Tony Elumelu, chairman of the United Bank for Africa Plc and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp), wants executives to pay attention to mentoring young professionals as a way of encouraging them to aim for the zenith of the corporate ladder.
Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, through which he has promoted the Entrepreneurship Programme now in its fourth year, assured in his personal blog that “spending this time with these young ones is always worth it.”
Writing on his engagements with the UBA Plc young hires at Heirs Place, Ikoyi, Lagos, Elumelu noted: “leaders who do not do so are failing in Leadership 101.”
The Foundation, on Tuesday, said it will begin accepting applications for the fifth cycle of its Entrepreneurship Programme at 12am, WAT, January 1, 2019 to select 1,000 applicants that will join the current beneficiaries of the Programme which it began in 2015. It has so far empowered 4,470 African entrepreneurs, with seed capital of $5,000 each; 12 weeks of accelerated online business training; access to experienced mentors; and membership of Africa’s largest entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Recalling his experience on Monday when he interacted with five “young men and women – Daniel, Ifenlota, Francess, Olaoluwa and Nnamdi from the United Bank for Africa,” who he described as “part of the next generation of young leaders at the bank.
“Throughout our informal session and our open conversation over lunch, I listened to them talk about themselves, their families, their careers and ambitions, and some of their concerns as young people in today’s Nigeria. We spoke about work, the economy, their future and even migration overseas!
“It was so much fun to share stories and trade perspectives with them, while gaining insights and useful suggestions from their experiences working with us.”
Such kind of “open (and) frank discussions that offer opportunities “to listen, learn, inform, engage and educate,” that promotes dialogues and feedback, he believes, must be encouraged by any organization hoping to survive long-term.
Continuing, Elumelu wrote: “As I answered their questions around my childhood, my days as a young banker, the merger experience between STB and UBA, and how I balance work, family, faith, exercise and my love-hate relationship with food (lol), I recognised in their eager faces (how I felt) thirty years ago, keen on beginning my career and buying my very first car… that familiar streak of ambition and passion to succeed against all odds.”