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Elumelu Advocates Collaborations to Boost Africa's Fortunes, The Next Key Investment Destination

Aug 01, 2020   •   by   •   Source: Proshare   •   eye-icon 1853 views

Saturday, August 01, 2020 / 02:17 PM / By UBA Group   / HeaderImage Credit: Ecographics

 

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TheGroup Chairman, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Tony O. Elumelu has said thatthe Coronavirus pandemic has presented a perfect opportunity for foreigninvestors to invest in Africa, owing to the huge opportunities that areinherent in the African economy.

 

"Thisis the time to invest. Africa is a land of opportunities; There is hugepopulation and there is now the realisation by African leaders who are creatingan enabling environment to encourage these investments," Elumelu said onThursday, while speaking at a virtual session organised by the TIME100TALKSon the theme, 'Empowering Entrepreneurs'.

 

BillGates, Founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and United States Senator,Tammy Duckworth were other thought leaders who also spoke in sessions at theevent.

 

Whilepointing out that the African continent is well positioned to emerge into astrong digital economy, Elumelu said, there is now more macro-economicstability than ever before, especially given that the young African isenergetic, restless and has the ambition to succeed, in the face of difficultcircumstances.

 

"Challengesexist in Africa, but we have huge returns on investments. There is hugepopulation and there is realisation by African leaders who are now creating anenabling environment to encourage investments into Africa.  There is nobetter time to make the multi-million dollar bet I made in Africa, than thetimes we live in now," he said in a chat with Kimberly Dozier, a TimeCorrespondent who moderated the session.

 

Speakingon the effect that the pandemic has had on the operations of UBA in the lastfew months, Elumelu noted that there has been a rapid increase in technologicalembrace and called for the strengthening of infrastructure, networks anddigital platforms to support the growth.

 

"Inbanking business this whole digital transformation is heightened further byCOVID-19, right now, you have less than 15% of our over 20million bankcustomers that are transacting in the bank. Most of them now transact online,which is 85% of over 20million customers. That is significant. Before COVID, itwas about 65%. UBA is seeing an explosion in its digital platforms. Thankfully,the bank invested significantly in technology, and now, they are investing evenmore so that they can serve their customers better. So, the digitalconnectivity technical infrastructure should be strengthened in such a way asto aid this explosion we are seeing," Elumelu said.

 

He alsospoke on how the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which he founded, has been supportingthe growth of its entrepreneurs especially in the tough business climatepresented by the ravaging coronavirus pandemic.

 

"Throughthe TEF virtual platform called the TEFConnect, we are able to engage ourentrepreneurs on a day-to-day basis; get resource speakers from all over theworld and ourselves, to talk to them and to train them and let them know how tomanage difficult moments like this. And I can say that at-least 72% of our9,500 beneficiaries are hanging in there, expanding their businesses. You knowmost SMEs typically die after their first year, but we are seeing a differenttrend, where beneficiaries of our programme in different countries arecontributing towards fighting the virus in their different countries. We areseeing the creation of jobs, the one million jobs we set out to achieve," he noted.

 

TheTEFConnect Community is a meeting ground where entrepreneurship ecosystemplayers share information and ask questions on their business activity.Currently one million entrepreneurs are on TEFConnect

 

Elumeluseized the opportunity to call on all bodies and key sectors such as theprivate sector, public sector, development agencies like the AfricanDevelopment Bank and other institutions  to work together to make adifference, adding that "What the world needs today and Africans, inparticular, is hope and that to me is what will make the difference but thathope has to be backed by tangibility, some substance so that we can make itwork."

 

In hissubmission, Bill Gates sought for collaboration between the private and publicsector to end the pandemic, adding "Every country has to think through theright policies to stop the spread, there is need to speed up the process ofgetting new drugs and vaccines, we need a global response."

 

SenatorDuckworth who also emphasised the need for funding for teaching andappreciation for teachers, advocated for more teamwork at all levels to fightthe pandemic, said, "What the country needs is a team that will step forwardto deal with the crisis. It is very significant for me to be on a nationalstage for other Asian Americans, because we often are the forgotten minority inthis country."

 

TIME100Talks, an initiative of TIME magazine, is a new live event series that convenesleaders from every field to spotlight solutions to urgent global problems andencourage cross-disciplinary action. 

 

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Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.


Proshare Nigeria Pvt. Ltd.

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