Tony O. Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings and UBA Plc. has
advocated entrepreneurship as a veritable solution to achieving poverty
reduction in the country.
Elumelu who is also the Founder of The Tony Elumelu
Foundation delivered a paper themed: “Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social
Responsibility and Africapitalism: The Role of The Private Sector In Fighting
Poverty in Nigeria”, at the nation’s think-tank, the National Institute of
Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Plateau State.
There, he addressed a distinguished guest list of 67
participants from top government constituencies including the police, the
military, national planning, works, and the presidency, debating ways to
move the country forward in light of the present economic challenges.
In his lecture, the chairman of Heirs Holdings and
founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, acknowledged the efforts of the
Institute in constituting the gathering of think tanks, hailing it as a timely
event in paving the way for engineering the country's socio-economic
development. He expressed optimism that with the right policy reforms, Nigeria
could be well on its way to rising above its present challenges.
Tony Elumelu reiterated his long-term conviction on
entrepreneurship as a solution to arresting the economic challenges facing the
country. He stated that past governments had not been successful in eradicating
poverty in Nigeria in spite of the various entrepreneurship schemes that have
been introduced over the past 30 years.
“Governments alone do not have the capacity to
provide the basic daily needs or employment for the millions of young Nigerians
entering the job market every year. Therefore, the private sector must be
an integral part of our national poverty eradication and development strategy,”
the consummate entrepreneur stated. “If our entrepreneurs succeed, Nigeria
succeeds” Elumelu stressed.
An advocate of Africapitalism, Elumelu expressed that
entrepreneurship and not philanthropy, is key to achieving poverty reduction
and empowering Nigerians as we strive to solve our challenges without
dependence on aid from outside the country.
“No one but us will save ourselves,” he said. “The
development of Africa is up to Africans. Donors and partners can help, but
the work of developing our nations is ours. Nigeria’s poverty and development
challenges are great. But they do not exceed the capacity of our people to
solve them. We welcome every initiative that helps in reducing poverty. More
effort is required’ said Elumelu.
Expounding on the benefits of Africapitalism, he cited
the achievements of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme as a
case study of how Africans, and by extension Nigerians, can solve their own
problems via entrepreneurship. The goal of the yearly programme is to invest
$100 million over the next 10 years to identify, train, mentor and seed 10,000
African businesses with a view of creating 1 million new jobs and $10 billion
in additional revenue for the continent by democratizing and institutionalizing
the ‘luck. The second set of 1,000 entrepreneurs was announced a few months ago
and boasted of representation from all thirty-six states of Nigeria and other
African countries.
“The programme and the forum will serve to empower,
inspire and, most importantly, teach these young African Men and Women how to
become fishermen. I am proud to tell you that in the Class of 2015, Nigerian
entrepreneurs numbered 480, and all 36 states were represented. This year,
Nigerians make up 601 (or 60%) of the top 1,000, bringing the total number of
Nigerian entrepreneurs in our programme to 1,081,” he said as he tasked the
participants to act in their various capacities to reduce poverty in Nigeria.
The Acting Director General of the Institute, Ibrahim
Lamorde, in full support of this in his vote of thanks, urged the participants
in their respective workplaces to commit to creating a conducive environment
for entrepreneurs to thrive.
“All 67 participants and those of us who are also in
other areas of responsibility will go out and ensure that between now and the
end of the year, we promote just one policy that will drive change. I think
this will go a long way in addressing the issue of poverty in this country.”
He concluded by urging Elumelu to encourage and advise
other wealthy entrepreneurs to emulate and support the good work he is doing in
Nigeria and across the African continent.
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