Born Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu on 22 March 1963, the name of this Nigerian economist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist has stuck to the minds of Nigerians and Africans because of his magnificent achievements and good works to humanity. Tony is the chairman of Heirs Holdings, the former chairman of United Bank for Africa, Transcorp, and the founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation. He has been actively involved in business since 1987 and was included in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. That is besides being rated as number 31 on Forbes 50 richest men in Africa in 2015, with a net worth of $700 million.
Elumelu was born in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria, though originally from Onicha-Ukwu in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. He has two degrees in economics from Ambrose Alli University and the University of Lagos and he and his medical doctor wife, Awele Vivien Elumelu, have seven children together. For one who started his career as a youth corp member in Union Bank in 1985, he quickly rose through the ranks and ambitiously acquired Standard Trust Bank, ten years later, precisely in 2005. He also acquired United Bank for Africa (UBA), soon afterward. The UBA Group now has subsidiaries in 20 African countries, the U.S and U.K. Elumelu also owns a minority stake in mobile telecom firm MTN Nigeria, among other assets.
For so many years, Tony Elumelu held sway as the chairman of UBA and when he retired in 2010, he started Heirs Holdings, a family-owned company that invests in financial services, energy, real estate and hospitality, agribusiness, and healthcare sectors. That was also the same year, he founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded philanthropic organization. It is very important to add that the Tony Elumelu Foundation has touched lives and raised millions of entrepreneurs across Africa who are in turn empowering their locality through employment, investments, etc.
Besides all these entrepreneurial activities, Tony Elumelu also serves as an advisor to the USAID’s Private Capital Group for Africa (PCGA) Partners Forum, the Nigerian President’s Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council (ATIC), vice-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN), and a Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute Dialogue Series on Global Food Security. He additionally chairs the Ministerial Committee to establish world-class hospitals and diagnostic centers across Nigeria, at the invitation of the Federal Government and the Presidential Jobs Board, this venture is expected to create 3 million jobs annually. He also serves as a member of the Global Advisory Board of the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL) and USAID’s Private Capital Group for Africa Partners Forum. He was one of the co-chairs of the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, in May 2016 Tony Elumelu has also appeared on the Bretton Woods Committee, based on recognition of his work on African development. He is also a Fellow of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI) and involved in a partnership with the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), called The Blair-Elumelu Fellowship Programme. He is also a co-chair of the Africa Energy Leaders’ Group (AELG). A recipient of so many awards such as Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR), African Business Leader of The Year Award by UK-based magazine, Africa Investor, Commander of the Order of the Niger, Lifetime Achievement Award in Abidjan, Daily Times Nigerian Man of The Year, Time Magazine’s 2020 Time 100’s Africa’s Leading Investors and Philanthropists Nigeria’s National Productivity Order of Merit, and the Presidential Committee on the Global Financial Crisis by President Yaradua. Tony is also interested in passing on his wealth of knowledge and experience to the coming generations, hence he has written on his philosophy and the economic development of Africa for several publications around the world including, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times.
The self-made Tony Elumelu has also made huge donations of $500,000 to Sierra Leone to support those affected by the flooding and mudslide. He has also wooed several donor countries to invest in Nigeria, as well donating over $100m yearly through the Tony Elumelu ENT rep reneu rship Programme (TEEP). The entire money is to be shared yearly among one thousand emerging entrepreneurs for 10 years.
Heirs Holdings
Heirs Holdings business activities span financial services, power, oil & gas, real estate & hospitality, and healthcare. Heirs Holdings holds major shares in the Transcorp (Transnational Corporation of Nigeria) conglomerate. So far, the group has expanded its investment drive to other parts of Africa. Africa Prudential Registrars, Afriland Properties Plc, Avon HMO, Avon Medical, Heirs Insurance Brokers, NASD OTC Market, Tenoil Energy, Transcorp Nigeria, United Capital Plc. The management cadre in Heirs Holdings is Chairman – Tony O. Elumelu, CON, CEO, Avon Medical – Dr. Awele Vivien Elumelu, CEO, and Heirs Holdings – Emmanuel Nnorom, CEO Transcorp Nigeria Plc- Owen Omogiafo, Director, and Finance & Investments – Sam Nwanze, CEO, and The Tony Elumelu Foundation – Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu
