Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and chairman of the United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu, on Friday in Lagos challenged African leaders to concentrate on creating the right environment for businesses to flourish, thereby helping to create millions of jobs would and in the process igniting a transformation that is beyond imagination.
Fielding questions during an engagement with journalists from across the continent as during the 2017 TEF African Journalism Fellowship and 3rd annual TEF Entrepreneurship Forum, Elumelu said it was such conducive environment and ease of doing business that enabled world renowned investors and businessmen like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs become success stories being told today.
“We need to tell our leaders that they need to create, not jobs, but the right environment that would allow businesses to thrive… If you create the right environment, (investment) capital will find its way there.”
Africans are tired of being the subjects of stories of poverty, hunger, disease and the desperate need for aid, he lamented, while anxiously looking “forward to an Africa where poverty is a thing of the past and growth is not just what we see, but feel as a people.
“If African leaders can just focus on providing the right environment, they would be amazed at what their countries would become.
“The world today is development-by-investment and not by aid. What Africa needs today are more investment agents to bring investments.
“The greatest thing we can give to Africa is to empower her people who would (then) help to develop the continent,” he told the newsmen, challenging them to constantly remind their leaders of the need to do the right thing, besides being development oriented for the greatest good of the majority of their citizens.
TEF, he said, is helping to create solutions that can be best felt by the people, stressing that “we need to give hope and collectively drive the new paradigm shift of a prosperous Africa. Our people are tired of being poor and need the best of good lives in Africa.
From traversing the continent with his gospel of Africapitalism, Elumelu said he has since discovered that contrary to the usual assumptions, Africans are not lazy, but imbued with entrepreneurship spirits waiting to explode.
The least African governments can do, he believes, “is to help this entrepreneurship spirit in us to thrive by creating the right environment… Just a little push and an environment that is conducive, there will be true change of the narrative about Africa.
“It is not just about capital, if you create the right environment, capital will find its way there,” he stressed further.
Speaking further on the ease of doing business a count on which African countries have performed very low globally, Elumelu said “it should not be haphazard, but planned, consistent (from one regime to the other) and sustainable.”
He admitted that there are improvements as are visible in the global ranking of countries such as Rwanda, Senegal and Nigeria
The foundation, he continued, need many more of its like that would just focus on providing growing African champions and entrepreneurs to hasting the development drive.
He assured that there is an ongoing discussion with the African Union to teach Africapitalism in schools on the continent, for which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by TEF. He also assured of partnership with local and foreign universities on the idea and that the University of New York is already having it as part of its curriculum.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation, he explained, is all about empowering entrepreneurs and helping to realize ambitions and to correct the situation where many Africans die with their dreams and in the process, helping to develop the continent.
“It goes beyond how much one has in his account, but about reallocation of wealth,” adding that there is huge joy and satisfaction he sees on the faces of many of the 3,000 entrepreneurs that have been empowered in the past three years across the continent, he assured in answer to a question by investdata.com.ng, remains the driving force to do more.
According to him, it is a thing of joy seeing that from a humble seed capital or life-line of US$5,000, one of the beneficiaries today is recording a turnover of up to $1.6m.
He looks forward to time when “we begin to see Africans with hope…’
The $100m total annual seed capital to 1000 business idea owners, he said “is an attempt by us to play our role in developing Africa,” and does not include the cost of engaging Accenture to vet the thousands of applications yearly and the media and publicity efforts.
A breakdown of the beneficiaries, he said, showed a deliberate gender balancing, with the number of females in each year increasing gradually from 260 of 1000 at inception, first to 340 the following year and then 390. The number of women would further increase in next year’s edition, he assured, based on the reality that a “woman’s success in business affects and supports the community… They take pride in supporting their families and communities.
“In 10 years’ time, I want to hear of testimonies that, because of the support from TEF they have become success stories… I want to see many UBAs” in the beneficiaries.
“We believe a lot of young Africans have ideas that can transform this continent, he stressed.
The next challenge, he believes, is to begin a conversation in the continent that brings policy makers, private sector players and government to the roundtable for a conversation about a partnership that would improve the lives of citizens and create jobs.
His advised entrepreneurs to be purposeful, hardworking, focused, develop a future they desire and then fix their gaze on the building blocks to achieving the desire, realizing that opportunities sometimes never come twice