AFRICA SPEAKS AFRICA SPEAKS A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES BY TONY ELUMELU, CON AFRICAPITALIST | BANKER | VISIONARY Copyright © 2017 by Tony O Elumelu The right of Tony O Elumelu to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the copyright laws. All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. ISBN Paperback: 978-978-55255-1-9 Hardcover: 978-978-55255-2-6 Published in Nigeria in 2016 by Narrative Landscape Press 9 Odunlami Street, Anthony Village, Lagos State +234 909 055 4406 - 7 [email protected] www.narrativelandscape.com Cover Design by AI’s Fingers Text Layout and Design AI’s Fingers Contents INTRODUCTIOn – The BEGINNING 1 My Vision for Africa and Next Steps 3 2 Employee, Employer, and Empowerer: 13 Pathways to Success and Impact in an Uncertain World THE VISION 3 How I Am Changing the World 29 4 The Story of Champions: The Model of a 35 Fulfilled National Business Champion 5 Empowering The Next Generation of 47 African Leaders 6 Only in Nigeria Is Our Story Even Possible 55 7 A New Type of Philanthropy: Africapitalism 63 8 The Private Sector Can Help Change the 75 World 9 Powering Africa’s Future: Examining the 83 Power Africa Initiative THE MESSAGE 10 Partnership in the Post-2015 Development 93 Agenda 11 Strengthening Entrepreneurship and 105 Impact Investing through Philanthropy for Sustainable Development 12 The Role of the African Private Sector in 119 the Continent’s Development and Regional Integration 13 Leadership Conversation: Investing in 127 Prosperity 14 Transforming Africa Through Agriculture 135 15 Challenges and Opportunities in the Power 143 Sector in Africa 16 Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social 149 Responsibility and Africapitalism 17 The Private Sector’s Role in Expanding 163 Access to Electricity Across Africa 18 Increasing Economic Ties: Investment 173 Opportunities in Africa 19 Building a Global Conglomerate on 179 Corporate Governance Values 20 A Continent Connecting: Solutions from 193 Within 21 Achieving Success in Africa Through Trade 205 and Entrepreneurship 22 Shared Purpose in Developing Agriculture 215 in Africa 23 Attracting the Private Sector to the Medical 227 Sector 24 Long-Term Investment in Africa 233 25 Inspiring Entrepreneurship in Africa 243 26 The Philosophy of Africapitalism in the 253 Power and Energy Sectors 27 Advocacy for the Progress of the Power 261 Sector in Nigeria 28 The Collaboration of the Public and Private 267 Sector Especially in Eastern States 29 Providing Accessibility for Entrepreneurs at 279 the Legislative Level 30 Africapitalism as a Catalyst for the 285 Development of Africa THE FUTURE 31 Tear Down These Walls 303 32 A Call to Partner with Africa 311 33 Changing the Narrative on Africa in a 317 Changing Administration 34 Leadership and Entrepreneurship: The 327 Challenges and Opportunities for Nigeria’s Future Leaders 35 Building Stronger Economic Ties Between 339 France and Nigeria: An Africapitalist Approach 36 Realising the Full Potential of the Nigerian 349 Economy Through Proactive Capital Market Legislation 37 Fulfilling Promises: The TEF Stakeholder 357 Challenge 38 Realising Democratic and Economic 365 Dividends of Tunisia’s “Dignity Revolution” 39 Challenges and Opportunities in African 373 Leadership QUOTES Quotes about the Power of Vision 386 Quotes about Africapitalism and 388 Entrepreneurship Quotes about the Future of Africa 390 AFRICA SPEAKS: A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES THE BEGINNING 1 AFRICA SPEAKS: A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES 1 My Vision for Africa and Next Steps Speech delivered at the send-forth ceremony of Tony Elumelu, CON – Group CEO, UBA (2004 – 2010), Lagos, Nigeria 31 July 2010 3 TONY ELUMELU, CON As I leave UBA today, I want to dedicate my material resources, professional expertise and energy in developing and assisting a crop of Africans to take business excellence and entrepreneurship to the next level. – Tony ElumELU, CON 4 ood evening, and thank you to all our friends gath- ered here today to celebrate this historic and mo- Gmentous event. It is indeed historic and momentous because a smooth transition has occurred, and as they say: “the true test of suc- cess lies in succession”. It is one thing to be successful, but it is another thing to successfully handover to people who can take the institution to next heights. To Philips and his colleagues, to whom we have passed the baton, the true test of your leadership and success lies in your ability to surpass all key stakeholders’ expectations. We have confidence in your ability to do this. Capable co-exec- utives as I call them or co-CEOs, will support Phillips on this journey. In UBA, the fact is, we are blessed with so many execu- tives who are capable of functioning as CEOs. For instance, following the stress test conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria on the banking industry, five of our tier-two leaders were appointed tier-one leaders to manage the rescued insti- tutions. This attests to the calibre of people we have in the UBA Group. I have tremendous confidence in Phillips, as well as Faith Tuedor-Mathews, my friend whom I remember with a lot of excitement and promise; Victor Osadolor, who has been in the trenches with me; Emmanuel N Nnorom, a calm and mature mind on our executive team, the pastor as 5 TONY ELUMELU, CON we call him because of his spiritual development; Kennedy Uzoka, a man who has been with me since we dreamt of Standard Trust Bank; and AJ Bello, who spoke so eloquent- ly about the UBA Africa dream in the legacy video we just watched. Femi Olaloku, who made it possible to connect all our eighteen countries online in real time, ensuring that our service delivery remained uninterrupted and we were able to serve our customers at the same level across the African continent. He is the man to whom we give a lot of credit as it relates to the UBA New York redemption exercise. Ifeatu Onejeme, who has had the unfortunate or fortu- nate responsibility of being my chief of staff, has shown early successes in his appointment. To be TOE’s chief of staff is a tough role. I send an email at 3 a.m. and by 6 a.m. I am already asking him why he has not responded. It was tough on him but he coped. How can I not talk about Abdulrasheed Olaoluwa, the man I spoke about singularly in the legacy video? When we started the UBA dream, we had a three-tier strategic intent: to become the leading financial services group in Nigeria, to become the leading financial services group in Africa, and to become a player in the global financial space. So many In UBA, the fact is, we are blessed with so many executives who are capable of functioning as CEOs. 6 AFRICA SPEAKS: A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES of us were occupied with the responsibility of achieving the first-tier strategic intent, which was to become a key stra- tegic player in Nigeria, but just one man was charged with the responsibility of actualising our African dream. I would like to specially recognise Abdulrasheed Olaoluwa for the good work he has done, and to all the UBA Africa executives present here. I would like to say thank you to our group directors for steering the direction of this organisation well during the good and challenging times, to all the staff of UBA, to our customers, investors, our regulators, all our other key stake- holders for helping to realise our three-tier strategic intent of making UBA a key player in Nigeria, in Africa, and in the world. In Nigeria, following the merger we had four hundred and twenty–eight branches. Today, we have over seven hun- dred branches in Nigeria alone. Before the merger we had forty ATMs, today we have the biggest ATM network in the industry – over one thousand six hundred and eighty. Also, before the merger we did not have an offshore branch, besides New York, which was a branch of UBA, but today we have eighteen plus two new countries (because at the end of this financial year, we shall commence full opera- tion having received regulatory approvals to operate in these two countries). Thus, bringing UBA operating countries to twenty, from a one-country institution at the time of the merger in 2005, just five years ago. Therefore, you can understand why I would single out and commend Rasheed Olaoluwa for what he has done with his team – the country CEOs who have been driving our 7 TONY ELUMELU, CON UBA African expansion, making sure that we actualise it and that it begins to add significant value to the bottom line. By twelve midnight, this will be history; what will be remembered is not the past, but the present and the future. The future for UBA lays squarely in the hands of the new team, which will be led by Phillips Oduoza, a First Class En- gineering graduate. Therefore, we would be handing over to a man that is intellectually and mentally alert, and he is lucky to be supported by the likes of Faith Tuedor-Mathews, an amazon in the Nigerian banking industry, Victor and the other executive directors mentioned earlier. I have complete confidence in the new team’s ability to take UBA to the next level. As I retire from UBA following the regulatory pro- nouncement, many of you here have wondered: what’s next for Tony Elumelu? I would like to share that with you today.