The Bayero University Kano (BUK) will tomorrow confer an Honorary Doctor of Business on the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa Plc and founder, The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Mr. Tony Elumelu.
According to the university, the honour was in recognition of Elumelu’s innumerable and worthy contribution to the country as an economist, entrepreneur and a philanthropist.
The Vice Chancellor of BUK, Prof. Muhammad Bello, in a letter to Elumelu, who is also the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, also stated that Elumelu’s, “philanthropic activities through the TEF have reached every nook and corner of our nation and have impacted positively on many lives.”
He also said his “efforts in the area of entrepreneurship are making immense contributions to the economy.”
Elumelu is an investor and philanthropist. In 2011, he conceived the term Africapitalism, which has catalysed the African entrepreneurial landscape, positioning the private sector as the engine for growth and empowerment, and prioritising social and economic wealth creation.
In 1997, he founded Standard Trust Bank, which grew to be the fifth ranked bank in a 90-bank industry, in eight years. In 2005, he led the merger between Standard Trust Bank and the United Bank for Africa (UBA), which at the time was sub-Saharan Africa ex South Africa’s largest financial services transaction. He became chief executive of the new group, implementing a Pan-African strategy, that created one of Africa’s largest financial services groups.
Heirs Holdings, a family-owned investment company, is committed to improving lives and transforming Africa. Heirs Holdings’ portfolio spans the power, oil and gas, financial services, hospitality, real estate and healthcare sectors, operating in twenty-three countries worldwide. He also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp, whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, the largest generator of electricity in Nigeria.
