Appreciation galore as young entrepreneurs celebrate Tony Elumelu at 60

To mark the 60th birthday celebration of Elumelu, a symposium titled 60 for 60 was held in Lagos. The symposium brought 60 young entrepreneurs that have benefited from Tony Elumelu’s philanthropy.

The trend at the symposium which FTN joined virtually was the recognition of the roles that Elumelu is playing in funding starts-up of young Africans and bringing ideations to points of executions in many young entrepreneurs.

Participants who came from Kenya, Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin Republic and Nigeria among others shared their stories of how the seed funds granted by the foundation had moved their businesses to continental and intercontinental levels.

An alumni of the Elumelu Professional body, Amar Haris, a Liberian, said she has been able to provide learning solutions for kids in underserved communities of Liberia who have no access to light, television or projectors through the funds from the Elumelu foundation.

In five years, she said over 5000 students have been reached and 24 teachers employed.

” Elumelu has proved that a single individual can effect change and from him we have proved that African capitalism works. And to think that this is being done with him not asking for anything in return-not even votes is commendable,” Harris said.

Also, Seun Adekunle said Elumelu has moved from being a Nigerian CEO to being a global icon.

Former President of the US, Bill Clinton in his goodwill message said the Heirs Holdings chairman has accomplished so much based on his passion for philanthropy.

Giving a vote of thanks, his wife, Dr Elumelu, said the husband makes everyone feels that they are his own personal person, noting that his happiness is centred around others doing well.

Tony is the Chairman of pan- African financial services group, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), which operates in 20 countries across Africa, the United Kingdom, France, the UAE, and is the only African bank with a commercial deposit taking presence in the United States. UBA provides corporate, commercial, SME and consumer banking services to more than 35 million customers globally. He also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp, whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, one of the leading producers of electricity in Nigeria and Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s foremost hospitality brand.

He is the Founder and Chairman of Heirs Oil & Gas, an upstream oil and gas company, whose assets include Nigerian oil block OML17, with a current production capacity of 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2P reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with an additional 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources of further exploration potential. Heirs Oil & Gas is committed to creating resource based added value on the African continent.