doing to stem this?

• What are we doing to secure our own future?

• First, there must be a high sense of urgency.

• A dissatisfaction to what is happening, a commitment to improving things.

• We must accept that we face a crucial period in our history where youth issues must be the main and central issue of our time.

• Millions of our young people are entering the job market every year;

•  20 million jobs are needed to be created annually to absorb new entrants in the labour market.

• Only about 3 million formal jobs are being created annually across Africa and this was even before the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.

• The estimated annual growth of labour force is 5% whilst employment growth rate is less than 2% across Africa.

• There is huge and shocking deficit.

• How do we unlock the power of our youth? How do we harness their energy for good instead of wasting it?

The Power of Entrepreneurship

• For me and my colleagues at UBA, at TEF and the across the HH Group, we have come to believe that entrepreneurship-the power of entrepreneurship- is key to harnessing the potential of these young Africans.

• By so doing, we secure our own future.

• This comes from our own experience, first as entrepreneurs ourselves.

• And secondly as people that have committed a lot of resources at TEF (capital, time, personnel) in helping create a new generation of African entrepreneurs.

• We are helping to give economic hope and opportunities to young Africans.

• And we speak not just as people that do this in Nigeria but in all 54 African countries, the TEF intervention cuts across all sectors and gender across the 54 African countries.

• Because we believe that prosperity should be shared as much as possible across board and that poverty anywhere is a threat to us all everywhere

• We must prioritise our support for small-scale businesses given the enormous potential of our youth.

• Corporate organisations do well in employing people but there is a limit on how much corporates can do in employing the huge numbers of our unemployed youth.

• Therefore, capacitising and supporting small businesses, empowering our young ones and their businesses, in our own view is the most powerful means to reduce unemployment on the continent.

• It is the most impactful way to reduce the ills such as banditry, thuggery etc.

• Because people with economic hope, do not want to take the lives of others unnecessarily.

• People that have hope will preach peace and security.

• People that do not have economic hope, will begin to question the essence of their existence.

• We saw during the pandemic how young people showed us with their actions that yes, life is important, but livelihood is more important.

• This is why we must embrace entrepreneurship and work together to fix the issues we live with today.

• We need to improve access to electricity if we must empower our people.

• I also wear another hat as the Chairman of Transcorp Group and as the last speaker said, we have invested massively in the power sector in Nigeria.

• Collectively over $1bn has been invested in the power sector because of our belief that the economic transformation of Nigeria and Africa will rest on the availability of power.

• We cannot have our SMEs spend their profits on buying power for their businesses, we need large scale infrastructural support to provide sustainable and constant power for our people.

• One of the major complaints we get from our TEF entrepreneurs is about a lack of access to electricity and how it takes a lot of their capital.

• We cannot make progress, if we do not fix power.

• Let us provide electricity for our young ones and they will do great things before our very eyes.

• We need to create hubs and zones in every LGA starting from Nigeria to be able to empower our young ones.

• If the government, and when we say government here, we refer to the LGA, were to create small business hubs where people can go in with their ideas and have a platform to convert their ideas to real life, it can make the difference.

• We need tax friendly policies that encourage our entrepreneurs, we need to reduce taxes for SMEs, and one must commend the Federal government, it has done good work in this area in terms of tax waivers for Micro-businesses, but still, much more is required but good work has been done and the government should be commended.

• We must create access to, access to finance is crucial, young people have the ideas, what they lack is the training and financing needed for their businesses to take off.

• At the TEF, we provide non-refundable seed capital, but that alone is not an end.

• We have long realised that for you all to succeed, mentoring and business education is required. And this is why we have the 12-week training programme and I want you all to take advantage of this.

• Go to TEFConnect.com to sign up so you are trained, the knowledge you get from there will help you in becoming entrepreneurs and for those that are entrepreneurs already, the training will help scale your business to the next level.

• We must create economic ecosystems and platforms to support small businesses.

• There are government policies needed for our young ones to prosper:

• Low tax rate regimes,
  • training,
  • and mentoring support to entrepreneurs.

• It is a source of pride to my colleagues and I that entrepreneurship is one way to realise the potential of young Africans.

• We must create the right environment; we must commend the Primate for the foresight and ingenuity in the framing of this conference the way he and his colleagues have done.

• The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) which my family and I founded in 2010 is the leading African philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs. TEF is empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, catalysing economic growth, driving poverty eradication, and driving job creation across all 54 African countries.

• Since inception, the Foundation has funded about 10,000 young men and women and created a digital ecosystem of over one million Africans, as part of our ten year, US$100m commitment through our TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.

• You can and must apply today at tefconnect.com to access this life transforming opportunity.

• The $5000 non-refundable seed capital, the business training and mentoring is part of our holistic approach to build the long-term capacity of our young ones.

• The importance of the training is vital as young entrepreneurs need to know the principles of business in order to scale their enterprises and increase the impact felt in their communities.

• So that when success eventually comes, and it will come, you will know how to manage success and not let success manage you.

• We need more functional and Vocational Training programmes as the second way of making Africa realise the full potential of our young ones.

• We need more vocational training programmes, we are not just being prescriptive, I spent a bit of time explaining wat TEF does so the opportunity is available to all 21,000 here and also those of you watching.

• We want to catalyse other endowed Africans to look into the area of entrepreneurship, we all have a role to play in making a difference in Africa.

• Some labour is imported in Africa, doing things that we can have Africans do. By getting them employed, we are giving them a sense of self-dignity as they work and earn a living and by so doing, improving their families, the communities and contributing in their own way to the economic prosperity of the continent.
• I daresay that our young people want to be counted, they want to be part of the solution.

• Let us help created functional and vocational training programmes.

A third solution is the Moral Rejuvenation and reorientation of our young ones:

• We need our young ones to embrace hard work, be disciplined, to believe that success comes from commitment, hard work and making sacrifices.

• My late dad told me that if you earn 1 naira and you don’t save, if you earn 1 billion naira, you still will not save!

• We need to change the way our young ones see life.

• We need to give them economic hope, they need to know that you don’t have to turn commit fraud to succeed.

• We need to have our:

• Our Religious leaders,

• Community leaders

• Teachers,

• Lecturers,

• Traditional Leaders,

• Governments,

• Role models and mentors lead this crusade of changing the mindset of our young ones.

• They must know that the key to success is hard work, commitment, and being laser focused on what you consider important.

• Our young ones must learn about perseverance, patience and must think long-term, they must know that quick gains/wins can create more problems later on in life.

• I believe that a combination of some of this,

• The right moral foundation

• A reorientation of our value system

• Training and adjusting our education system to be more functional

• Above all, all the things earlier mentioned on entrepreneurship

• If these are well planned and sequenced, it can help to a large extent to change the future trajectory of our continent.

• Across board, we need to have a moral rejuvenation of our people.

• This cuts across all segments, spheres, and demographics of our society.

• All concerned stakeholders must come together to play their role and ensure this collective reorientation.

Conclusion

• In conclusion, I would like to reiterate my message:

• When do we nurture and prioritise our youth?

• The answer is now, there is no better time than now to bring our youth to the forefront

• Any further delays will be extremely catastrophic

• We cannot afford to waste the demographic dividend especially as we have millions of youth entering the job-market place yearly

• How do we nurture them?
  • The answer is entrepreneurship, functional and vocational training and moral rejuvenation/moral re-armament and a shift in our value orientation.

• Who will nurture, support and guide our youth?

• The answer is all of us working together for their greater good.

• The future of our Africa, as I say always, truly lies in the hands of these young ones but we all have a responsibility in making this happen.

• Thank you.

Tony O. Elumelu, CON
Chairman, Heirs Holdings
Chairman, United Bank for Africa (UBA)
Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation

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Here are 10 fun facts we learned from our #TEFLiveSeries!

On the last book he read:  There was a time in his career he used to read voraciously. But increasingly, with the weight of his responsibilities as the chairman of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa, his reading habits have been altered. However, he is re-reading “The Prince” by Nicolo Machiavelli, reminding us all that reading is important and that re-reading a book is so much more fun.

On whether red is his favourite colour: Interestingly, red is not his favourite colour. Whenever he socialized during the pre-covid era, he leaned towards black ensembles. However, the reason red is the corporate colour for the Heirs Holding group is because it depicts warmth, friendship, freshness, fertility, and strength.

On how many red ties does he own:  As expected, he does not know exactly how many it is, but he (and so do we) know that it is a lot. He often tells himself, “okay, no more red ties”, but then enters a store and sees another red tie and then starts a new journey with it.

On his favourite sports team:  Although he has a tennis court at his residence, he cannot quite remember when he last played a game of tennis. However, he loves lawn tennis and football and even served as a goalie in in primary school!

On how many minutes he can plank for:  His new planking routine is to strengthen his upper body core. He can do a 2-minute straight plank, and then 30 seconds on each side. He tries to do 5 minutes in total and confesses that the toughest part of planking is the first 2 minutes.  

On what age he started his first business:  One of the most poignant things he said was that the route that one takes to setting up a business is more important than the age they were. For some, this route could emerge from as young as when they were in primary school, or secondary school, or even college or university. For him, it was in his university era. He emphasized the importance of being present and pursuing whatever it is one is passionate about, in order to identify the right time to pursue that path. It is not mathematical or mechanical that you start at 20, or 30, or 40, but to strategically pursue that which you are passionate about. 

On why he is called Lion King: There are many reasons he is called the Lion King. The lion is agile. The lion is a big animal, but extremely fast, especially when he is running to feed. A lion also moves strategically, while also knowing how to take care of his cubs. A lion knows when to strike at the right time, and that is what makes the lion the king of the jungle. 

On how he ensures a good work-life balance:  It is about “the genius of and”, a life hack he once read in a book. For him, it is about making sure work does not suffer and at the same time, your wellbeing as an individual, as a family man, and as a member of society is continually sustained. It is the realization that if you are not healthy and mentally balanced, you cannot be a productive member of the society. If there is harmony across board, you will be able to work better.  

On if he has mentors:  He does have mentors, role models, and people who have influenced him greatly. His biggest mentor is Ebitimi Banigo, who gave him a career opportunity and changed his life. However, he has other people who have also influenced him, including Michael Jackson, who was a perfectionist. He loves how disciplined and dedicated Michael Jackson was to his craft. Another musical artiste he admires is Bob Marley. He flew to Jamaica two years ago with a single mission to step on the soil/and enter the house of Bob Marley. He is also influenced by Steve Jobs for his great mind and endless ideas. He is influenced by people who, despite challenges, make a difference and leave lasting legacies.

On his love of corn:  When it comes to eating corn, he keeps it simple: boiled with a pinch of salt. Sometimes he pairs it with coconut. But he has not eaten corn in a couple of months, and he is beyond thrilled as the corn season approaches. 

**** 

If you missed our #TEFLiveSeries chat with T.O.E, be sure to check out the full video on our YouTube page HERE. 

The post 10 Fun Facts We Learned about our Founder, Tony O. Elumelu, during the #TEFLiveSeries! appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Are you an African entrepreneur? An Africapitalist at heart? A business-oriented person? Then these quotes will be incredibly insightful for you. 

Here are 58 quotes from Tony Elumelu! 

1. “There is a better way to invest in Africa for a sustainable future that creates value for all.” 
2. “My vision for the foundation is to unlock the obstacles that African entrepreneurs face, so that they, rather than aid agencies or governments will spur the continent’s transformation” 
3. As an entrepreneur myself, I understand what it feels like to yearn for a lifeline, to hope for a ‘big break’, to look forward to enjoying some luck.” 
4. “Africapitalism is about the intersection of economic prosperity and social wealth, the intersection of making profit and doing good, and not waiting to finish one before you do the other.” 
5. “Africapitalism is not exclusive to African businesses but we must set an example for others to follow” 
6. “Only entrepreneurship can create opportunity where none seemingly exists.” 
7. “Young entrepreneurs and those they inspire are the lifeblood of Africa’s rise.” 
8. “Africapitalism therefore means we cannot leave the business of development up to our governments, donor countries and philanthropic organizations alone.” 
9. “The kind of challenges we face on the continent require not only vision but also patience and perseverance.” 
10. “Africapitalism is the nexus between the ability of the private sector to create value and the government’s creation of a business-friendly environment.” 
11. “Companies that incorporate local value creation will be both more sustainable and more profitable in Africa in the long-term.” 
12. “By investing in local economies and creating local jobs, they are also increasing the pool of those who can afford their products and services.” 
13. “If you do not care about how your business is conducted, your very future may be at stake.” 
14. “The old business model of a myopic pursuit of profit above all else is at best imprudent and, at worst, reckless in our increasingly interconnected and interdependent world.” 
15. “The future we all want for ourselves is one of our own making.” 
16. “The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is an act of faith in our entrepreneurs to transform our continent. Because business isn’t just about money.” 
17. “Entrepreneurship means Africans no longer have to find a job or be trained to be employees. Instead, it will enable our young people to create their own jobs, become employers, and take charge of their futures, instead of letting the future happen to them.” 
18. “I have come to understand that the most important thing I can do to advance our development is to help replicate my success in others and to evangelize the cause of entrepreneurship.” 
19. “If we help people make something of themselves, by investing in jobs and economic opportunity, the beneficiaries will purchase healthcare, they will purchase education for their children and look after their families.” 
20. “From the African perspective, development is a matter of realizing our potential and making the progress that we know is humanly possible because others have gotten there.” 
21. “We need to give from the perspective of empowering the recipient, instead of making them dependent on us.” 
22. “I believe that economic prosperity and social wealth must go hand in hand for maximum impact.” 
23. “Everything I have today is because of Africa, I was born here, went to school here, I work here and I’m achieving some level of financial comfort here.” 
24. “Whatever course you choose to take in the services of others, be guided by the goal of unleashing the inherent potential that resides in each and every one of us.” 
25. “Eradication of poverty must be a collective responsibility.” 
26. “The transformation of Africa is not one man’s job. It is a job for all of us, and by empowering these entrepreneurs, we are helping to create more jobs and wealth on the continent.” 
27. “Poverty anywhere is a threat to everyone everywhere. It has to be dealt with by all structures – the government institutions, financial institutions and citizens.” 
28.  “Success in entrepreneurship is the outcome of a series of short term successes AND failures”.
29. “Today we may appear young, and people may not believe in us, but we are going to compel them to believe in us through our achievement.”
30. “Your idea can transform Africa. Let’s stop talking and let’s start doing.” 
31. “A true leader is one who remains committed to a higher purpose that most others do not yet see. I have studied great people and one common thing I found among them is Legacy.”  
32. “Let us remind ourselves of the power of individuals and what potent capacities and opportunities lie in this. No one but us will develop Africa.” 
33. “People management is key. Learn how to motivate your people. Be painstaking in choosing the right people.” 
34. “It’s a long-term journey. There is no quick fix. You will make mistakes. You will have challenges. For you to succeed along this journey, you must be disciplined, make sacrifices and save today to achieve your goals.” 
35. “My passion for entrepreneurship is rooted in the economic philosophy of ‘#Africapitalism’, a term that I coined to emphasize the role Africa’s private sector must play in the socio-economic transformation of our continent.” 
36. “It is encouraging to see Africa’s public sector recognize that Africa’s future will be determined not simply by economic growth, but by how successful we are in creating accessible pathways to economic prosperity for all Africans everywhere.” 
37. “Africa is not a single country but a continent, one that is a place of real business opportunity that the world should be alive to.” 
38. “Entrepreneurship, Support for small and medium scale enterprises in my viewpoint is one of the ways we can address poverty in a fundamental way.” 
39. “Instead of having a pyramid of few billionaires, I prefer a large base that has prosperity, happier people, and people whose basic needs are met. I think that is what will give us the sustainability we need in Africa.” 
40. “We need a new Marshall plan for Africa. This, for me, should be in improving access to electricity. Once that is done to a large extent, every other thing falls in place.” 
41. “Wealth for one person in the family does not give security. What gives security is to see that we democratize prosperity around us as much as possible.” 
42. “Businesses acting as businesses, not as charitable donors, is the most powerful force for addressing the pressing issues society face(s).” 
43. “The pandemic presents an opportunity to reset Africa, create employment and eliminate poverty”. 
44. “Most times businesses start off well, but poor management leads to early failure.”
45. “For us, we believe that we must, as business leaders in Africa, stand up, show confidence in our continent by investing in our continent, attract investments to the continent and help through this process to create jobs.” 
46. “Africa, at a time like this, needs massive investment in infrastructure and power to help correct the poverty level we see.” 
47. “We didn’t prepare for the pandemic, but it is all about nimbleness, agility, and swiftness to adaptation. We need to have inbuilt nimbleness in what we do so that we can swiftly react to changes.” 
48. “Our people need jobs. Our people need role models. Our people need to see that you don’t need to migrate out of Africa to earn a living or to earn a decent life.”  
49. “Impossibility only happens in the brain”. 
50. “Never believe anything is impossible. Have an open mind. Find out what it takes to succeed. Chances are it will”. 
51. “People see risks, we see opportunities. We go for opportunities and see how to mitigate the risks.”
52. “Your success means so much for Africa. You must succeed to lift us up. We will continue to encourage and support you.”
53. “Despite the pandemic, Africa is a continent of opportunities. There are challenges but there are also huge returns on investment. The time to invest in Africa is now.”
54. “African youth need technological opportunities. They need hope. They need tech for good and they want tech for all”. 
55. “Africa has a demographic structure that if well harnessed can confer a competitive advantage on us as a continent in this 21st century. But we are not doing all that we must do.” 
56. “We must all work hard to put the youth out of the streets. Failure to do so will spell doom for all of us.”
57. “You must realize that leadership to a large extent is not bestowed, it is not handed over to you. You must prepare yourself for leadership and it will come to you.”
58. “I would say changing Africa is our collective responsibility. Every one of us must realize that we need an improved Africa. The world is moving and evolving, and we face a huge risk of further widening the developmental gap if we do nothing.” 
    
    

The post 58 Quotes from Tony Elumelu, Africa’s Most Prominent Philanthropist! appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The event emphasised the “Youth Engagement for Global Action” agenda and the role of African entrepreneurs in pushing for sustainable development. It also examined the critical role of the youth in igniting their potential, population, and influence to create mechanisms for sustainable development across the continent. 

Moderated by TEF CEO, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, the event featured a line-up of pan-African entrepreneurs and speakers from the development sector.

Addressing the audience, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu drew attention to the plight of startup African entrepreneurs during the pandemic while highlighting the importance of SMEs, especially during this period. “The SMEs are the major contributors to African economies. We must not underestimate the level of disruption and uncertainty that young people all over the world have faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.”

Ifeyinwa emphasized the need to empower the youth to tackle the menace of poverty on the continent.

Wambui Gichuri, Ag. VP Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, African Development Bank stated: “Entrepreneurship is an essential part of Africa’s employment challenge and it is where we have to put our focus as a multilateral development bank”.  

She added: “We need to do whatever it takes to empower our youth because they are the future of the continent”.

Martha T.M. Phiri, PhD, Director, Human, Youth and Social Development, African Development Bank, stated that the $5million partnership between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2019 to empower additional young African entrepreneurs, was a step in the right direction to create jobs on the continent. “That was a very exciting partnership and we feel this should be the way forward if we are going to create jobs on the continent,” she said.  

Shoroke H. Zedan, Chairman, World Youth Skills, Egypt said: “It is important that governments start looking at entrepreneurship as a fundamental core topic that needs to be integrated into the educational system”. 

Speaking on incorporating the youth into policymaking decisions, the Global President, AISEC, Alexandra Robinson stated: “I advocate for any policy that involves young people as co-owners of the policymaking process. I really believe that when young people are given co-ownership of the table, not just invited to someone else’s, they are able to have those meaningful conversations”.

Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, Founder, Wecyclers Nigeria and past fellow of the Tony Elumelu Foundation recalled the moment when she got accepted into the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme: “In 2012, when I was invited to the Tony Elumelu Foundation to pitch my idea, I was very fortunate to pitch directly to Mr. Elumelu and I was surprised a couple of days after, we got the grant. That grant was very important for Wecyclers”. 

Speaking as an entrepreneur doing business on the continent, Leroy Mwasaru, Founder, Greenpact Kenya and an alumnus of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s flagship Entrepreneurship Programme highlighted the need for transparency to attract more investors: “It is as a result of sharing what we have been doing that we hope there are less failures and more successes”.  Earlier in the year, due to the pandemic, the Tony Elumelu Foundation announced the postponement of its flagship TEF Entrepreneurship Programme and TEF Forum, the largest gathering of African entrepreneurs on the continent. Celebrating its 10^th year anniversary later in 2020, the Foundation counts over 9,000 young African countries across all 54 African countries as beneficiaries and alumni of its Entrepreneurship Programme. It continues to support African entrepreneurs with expert-led masterclasses, business management training and market linkages on its digital networking platform, TEFConnect.  

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His statement is backed by his experience as an economist, a philanthropist, and more importantly, an investor through his investment vehicle, Heirs Holdings, in Africa’s key sectors – power, financial services, oil & gas, hospitality, real estate, and healthcare. While he has been an avid investor, his hard work, and bet on the continent’s potential to generate a worthy return on investments, do not come without its own challenges. For decades, the private sector has worked with the hope that business necessities, including electricity, infrastructure and security would be fixed by African governments; sadly, the hope is yet to become a reality. Yet the private sector holds firm in its belief. In 2015, Tony Elumelu committed $100 million through his Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme to empower 10,000 young African entrepreneurs to validate his conviction in the potential of the private sector to catalyse transformation. In 2019, Tony Elumelu’s Transcorp Power invested an undisclosed amount into acquiring Afam Power station in the hope that, combined with its existing assets, it would raise the standard of living in Nigeria, by contributing 25% of the total power generation capacity in the country. He replicated this same conviction across several of his businesses including Transcorp Hotels Plc with an upgrade worth billions of naira, and a recent commitment in a yet to be disclosed energy deal. Many more private investors like Tony Elumelu have exhibited the same faith in the future of the continent.

The Importance of a Private-Public Sector Partnership

The private sector continues to play its part, backing words with action. However, it recognises that a mutually beneficial partnership with the
public sector is needed at this time. As stated by Tony Elumelu at the recently concluded virtual roundtable involving African business leaders, there was a consensus that the pandemic is indeed the reset that Africa needs to catalyse the much-needed transformation on the continent. This stance was corroborated by Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former finance minister, Tidjane Thiam, African Union Special Envoy on Covid-19, and moderator Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations, as they jointly discussed the topic “Resilient World: An African Call for a New World Order,” at the New York Forum Institute Virtual Roundtable. Okonjo-Iweala emphasised the need to diversify the economy through strengthening the manufacturing sector, Thiam harped on the need to create more jobs on the continent, and Songwe stated that the African Continental Free Trade Zone may just be the policy needed to kickstart the transformation – this is the best time to achieve it. For Elumelu, prioritising the youth, ensuring access to electricity and stabilising the macroeconomic environment are additional focus areas needed at this time.

A Task to Reset Africa Calls for a Marshall Plan

In the near future, African currencies will depreciate significantly, and servicing our external debts will become even more of a challenge. Today, many African countries already spend more annually on debt servicing than on education, healthcare and social welfare combined. Therefore, mobilising the level of finance that will give Africa room to begin this hard task of resetting, will require a Marshall plan, akin to America’s Marshall Plan for Europe after World War II. This Marshall Plan for Africa will be in collaboration with the World Bank, IMF, G20 countries
and all other relevant agencies but must be led by African multilateral financial institutions as in the case of AFREXIM under the leadership of Prof. Okey Oramah, whose efficient and immediate deployment of US$3 billion to finance and support trade and SME business through African banks, is commendable and deserves emulation.

The Covid-19 pandemic presents a bittersweet moment of clarity and reflection which we must seize to reset our continent. It provides the opportunity to finally place Africa on the right path of sustainability built on the bedrock of competitiveness.

Sustained Investment in Infrastructure

We can engender African competitiveness by sustained investment in basic infrastructure, electricity, internet access and digital connectivity, and most importantly by enabling and encouraging entrepreneurship. This combination will provide economic hope and opportunity that will productively engage our young Africans who account for over 60% of our 1.3b population. This is the only way we can reset the economy, create employment, eliminate poverty, generate revenue and attract capital to the continent.

Be Ready for Disruption

Africa must embrace the new normal. The disruptions we have seen across sectors (healthcare, logistics, supply chain, digital economy, IT) are here to stay. This presents a unique opportunity for a united Africa, a strong regional bloc acting in a coordinated fashion in response to this new era. As globalisation, trade and foreign policy adjusts in response to these times, Africa will only enjoy more traction, increased leverage and
more influence by forging a united front. This is the time for the continent to fully leverage its competitive advantage in agriculture, through focused investments in mechanisation, storage facilities, logistics, pest control, quality assurance, and processing, while strengthening our expertise in textile, manufacturing, supply chain etc.

In truth, disruption is here. It may not be ideal, but disruption, in the many facets it presents itself, has heralded new eras, and economic powers. If Africa treats this pandemic as a warning and begins to put in place the systems to ensure economic stability, this could be the beginning of the next global economic power, all business leaders agreed.

The post Amidst the Panic, Does the Pandemic Present an Opportunity to Reset Africa? Tony Elumelu, Other African Business Leaders Think So. appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The TEF Masterclasses cover insightful topics around business growth and innovation to help startup entrepreneurs remodel their business for the new normal, despite the pandemic. It will be conducted live, and thereafter hosted on TEFConnect.com, for easy access.

The TEF Masterclasses is one of the ways the Foundation supports the entrepreneurship community while fulfilling its mission of empowering African entrepreneurs to accelerate the development of the continent.

To register for the Monday Masterclasses, which take place at 12noon (West African Time), click HERE.

To access previous classes, click HERE.

The post The Tony Elumelu Foundation Rolls Out Masterclasses for Startup Entrepreneurs – Every Monday appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

لكن مؤسسة توني أيلوميلو سوف تجهز بتدريب عبر TEFConnect مجانا ومشاركة مع ذوي الأمور والحكومات والمعاهد التمويلية التنمية لأجل تحريك التأييد المزيد للملتزمين الأفريقيين بعد أزمة فيروس كورونا. وتضيف TEFConnect إطلاعا حاسما حول الوباء لأجل صون صحة وأمان جميع الأفارقة مع إصدار أخبار تأثيرية من ملتزمين أفريقيين إلى غاية إحداث تبددات بارعة ضد هذه الوباء المنفجرة.

الصحة والأمان هما المقدمان عندنا، وترغب المؤسسة الجميع بأن يكونوا على الحذر وأن يلتزموا الوصايا الصحية الصادرة من التنظيم العالمي الصحي (WHO) والحكومات الدولية وسائر التنظيمات الصحية المناسبة.

للمزيد من الأخبار وما بقي من الخطوات التالية للمتميزين الذين قد قدموا استخداماتهم لبرنامج 2020، زوروا موضع الاسئلة المسؤولة عنها دائما (FAQs) على الموقع بضغط هنا.

Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu
CEO
مؤسسة توني أيلوميلو
لاغوس, Nigeria.

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The post الإعلان الاشتراكي تأجل مؤسسة توني أيلوميلو البرنامج التنظيمي TEF 2020 وملتقى TEF إلى عام 2021 appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.