Bayero University Kano (BUK) is to confer an Honorary Doctor of Business degree on the Chairman, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu.
A letter from the institution indicated that the award will be conferred on the frontline entrepreneur on June 15, 2019 during the University’s 35th Convocation ceremony in Kano.
The honour, the institution said, is in recognition of Elumelu’s innumerable and worthy contribution to the country as an economist, entrepreneur, and a philanthropist.
“Elumelu’s philanthropic activities through the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) have reached every nook and corner of our nation and have impacted positively on many lives,” Prof Muhammad Bello, Vice-Chancellor (VC) of BUK said, adding that Elumelu’s efforts in the area of entrepreneurship is quite outstanding.
Elumelu, an investor and philanthropist, in 2011, conceived the term Africapitalism, which has catalysed the African entrepreneurial landscape, positioning the private sector as the engine for growth and empowerment, and prioritising social and economic wealth creation.
In 1997, Elumelu founded Standard Trust Bank, which rapidly grew to become the 5th ranked bank in a 90-bank industry, within eight years of existence. In 2005, he spearheaded the merger between Standard Trust Bank and the United Bank for Africa (UBA), which at the time was sub-Saharan Africa largest financial services transaction, excluding South Africa. He became chief executive of the new group, implementing a Pan-African strategy that created one of Africa’s largest financial services groups.
He serves as the Chairman of the UBA Group, now operating in twenty African countries, Paris, London and New York, and the only African bank with a deposit taking presence in the United States.
He is the Founder and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, a family-owned investment company, committed to improving lives and transforming Africa. Heirs Holdings’ portfolio spans the power, oil and gas, financial services, hospitality, real estate and healthcare sectors, operating in twenty-three countries worldwide. He also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp, whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, the largest generator of electricity in Nigeria.
Elumelu is a prominent champion of entrepreneurship in Africa. In 2010, he created The Tony Elumelu Foundation, philanthropic organisation empowering African entrepreneurs and promoting entrepreneurship in Africa. The Foundation’s flagship initiative, the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, is a 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs. The Foundation’s mission is inspired by Tony’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism.
Elumelu sits on a number of public and social sector boards, including the international advisory board of the Washington DC based think tank, the Wilson Center, and on the board of UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited. Tony also serves on the Global Advisory Council of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Centre for Public Leadership. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Community of Chairmen.
