At a gathering of senior policymakers and developments experts hosted by
\nUK\u2019s leading foreign policy institute, the Chairman of Heirs Holdings,
\nTony Elumelu, spoke on a panel alongside United Kingdom Minister of State,
\nDepartment for International Development (DFID), Rory Stewart, OBE, where
\nhe condemned the pervasive stereotypes in the media around Africa and the
\nresulting negative narrative as \u201cAfrica\u2019s greatest challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the greatest challenge Africa has as a continent when it
\ncomes to attracting investment\u00a0is in the way it is portrayed. Information
\npresented about Africa is neither holistic nor properly contextualized,
\nand has led to the kind of narrative that we have had for so long on
\nAfrica. As an investor, when all you\u00a0have heard about Africa
\nis\u00a0corruption, how would you pass a positive investment decision to go and
\ninvest\u00a0in the continent?\u00a0The result is that\u00a0the vicious cycle\u00a0of
\nneglect\u00a0continues\u00a0and is\u00a0even\u00a0reinforced.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chairman of Heirs Holdings, a pan-African investment firm with
\ninterests in\u00a0financial services,\u00a0power\u00a0and oil & gas,\u00a0called for an urgent
\n\u201creset of mindset\u201d to attract the\u00a0level of\u00a0global private capital that
\nwill drive job creation\u00a0and reduce poverty\u00a0on the\u00a0continent. \u201cWe must
\nreset the way we see\u00a0and discuss\u00a0Africa. People do business with people
\nthey are comfortable with. Investors who repeatedly hear horrible
\nthings\u00a0about\u00a0our people and the continent will never\u00a0invest here.\u00a0We will
\ncontinue to host national gatherings and seminars to\u00a0discuss unemployment,
\npoverty and income inequality\u00a0if we do not fix the existing information
\nasymmetry, the poor quality of information that is put out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Founder of the Tony\u00a0Elumelu\u00a0Foundation also rallied\u00a0public\u00a0and private
\nsector\u00a0stakeholders\u00a0and the development\u00a0world\u00a0to increase support to
\nAfrican SMEs, describing\u00a0them\u00a0as \u201cthe lifeblood of our\u00a0economy\u201d.\u00a0 Elumelu,
\nwho has committed $100m to\u00a0African entrepreneurs,\u00a0emphasized the critical
\nimportance of mentoring and funding for\u00a0the survival of small
\nbusinesses.\u00a0In a continent where only 700 companies generate over\u00a0$500m in
\nannual revenue, half the number in other regions,\u00a0Elumelu\u00a0called
\nfor\u00a0targeted support to grow these small businesses into\u00a0scalable
\ncompanies capable of becoming\u00a0big corporates in the future.\u00a0According
\nto\u00a0Elumelu, SMEs are\u00a0known to be\u00a0the largest job creators and\u00a0should be
\nprioritized because of the inverse relationship between security and
\nprosperity \u2013\u00a0\u201cwhen there is prosperity, security is not an issue, but when
\nthere are fewer jobs, insecurity heightens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elumelu\u00a0whose\u00a0Transcorp\u00a0Power Plc has invested $2.5b in President Obama\u2019s
\nPower Africa\u00a0Initiative\u00a0and is also currently the largest thermal
\ngenerator of electricity in the country, called on local and foreign
\ninvestors to invest\u00a0in\u00a0electricity, stating that this more than\u00a0any other
\ninvestment\u00a0\u201cwill\u00a0encourage the\u00a0creation and growth\u00a0of businesses of scale
\nin Africa.\u201d\u00a0According to him, \u201clong term private investment in
\nelectricity\u00a0infrastructure will create an\u00a0enabling\u00a0environment for
\nbusiness growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also at the event,\u00a0a new Chatham House report,\u00a0\u201cDeveloping Businesses of
\nScale in Sub-Saharan Africa\u201d which referenced\u00a0Elumelu\u2019s\u00a0economic
\nphilosophy of \u2018Africapitalism\u2019\u00a0was launched.\u00a0Africapitalism\u00a0calls on the
\nprivate sector to invest in strategic sectors for the long term to
\ntransform the continent. The report outlined the\u00a0policy\u00a0issues Africa must
\naddress to\u00a0support the private sector to\u00a0enhance job creation, encourage
\ninnovation and drive industrialization.<\/p>\n
Rounding up his address, Elumelu charged multilateral institutions and
\ndeveloped nations in the West to rethink the effectiveness of sanctions
\nand other policies meant to serve as a deterrent to certain leaders but
\ninstead harm innocent lives. \u201cDeveloped nations must look at the efficacy
\nof sanctions and who truly bears the brunt of these policies. You will
\nfind that the masses are the ones who suffer most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At a gathering of senior policymakers and developments experts hosted by UK\u2019s leading foreign policy institute, the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, spoke on a panel alongside United Kingdom…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n