RUTH OLUROUNBI writes on the chairman, Heirs Foundation and
UBA Group, Mr tony Elumelu’s philanthropic beliefs and his vision for Africa’s
entrepreneurship development.
Nothing makes him happier than giving. Much more than that,
“seeing entrepreneurs and business leaders taking charge of their destinies and
achieving ‘impossible’ dreams which, in turn, help to create both economic
prosperity and social wealth,” makes him happiest. Again, he is “truly
gratified through mentoring, developing business leaders, and supporting
entrepreneurs with innovative ideas.”
The soft-spoken and somewhat shy Tony Elumelu, Chairman/CEO
of Heirs Holdings (the pan-African proprietary investment company, founded in
2010) and the new chairman, UBA Group, does love to give back, “in a more
productive way,” as a young entrepreneur in Lagos views it.
His giving back may have stemmed from the fact that he
counted himself privileged to have had mentors when he started out early in his
career. He mentions his boss at the time, Chief Ebitimi Banigo, as of one the
mentors who has inspired him “to do the same for, hopefully, thousands of young
Africans.”
According to him, “many young Africans today are in dire
need of role models, and I would like them to realise that you don’t have to
have been born with a silver spoon or go to a foreign school in order to
achieve your goals.”
Students from his foundation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation
(TEF) and those who have either come across or read about the man who dubbed
himself “the 21st century philanthropist” would very much likely say he had
inspired more that thousands of young Africans.
When Olushola Pacheco, founder of WhootAfrica.com received a
letter of commendation from Elumelu, she broke down and wept. She told of the
tears as coming from a place where she was almost giving up on her dreams.
Pacheco told the Nigerian Tribune that she spoke on behalf “millions” of young
Nigerians when she said “Mr Elumelu is an angel in human form.”
While he may not really agree to that submission, he sees
his philanthropic contribution “as being more than just funding. I also give of
my time, my experience, and my influence to drive impact.” He made this known
in a 2013 interview with City Press, an online publication.
In the world where successful business people are scorned
against, Elumelu doesn’t think “the world should be negative towards successful
businesspeople. What is important is the kind of governance framework we put in
place to make sure that successful people do not exploit those who are not so
privileged.” That much he said in a Forbes article headlined “Power Builder:
Tony Elumelu on Kidnapping, Capitalism, Warren Buffett and Michael Jackson”.
Elumelu, through TEF he founded in 2010, promotes impact
investing, a model of philanthropy he has pioneered in Africa. Some call the
model Africapitalism, an economic philosophy.
He says of the philosophy that it “embodies the private
sector’s commitment to the economic transformation of Africa through
investments that generate both economic prosperity and social wealth.” For him,
Africapitalism is not capitalism with an African twist, “it is a rallying cry
for empowering the private sector to drive Africa’s economic and social
growth.”
He has a soft spot for entrepreneurs and uses his foundation
to help to “identify, groom and encourage young African entrepreneurs to
realise their full potential.” His vision the foundation “is to unlock the
obstacles that Africa’s entrepreneurs face as they grow their start-ups into
small to medium enterprises (SMEs), their SMEs into national growth companies,
and their national growth companies into African multinationals,” he said in
the City Press interview.
His vision for a developed Africa goes a step further –
supporting and driving government policies, “and building government
institutions that affect the health of the private sector because we realise
that without the right competitive and enabling environment, the African
private sector can’t go far.”
He has an interesting view on philanthropy. According to
him, “business is the best form of philanthropy, but there are some things
business just can’t fix. For those, we should use philanthropy.” In a way.
After all, the Tony Elumelu Foundation “is bridging
philanthropy (“giving”) and investment (“investing”) to produce a new
development model called impact investing. Impact investing is the use of
for-profit investment to address social and environmental challenges.”
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