“The Success Secret I Taught My Children” – Tony Elumelu

Tony Elumelu, the wealth creator who transformed United Bank for Africa (UBA)from a single-country banking group to a pan-African bank with subsidiaries in 20 African countries, France, the U.S, and the U.K, moving up from Group Managing Director to Chairman in 2010 has revealed the success secret he shares with his children – and young people.

“Life is not easy. Life is not a linear path. Life is not a soft place. Even though we try to introduce softness to Life, It is a hard place. So you have to be resilient, hardworking, disciplined, focused, and extremely tenacious to succeed. This is what tell young people, that is what I tell my children. I tell them most times the path that leads to your success is not a very soft one” the founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) disclosed in a chat with BBC News Africa monitored by SocietyNow.Ng.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation founded in 2010 promotes entrepreneurship in Africa by helping young people achieve their business dreams through a multi-year programme of training, funding, and mentoring.

The Chairman of Heirs Holdings Group who advised entrepreneurs not to see success to be just “about profit-taking” but ” about humanity, impact, legacy, and profit.” further disclosed that he inspired his team by “trying to lead by example.”

The increase in Transcorp Group’s Gross Earnings to N134.7 billion, Profit Before Tax to N30.2 billion with shareholders getting a 150% increase in dividend payment and United Bank for Africa’s (UBA) 29.5% jump in gross earnings to N853.2billion are windows into how much value Elumelu is bringing to bear on his team.

The king of commerce regarded as one of the wealthiest investors on the Nigeria Exchange is the Chairman of Transcorp Group and UBA Group.

The advocate of better Africa, however, pointed out that ” We try to soften things up a bit and not always hard, hard, hard. We push ourselves, We drive very hard. but we also know how to chillax (relax). “

Touching on the need for self-care and his preferred way to unwind, the billionaire who celebrated his 60th birthday in March revealed in the chat monitored by SocietyNow.Ng” I love to sleep because at times it is difficult to find time to sleep. I love to stay alone and think and brainstorm, just think and reflect on life. and then I love to read. and that’s why my library is full of books. I wish we had more time in life but it’s 24hrs a day. It cant be more.”