During the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this September 2024, Tony Elumelu (CFR), the Group Chairman for United Bank for Africa (UBA), who also doubles as the Chairman Heirs Holding and Transcorp, as well as the Founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) discussed with global leaders and policy makers the need to collectively foster progress, drive and invest in impactful change for Africa’s future and put the continent on the global stage.
Elumelu discussed a number of issues which included, transformative economic growth for Africa so as to eradicate poverty and create prosperity for all, making sure employment opportunities are created for the young generation, the need to stop wasting our talents on the continent and equitable energy transition that is beneficial for Africa.
Call to Invest in Impactful Change for Africa
At #UNGA79, Elumelu discussed with global leaders and policy makers on the need to collectively foster progress, drive and invest in impactful change for Africa’s future and put the continent on the global state. According to Elumelu, “There is a better way to invest in Africa for a sustainable future that creates value for all.”
This was again reiterated when Elumelu emphasised the need for African partnership in scaling opportunities, fuelling innovation, and unlocking the potential of Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs.
Empowering African Entrepreneurs through TEF
It is important to note that through Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) more than US$100million has been disbursed to 20,000 young African entrepreneurs, across the 54 African countries out of whom more than 1,000 are from Uganda. 35 per cent of these are driving sustainable solutions for food security across the continent.
In championing African entrepreneurs, Elumelu said: “In addition to our entrepreneurship programmes, we also use our convening power to help create awareness amongst policymakers to elevate issues that frustrate small-scale enterprises.
“We let governments, presidents and lawmakers know that if you prioritise the young ones, they will help you solve big problems – so create the right environment for their businesses to thrive and succeed.” Elumelu emphasised.
High Level one on one Conversations
Also at #UNGA79, Elumelu met with Bard Vegar Solhjell, Director General of the Norwegian Agency for Development, where they discussed not only the transformative impact of the foundation in empowering young African entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries, and how they continuously advocate for policies that enable entrepreneurship to flourish across Africa, but also pushed for a collaboration to support additional entrepreneurs.
In a meeting with the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, Elumelu appreciated her for all the support as one of TEF’s long time partners given that through the partnership with the European Union (EU), they have successfully empowered over 2,500 young women entrepreneurs across Africa, and set to financially support 1,800 more this year alone.
“Together with European Commission, we’re ensuring that young African women entrepreneurs are leading the charge in job creation, poverty eradication and inclusive economic empowerment across the continent
“Already, some of our #TEFAlumna have also gone on to receive additional second stage funding up to €50,000 through the partnership called the Women Entrepreneurship for Africa (WE4A) Programme,” Elumelu highlighted.
Elumelu had a one on one meeting with Jakob Granit, the Director General, Swedish International Development Agency during which he said “Since 2010, TEF has supported young Africans who have ideas but lack economic resources to actualise it. Young Africans need all kinds of support like human capital support, technological support, financial support, policy support to actualise their aspirations.”
Armed with information about how TEF is highlighting the transformative impact in empowering young entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries, fuelling the rise of a new generation of young Africans who are creating sustainable solutions for the continent’s future, Mr. Granit thanked Elumelu and the whole foundation for its unwavering commitment to entrepreneurs in Africa.
In a meeting with the Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Hon. Andrew Holness Elumelu emphasised the need to focus on enhancing partnerships between the Caribbean and Africa.
“The young people in the Caribbean, just as those in Africa, need the same economic opportunity and hope as their peers elsewhere in the world. They are resilient, creative, hardworking and innovative. We must prioritise and empower our young entrepreneurs because they are the lifeblood of our regions,” he said.
Achieving Climate Targets
Also at the UNGA outing, Elumelu joined former US President, Bill Clinton on the Clinton Global Initiative Executive Roundtable lunch on “Speed and Scale: Achieving Climate Targets”, which emphasised the urgent need for innovative solutions to climate goals while fostering sustainable development.
At the World Food Programme (WFP) reception done in collaboration with the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Elumelu joined WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain, to call for urgent collaboration to tackle the global hunger and youth unemployment crises.
While emphasising the shared responsibility to support the 783 million people facing food insecurity, Elumelu said success in business cannot be realised if people are hungry. The exclusive session spotlighted solutions to critical humanitarian crisis, specifically reversing hunger crisis and tackling youth unemployment in Africa and across the world.
“With 783 million people battling hunger worldwide and 60 per cent of Africa’s youth underemployed or unemployed, this is not just a humanitarian crisis – it is a call for immediate action,” they all agreed.
In his remarks, Elumelu said: “We are all here tonight, not as philanthropists, not as investors, not as business leaders, we are all here because we are committed to a common cause. A cause of advancing peace and prosperity in the world.
“Those of us who at least are lucky to afford three square meals, we need to think about the million citizens of the world who do not know where their next meals will come from. We cannot be successful in business if people are hungry. Today, hunger has become almost a way of life-we must work together to end this.”
Commending Elumelu’s drive and passion for the continent, McCain said: “Tony, thank you very much for not just an event like this but for what you do for the world. There are very few people who are as engaged in the world as Tony is. What you do is critical not only to balance what we are trying to do but to encourage others to get involved.
We can no longer rely on the government to do the job. The private sector has become extraordinarily important and we at WFP value that. We want to ensure that we engage with everybody in science, technology and innovation. We are in the business of not just giving help but giving hope.”
An economist and visionary entrepreneur, Elumelu’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism, serves as a blueprint for accelerating Africa’s economic transformation, advocating for the private sector to take the lead in delivering social and economic wealth, and shared prosperity for all.