The Lion King | 5
Cover Story
record of success established by TOE
over the years.
Widely regarded as one of the most
influential business leaders in Africa, TOE
has developed a reputation for iden-
tifying value and bringing a long term
investment orientation and discipline to
sectors critical to Africa’s development,
including financial services, power, oil
and gas, agribusiness, real estate and
hospitality.
As the founder of the Tony Elumelu
Foundation, an Africa-based and
African-funded philanthropy, he is
committed to the promotion of en-
trepreneurship in Africa, based on his
championing of Africapitalism, the
economic philosophy that the African
private sector is the critical enabler of
the continent’s economic and social
transformation.
He is also Chairman/CEO of Heirs Hold-
ings, the pan-African proprietary invest-
ment company, he founded in 2010.
Heirs Holdings has stakes in a number
of leading African businesses, including
Nigeria’s largest conglomerate by mar-
ket capitalisation, Transcorp, where he
is Board Chairman as well. Though he
has evolved into a pan-African business
leader with hands on many pies, he still
sees the financial services industry as
one of the key drivers of growth, both
in terms of social inclusion and regional
integration and is keen on helping UBA
through its unique platform “deliver
both extraordinary value and drive
Africa’s economic success.”
Not surprisingly, his appointment has
been widely received positively.
Stockbrokers on the floor of the Nige-
rian Stock Exchange (NSE) tasked him
to grow the bank’s performance and
create more value for all stakeholders
especially investors.
Mr. Bismarck Rewane, an economic
and financial analyst and Chief Execu-
tive of Financial Derivatives praised the
appointment saying, “Tony is visionary,
courageous and has shown an ability
to both think for the long term and to
create significant shareholder value.
The drive, dynamism and competitive-
ness that we saw during his period as
CEO of UBA, was one of the catalysts of
the enormous changes in the Nigerian
banking sector.”
Even shareholders were feeling the
buzz; Dr. Farouk Umar, President of the
Association for the Advancement of
Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS)
also hailed the appointment saying
“Elumelu is a transformer and value cre-
ator for shareholders. We are excited
about his return.”
Members of staff are expectant that
his huge influence both nationally and
globally will rub off positively on the
bank’s quest for industry dominance.
His wealth of experience, including
being one of the most influential leaders
and entrepreneurs on the continent will,
no doubt, shape UBA’s strategic direc-
tion going forward.
Former Chairman, Ambassador Joe Keshi
putting the UBA lapel pin on Mr. Tony O.
Elumelu shortly after his appointment
L-R: Bili Odum, Company Secretary, UBA
Plc; Phillips Oduoza, GMD/CEO, UBA Plc; Mr.
Oscar Onyema, CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange
(NSE); Tony Elumelu, Board Chairman,
UBA Plc; Haruna Jalo-Waziri, ED, Business
Development, NSE; Tina Awe, GM, NSE; Bola
Adeeko, GM, Corporate Services, NSE; and
Apollos Ikpobe, DMD Domestic, UBA Plc at the
Nigerian Stock Exchange on the day of the
appointment.
