Neusroom 100:Tony Elumelu is Making an Impact in a Time of Crisis
Tony Elumelu is an accomplished African entrepreneur and philanthropist.
He is the chairman of Heirs Holdings, United Bank for Africa, The Tony Elumelu Foundation, and Transcorp Plc. His businesses have left footprints across the African continent, creating jobs and gainful employment for thousands.
The 57-year-old businessman has a heart for the people, evidenced through his work with The Tony Elumelu Foundation. The foundation champions entrepreneurship and seeks to empower African men and women as a way to fire up the African economy, eradicate poverty, and reduce unemployment.
In 2015, the foundation kicked off the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, a $100 million fund from Tony Elumelu to be used to empower 10,000 African entrepreneurs over 10 years.
As the COVID-19 situation in Nigeria continued to worsen, The UBA Group announced a donation of over five billion Naira through the UBA Foundation to contribute to a more comprehensive response to the pandemic. The donation was earmarked to be deployed to different Nigerian states and initiatives, including a 1.5 billion Naira allocation to be dispersed to other African countries where UBA is present.
Additionally, Tony Elumelu made a personal donation of 1 billion Naira to support the fight against COVID-19, a gesture that pegs him as one of the highest contributors to the fight against COVID-19 in Africa.
In discussing the donations, he said:
“We commend the efforts of governments and we are keen to partner and contribute our resources to the collective effort, that will ensure the response to the pandemic is swift and effective.”
Tony Elumelu was honoured in Neusroom’s list of People, Organisations, Countries, and Things helping the world fight COVID-19. See the full list here.
