Tony Elumelu Biography
Anthony Onyemaechi Elumelu popularly known as Tony Elumelu, is a Nigerian businessman, economist, and humanitarian and also the founder of the Tony Elemelu foundation.
He was born into a Christian family by Mr Dominic and Mrs Suzanne Elemelu in Jos, Plateau state Nigeria on the 22nd of March, 1963.
He is from Onicha-Ukwu in Aniocha North LGA in Delta State, Nigeria. He obtained his BSc. In economics from the Bendel state university now known as Ambrose Alli University and he obtained his master’s degree in economics from the University of Lagos.
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Tony Elumelu Early Career
Elumelu worked in the Nigerian Bank Union Bank as a Youth Corp member during his National Youth Service Corps in 1985, before starting his career as a salesman. Elumelu subsequently joined Allstates Trust Bank in 2005 and United Bank for Africa (UBA) was acquired afterwards.
On his early career, Tony Elumelu said:
I started my career as a salesman, a copier salesman to be specific, young, hungry, and hardworking, but the reality was that I was just one of the thousands of young Nigerian graduates, all eager to succeed.
In 1997, Elumelu led a small group of investors to take over a struggling Crystal Bank (later renamed Standard Trust Bank). He turned it profitable within a few years and in 2005 he led one of the largest mergers in the banking sector in Sub-Saharan Africa by acquiring United Bank for Africa (UBA).
Tony Elumelu Foundation
He worked as a banker in different banks including Allstates Trust bank, and Crystal bank (now known as Standard Trust bank), then in 2005.
He became the Group managing director for UBA (United Bank of Africa).
When he retired in 2010 from UBA, he founded Tony Elumelu Foundation whose mission is to help entrepreneurs in Africa.
In the year 2015, the Tony Elumelu foundation started the Tony Elumelu foundation entrepreneurship program known as the PAN- Africa entrepreneurship program to help empower all African entrepreneurs through mentoring, grants, and adequate training.
Who is Tony Elumelu’s Wife?
Tony Elumelu got married in the year 1993 to Mrs Awele Vivien Elumelu who’s a medical practitioner. Their union is blessed with seven children; which includes five girls and 2 boys which are twins and they are the last born of the family.
Tony Elumelu Source of Wealth
Tony Elumelu started his banking career as a Youth Corp member in Union Bank. He was and still remains a banker who was able to turn a sinking bank on its head, stirring it to profitability. According to Forbes, in 1997 he convinced a small group of investors to take over a medium-sized commercial bank that was on the verge of bankruptcy.
The newly acquired bank was renamed Standard Trust Bank and Tony Elumelu was named the CEO of the bank. In a few years, he stirred the bank to profitability and later, the bank was merged with UBA, the third-largest bank in Nigeria at that time.
Tony Elumelu was named the CEO of the merged UBA bank and he was able to turn the Nigerian bank into a Pan-African Bank with branches in over 20 African countries. He stepped down from his role as CEO of UBA leaving the bank with a $2 billion Market Cap., $12 billion in assets, and over 10,000 employees according to Forbes.
Tony Elumelu started his family investment sector known as the Heirs holding in 2010 which was later affiliated with the Heirs oil & gas.
He started partnering with other sectors such as the investments sectors, the oil and gas sectors, the power sectors, and the hospitality sectors.
His partnership with all these sectors serves as his source of wealth.
From the above information, it is clear that Tony Elumelu made his fortune in the banking sector before branching out to other fields as an investor.
Tony Elumelu Awards
Tony Elumelylu has been awarded many times. In 2003 he got the MFR award, in 2012 he got the CON award, in 2016 he got the Daily Times Nigerian Man Award, and in 2018 and 2019 he got the All-Africa Business Leader Award.
In the year 2019, he got both the Bayero University Kano honorary award and the national productivity merit award and in 2020 he got the Times magazine most influential people award.
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources. All details cannot be independently verified by Daily News 24 or its editorial team.
