TUE 29 MARCH, 2022-theGBJournal| Tony Elumelu, influential entrepreneur and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, a family owned investment company committed to improving lives and transforming Africa has been named an honouree of the first-ever TIME 100 Impact Awards which recognises individuals who are using their influence to build a better future.
‘’Tony Elumelu had a vision: that private enterprise-not foreign aid or government borrowing-should be the primary generator of economic development in Africa,’’ according to Charlie Campbell of TIME.com in the Awards citation. He added, ‘’what became known as ‘’Africapitalism’’ has since ushered in a boom in entrepreneurship and regional connectivity across the continent. Elumelu knew it would work because he had seen it work.
TIME notes that the first honourees of TIME Impact Awards range from an innovator forging a new path to space to an actor who changed the narrative around mental health to an architect who is quite literally building a better tomorrow.
Elumelu accepted the Award on Monday at the Museum of the Future in Dubai where he told the influential crowd that ‘’The World is in need of people like us-more than ever before.’’
Elumelu, speaking with a sense of urgency said to the crowd which included celebrities, politicians and prominent business leaders ‘’we should pull resources together, we should commit now to help in anyway possible in economically empowering others.’’
Elumelu, who in addition serves as Chairman of the United Bank of Africa, also paid tribute to the ‘’hard working young men and women in Africa who aspire to help their families and their communities,’’ and shared his story of rising from a modest beginning to launching the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which is aimed at creating significant opportunities and economic hope for others ‘’while helping redefine how all of us need to work together to uplift through the message of entrepreneurship.’’
‘’In the 21st century, there is so much poverty, sickness, and bitterness in the world,’’ he said. ‘’Our calling should be one that has to prioritise humanity.’’
The Tony Elumelu Foundation has given $5,000 each to 15, 000 young entrepreneurs from 54 African countries as part of his effort to grow the entrepreneurial spirit in Africa and encourage economic development.
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