Every year, Nigerian billionaire and UBA Chairman, Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu together with his wife, Dr Awele Elumelu disburse $5,000 seed capital to selected 5,000 entrepreneurs from Africa.
They disburse these grants through the vehicle of their family-owned foundation: “Tony Elumelu Foundation.”
This grant is free money, not refundable as beneficiaries are encouraged to use the grant to scale their small business.
$5,000 is over 2.5 million naira when converted in this Buhari’s naira.
Last year, Tony Elumelu and his wife disbursed $24.75 million (13 billion naira when converted to Naira) to 5,000 African entrepreneurs, demonstrating their mission to catalyze economic growth, drive poverty eradication and ensure job creation on the continent.
The reason why Tony and his wife choose to do this is simple; two of them were not born with the proverbial silver spoon, they had parents who were just average, through their examples, they want to give back to the society where they made their wealth by democratizing access to luck and opportunities.
A lot of people took a bet on Tony when he was a young banker by giving him opportunities that in most part, he was not qualified for, opening doors he could not open for himself.
Let me share a story;
A year after earning his Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Lagos, Tony applied to join Allstates Trust Bank, despite not meeting the qualification criteria.
By a stroke of luck, his application was reviewed by the Chairman/CEO of the bank, Chief Ebitimi Banigo, a painstaking man who carefully read Tony’s cover letter and was drawn to the confidence in his words.
This is what young Tony Elumelu wrote in that cover letter:
“I know I may not have met the qualifying criteria for the advertised roles, but I am intelligent, driven, ambitious and I will make the bank proud. My Second Class Lower result does not demonstrate the full extent of my intelligence and ability, and I know I can do so much more.”
The criteria to apply was 2:1 but Tony had 2:2.
The bank chairman read those words and took a chance on Tony, though “unqualified”, he decided to throw a lifeline to him, an opportunity of a lifetime by employing him as a banker.
At 26, Tony was later promoted and offered the opportunity of a lifetime to become a branch manager at AllStates Trust Bank, making him the youngest bank branch manager in the country at the time.
This opportunity influenced his life, prompting him to give young employees the same opportunity he was given.
Tony’s success in this role ignited his passion for investing in the lives of young people.
Giving $5000 to African entrepreneurs is Tony’s way of paying that debt he owes his former Boss and chairman who took a chance on him, so he is paying the debt forward by giving African entrepreneurs access to capital and luck which is very important in the journey of entrepreneurship.
Recently, Tony Elumelu was asked by a journalist;
“Tony, why are you and your family doing this? Sharing free money, $5,000 to 5,000 African entrepreneurs every year, What is in it for you?”
He smiled, paused and recounted his own story of luck as a young banker and how his former boss took a bet on him.
-Folorunsho Hamsat
