How Tony Elumelu Was “Blown Away” In South Africa

One of Africa’s leading investors and philanthropists Tony Elumelu is very happy.

The Chairman of the Pan-African financial services group that posted exceptional performance across key indicators with earnings rising by 143% to stay at N2.08trillion, United Bank for Africa (UBA) just came across a very heartwarming result of one of his key initiatives.

Elumelu visited South Africa and “was blown away” by what one of the beneficiaries of the Tony Elumelu Foundation has become.

Founded in 2010 by the prominent champion of Entrepreneurship, the Tony Elumelu Foundation is a leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of entrepreneurs across all 54 African Countries.

20,000 young African entrepreneurs have received funding, mentoring, and capacity-building support from the Foundation – double the initial commitment – since it started in 2010.

The proponent of the economic philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent, visited one of the beneficiaries of Tony Elumelu during a recent travel to South Africa and shares the joy of the encounter.

He wrote ” Earlier this week, while in South Africa, I visited one of the beneficiaries of The Tony Elumelu Foundation and was blown away by the impact that had been created.

I always love meeting entrepreneurs, bonding over the struggles, celebrating the successes – there is such a sense of community, whether we founded big or small businesses.  Nothing is like the sense of exhilaration when you know that the dedication, ambition and sometimes pain, has created success – and success for me is always more than money – it is that wider sense of common good, community and progress that good businesses can create.

“In 2015, Janine had a business idea, and she applied for the TEF Entrepreneurship grant. She was one of the lucky 1,000 to receive the $5,000 non-refundable seed capital to grow her business, the mentorship, and the training that all our beneficiaries receive, as part of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.

“Today, Janine has scaled enormously Ukama Social Enterprise (Ukama Contract Packing) (http://www.ukama.co.za/) focuses on providing smaller businesses with superior packaging solutions to enable them to package processed foods and retail to end users. These businesses are able to meet local demands within Cape Town, and help customers export across other African countries, the UK, and Dubai!

Janine’s food packaging business generates an annual revenue of $132,000, employing 30 staff, and contributing to the economic upliftment of Cape Town. It was fulfilling to hear her speak so passionately about her vision for the business, her plans to still expand further, and to shake hands with her staff — the indirect beneficiaries of our programme!”

 Continuing, the Chairman of one of Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerates – Transcorp – which reported significant year-on-year growth, with revenue rising to N197 billion in the year 2023, from N134 billion in 2022 pointed out that “Often, we pay attention to just the entrepreneur and calculate impact of a business by the revenue generated, but the impact of a single small business in any community goes far beyond the numbers. Impact is the number of people that the business employs, the number of families that will get an income because of that business, the customers that will receive value because that business exists, and the strength of a nation’s economy.

“Entrepreneurs like Janine demonstrate “Empowered women, empower communities.” Beyond profit making, Janine is also paying it forward by empowering female entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities with tools and support to create their own businesses and make a livelihood for themselves and their families.

She is just one example of how entrepreneurs are the driving force behind Africa’s resurgence.”

Since it was founded in 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has disbursed US$100,000,000 directly to young African entrepreneurs, who have created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs, contributing significantly to Africa’s economic growth and development.46% of these beneficiaries are women, reiterating the Foundation’s commitment to gender inclusion and equity.