Tony Onyemachi Elumelu has never failed to say what he feels about the development of Africa at any place he finds himself. He has always hit the nail by the head and has been vocal about the development of Africa and how the rest of the world can be a contributor to the success of Africa. At the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly; he delivered a blunt message yet again that; aid programmes cannot build industries and Africa’s economic transformation has to be funded by private capital raised and deployed on the continent.
The Heirs Holdings chairman who spoke at the Darryl G. Behrman Lecture on Africa Policy, in a session moderated by Michael Froman, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, covering Africa’s place in the global economy, entrepreneurship, energy security and the future of relations with the United States.
Elumelu disclosed that; Aid can provide short-term relief, but it cannot create sustainable industries or substitute for domestic capital being put to work. His central complaint was about how Africa is priced. Treating the continent as a single high-risk entity, he said, ignores the economic activity across 54 separate countries and investors who co-invest alongside credible local partners who understand their markets can find some of the highest returns available anywhere.
Elumelu called on foreign venture capital firms, pension funds and development finance institutions to work directly with African financial institutions to fund infrastructure and the trade corridors that carry goods between African countries.
Elumelu also described youth entrepreneurs as a pillar of continental security and said tackling unemployment among them is urgent, both to reduce irregular migration and to prevent social instability. His own foundation has committed $100 million to that cause, with the Tony Elumelu Foundation giving $5,000 of non-refundable seed capital alongside business training, which he argued can generate jobs in rural and urban communities alike. He urged philanthropies, multilateral agencies and corporations to help scale small businesses run by young people.
He also supported the African Growth and Opportunity Act while arguing that future arrangements should look harder at what it costs to make African products and get them to American buyers. He closed on why any of it should matter outside Africa. “Poverty anywhere remains a direct threat to economic peace and security everywhere,” he said. His message to world leaders, delivered in New York, was simple; stop treating Africa as a problem to be managed with aid, and start treating it as a market to be funded with private capital.
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