Group Chairman UBA Plc, Tony O. Elumelu said there is need for the African youth to adopt the spirit of Africapitalism as a necessary tool for the socio-economic development of the continent.
He was speaking to hundreds of students, academics and entrepreneurs at the University of Ghana, Legon, in line with his strategic vision of engineering robust economic and business relationships across the continent through the principle of Africapitalism.
He noted that entrepreneurship, rather than philanthropy, is the key to achieving poverty reduction and empowering Africans to solve their challenges without dependence on aid from developed countries.
In his words, “Africans must come up with innovative, home grown solutions for challenges we continue to face.”
Elumelu said it was in he spirit of encouraging Africapitalism that he led UBA into the novelty of being the first bank to allow customers to bank with zero account balance.
The serial entrepreneur and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation,
who at the young age of 34, became the Managing Director of one of Nigeria’s top banks (Standard Trust Bank), reiterated the usefulness of preparedness in achieving Africapitalism.
“The first is dedication, then vison, focus, ambition, and our ability to do things when we want to do them. We must always remain laser focused and aim to execute to perfection,” Elumelu said.
Those were some of the qualities that enabled Tony Elumelu lead one of the biggest mergers in Nigeria’s history to date. Today, UBA is amongst the top three banks in the country and rapidly growing in Africa.
According to Elumelu, “I saw us grow a bank from five branches to 1000 branches with presence in 19 African countries and in Paris, London and New York. The lesson here is start small, have a purpose, be disciplined, think long-term”.
Earlier during his working visit to Ghana, Tony Elumelu met with the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo where they held fruitful discussions on matters of mutual benefit as well as deliberated on issues geared towards the growth and development of Finance and entrepreneurship in Ghana.
Elumelu said he was delighted to be on this historic visit to Ghana because Ghana has been a shining light of UBA’s business across Africa.
He said the meeting afforded him the opportunity to meet with and congratulate President Nana Akufo-Addo and to extend UBA’s readiness to partner with his administration in the rapid development of Ghana and Africa at large.
“It was also an honour to meet with young and vibrant Students and share my Vision of Africapitalism,” he added.