Elumelu Insists “We Need To Provide Our Youth With Means To Succeed In Nigeria”

Tony Elumelu insists that one of the vital elements of Nation-building is to provide youth with the means to succeed.

“We need to renew our commitment to our youth, provide them with the means to succeed in Nigeria – not beyond Nigeria.” the Founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation stated on Sunday at the annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja.

The event themed “Getting it Right: Charting the Course for Nigeria’s Nation-Building,” was held at the Velodrome, Chief MKO Abiola Stadium, and in attendance leaders of thoughts across different sectors and political divides including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Elumelu has been at the forefront of the call to empower Nigerian Youths. He met with President Tinubu – before he officially took office – over the issue.

“This means not just investment in our education system, but in our entrepreneurial culture.” Elumelu passionately renewed his case for intentional investment in the nation’s army of youth at the NBA Conference.

Insisting that the “Nations that prioritize their young go far”, the founder of a family-owned investment company committed to improving lives, Heirs Holdings pointed out that “it is no coincidence that an America that created Harvard and Stanford, also produced Amazon, Microsoft, and Google – we need the same focus on our young, their futures and ambitions.”

The 60-year-old who asserted that “Nigeria is a nation of entrepreneurs” advised that a joined-up government task force should be set up at the highest level to champion the entrepreneurial interests of young people while sharing efforts he has made to galvanize “fellow private sector leaders”.

“In my engagement with fellow private sector leaders, my message is simple: We must see ourselves as the engine of innovation, the source of investment, and the creators of jobs. This is exactly what we have achieved at the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

“The nurturing of entrepreneurship is not merely an economic endeavour, but a social responsibility. By empowering our youth, supporting start-ups and SMEs, the private sector contributes to equitable wealth distribution, job creation, and social advancement. It paves the way for economic empowerment that uplifts communities and contributes to a more inclusive society. We all owe this to our people,even for our own enlightened self-interest.”

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, catalysing economic growth, driving poverty eradication, and driving job creation across all 54 African countries.

Providing an insight into the beginning and how far the Tony Elumelu Foundation has come, the champion entrepreneur stated “When my wife and I committed USD100m to help democratize luck and empower our youth, through The Tony Elumelu Foundation, giving annual non-refundable grants of USD5k seed capital to each beneficiary, now received by over 18,000 young Africans, it was not out of an abundance of wealth. Rather it was our own contribution in spreading prosperity and making the world a better and safer place for all.”.
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When entrepreneurs succeed, we succeed as a nation. If they don’t, we all fail” he reiterated with the graphic addition that “Poverty anywhere is a threat to all of us everywhere”.