Tony Elumelu appointed to IMF advisory council with mandate to boost African economic growth

NIGERIAN billionaire Tony Elumelu has been appointed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advisory council on entrepreneurship and growth with a mandate to boost prosperity across Africa.

Following a meeting earlier today, Elumelu, 62, the group chairman of Heirs Holdings, the owners of United Bank of Africa, was hailed as a man whose appointment would make a difference. At the meeting convened by the IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva, Mr Elumelu was appointed to the council made up of global business leaders, policymakers and academics dedicated to identifying and addressing regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship.

According to the IMF, Mr Elumelu will be instrumental in ensuring that Africa’s entrepreneurship is central in policy making. A seasoned banker, Mr Elumelu studied Economics at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma and then obtained a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Lagos.

An IMF spokesman said: “Elumelu, Africa’s leading advocate of entrepreneurship and whose foundation has funded, mentored and trained over 25,000 African entrepreneurs since 2015, champions entrepreneurship as the engine for the economic transformation of Africa. A self-made entrepreneur, Elumelu’s embracing of entrepreneurship is fundamental to his concept of Africapitalism.

"He believes that Africa’s private sector can and must play a leading role in the continent’s development, making long-term investments that deliver social and economic value. Elumelu will be instrumental in ensuring that Africa’s entrepreneurial potential is central to global economic policy making.”

In 2015, Mr Elumelu committed $100m to create 10,000 entrepreneurs across Africa over the next 10 years through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme. This was a Pan-African entrepreneurship initiative designed to empower African entrepreneurs through a multi-year programme of training, funding, and mentoring.