Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu is a Nigerian serial entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder of Heirs Holdings, an African investment holding company, with investments in financial services, power generation, oil and gas, agribusiness, real estate and hospitality.
Born in 1963, Elumelu has been responsible for creating businesses across the continent, in sectors critical to Africa’s economic development. As a visionary entrepreneur, he sits as the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, UBA Group Plc, Seadrill Nigeria Ltd and Transcorp Plc, Nigeria’s largest listed conglomerate.
It could be recall that Elumelu in 2005 championed the largest merger in the banking sector in sub-Saharan Africa, between Standard Trust Bank (STB) and United Bank for Africa (UBA). Today, UBA boasts of operations in nineteen (19) African countries, as well as New York, London and Paris. His nobility in philanthropy indelibly gave him a golden caste as a paragon of black excellence owing to his establishment of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded philanthropy initiative, dedicated to catalyzing entrepreneurship across Africa.
The brilliant capitalist presently serves as a member of the Global Advisory Board of the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL) and USAID’s Private Capital Group for Africa Partners Forum. Also, he sits on the Presidential Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council and serves as Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute Dialogue Series on Global Food Security.
In recognition of his core values of Africa development through promoting private enterprise, Elumelu was in 2012 conferred upon the Commander of the Order of the Niger for his service in promoting private enterprise.
