Tony O. Elumelu, C.F.R

About

Tony O. Elumelu is an African investor and philanthropist. 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, technology & healthcare. Tony is also the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa(UBA), which operates in 20 countries across Africa, the United Kingdom, France, the UAE & United States. He also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, one of the leading producers of electricity in West Africa and Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s foremost hospitality brand. He is the Founder and Chairman of Heirs Energies, Africa’s largest integrated energy company, committed to Africa’s equitable transition to alternative energy. Tony is the most prominent champion of entrepreneurship in Africa. In 2010, he created The Tony Elumelu Foundation(TEF), the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, catalysing jobs creation, driving poverty eradication and ensuring inclusive economic empowerment across all 54 African countries. Since inception, the Foundation’s flagship programme has identified and funded18,500 entrepreneurs and created a digital ecosystem of over one million Africans, as part of a ten-year US$100m commitment to fund, mentor & train young Africans. Tony’s businesses and the Foundation are inspired by his economic philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent. The Federal Government of Nigeria granted Tony the titles, Member of the Order of the Federal Republic in 2003, Commander of the Order of the Niger, in 2012, and Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic in 2022, for his contribution to Nigeria’s economic and social development. In 2020, in recognition of his business leadership and economic empowerment of young African entrepreneurs, he was named in the TIME100 Most Influential People in the World, and recognised with Belgium’s oldest and highest royal order. In 2022, TIME again recognised Tony with its inaugural TIME100 Impact list, honouring him alongside five other global leaders who have gone above and beyond to move their industries–and the world–forward. Tony sits on a number of global boards, including the Global Leadership Council of United Nations Generation Unlimited.