President Muhammadu Buhari Celebrates UBA’s Tony Elumelu at 60

Buhari lauds Elumelu at the age of 60, saying he is a beacon of hope for African youth.

Mr. Elumelu, who also founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation, will turn 60 on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

“President Muhammadu Buhari rejoices with distinguished banker, economist, and philanthropist, Tony Elumelu, CFR, on his 60th birthday, March 22, 2023, sharing joy and warmth of the occasion with the entrepreneur, who was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people in 2020,” the statement said.

“President Buhari congratulates the Chairman of the United Bank of Africa (UBA) Group on the achievement, reaffirming the honour and pride that the benefactor has brought to Nigeria and Africa with his achievements, illuminating the path for many to grow through inspiration, mentorship, and training, with a focus on raising the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

“The President believes Elumelu’s generosity exemplifies his humble background and upbringing, beginning as a young banker daring to dream of a modern and technologically friendly financial system.”

“President Buhari notes the combination of youthfulness in style, broadness in networking, with both old and young, and the passion in pursuing and realising dreams that the entrepreneur continually projects, graciously guiding others to nurture their business ideas to reality, especially in meeting societal needs and rendering value.

“As the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Transcorp and Tony Elumelu Foundation clocks 60, the President joins family members, particularly his wife, Dr Awele Elumelu, in thanksgiving to God for all the resourcefulness and impact, with brighter future ahead.

“President Buhari prays for long life, good health, and humanitarian wisdom.”

Tony Elumelu is a leading investor and philanthropist in Africa.

He is the founder and chairman of Heirs Holdings, a family-owned investment firm dedicated to improving lives and transforming Africa through long-term investments in strategic sectors of the African economy such as finance, hospitality, power, energy, technology, and healthcare.

Tony is the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), a pan-African financial services group that operates in 20 African countries, the United Kingdom, France, and the United Arab Emirates, and is the only African bank with a commercial deposit-taking presence in the United States. UBA serves over 35 million customers worldwide with corporate, commercial, SME, and consumer banking services. He also serves as the chairman of Transcorp, Nigeria’s largest publicly traded conglomerate, whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, one of Nigeria’s leading electricity producers, and Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s foremost hospitality brand.

He is the Founder and Chairman of Heirs Oil & Gas, a Nigerian upstream oil and gas company with assets including Nigerian oil block OML17, which has a current production capacity of 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2P reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with an additional 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources of further exploration potential. Heirs Oil & Gas is dedicated to adding value to the African continent through resource extraction.

Tony is Africa’s most prominent entrepreneur advocate. In 2010, he established The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the leading philanthropic organisation empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, catalysing economic growth, eradicating poverty, and creating jobs in all 54 African countries. The Foundation’s flagship programme has been running since its inception has identified and catalysed nearly.

As part of a ten-year US$100 million commitment to fund, mentor, and train young Africans, 16,000 entrepreneurs and a digital ecosystem of over one million Africans were created.

With institutions such as the European Commission, United Nations Development Programme, International Committee of the Red Cross, and other global development agencies, the Foundation is increasingly sharing its unique ability to identify and access young entrepreneurs across Africa, implementing thematic programmes that have focused on women and fragile regions.

Tony’s businesses and the Foundation are inspired by his economic philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, particularly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the African continent’s social and economic development.

Tony serves on a number of public and social sector boards, including the World Wildlife Fund The Economic Forum Community of Chairmen and UNICEF‘s Generation Unlimited Global Leadership Council. In 2020, he was named to Time’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for his business leadership and economic empowerment of young African entrepreneurs, and he was awarded Belgium’s oldest and highest royal order. TIME honoured Tony with its inaugural TIME100 Impact list in 2022, alongside six global leaders who have gone above and beyond to move their industries – and the world – forward.