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Nigeria knows Tony Elumelu; Africa knows him; The world has heard about Tony the Founder of the Tony
Elumelu Foundation(who gives millions of dollars every year to support young African entrepreneurs), Chairman of UBA, the whiz kid who turned around Standard Trust Bank, but very few people know the real Tony.
‘My mother has always thought for sure that I was the reincarnation of her Dad’. ‘She and her sister would constantly tease me about this when I was growing up. My maternal grandfather worked as a carpenter at UAC in Jos. This company at that time, was owned by white people who apparently, frequently talked down to my grandfather. He used to tell his chil- dren that when he died and came back to this world, he would ensure that white people worked for him and not the other way round.’ Tony Chuckles as his chef walks in to replace his pot of tea.
If one believes in re incarnation, then Tony’s granddad has certainly had his wishes come true several times over.
‘From an early age, maybe from when I was 10 years old, I knew that I wanted to be successful. My mum’s brother, Chief Etheah was a very successful business- man in the shipping business. He drove exotic cars like Mercedes, Rovers...’ ‘I wanted to be like Chief, I didn’t really
know how, but I wanted to be rich like chief’.
At the age of 56, Tony Elumelu is much wealthier than Chief. His first car was a Santana but today his car park is filled with Mercedes and Range Rovers, BMWs and other luxury brands. He has what he wished for, but his favourite of all the cars is a 10 year old Range Rover which he refuses to upgrade because according to him ‘there is nothing wrong with it. It still works, why should I change it?’
Tony is addicted to his blackberry because he doesn’t want to miss any messages. He cannot imagine ignoring anyone’s messages for lack of time. I heard that he once lost his phones at a conference in a foreign country. Apparently he was completely silent throughout the 9 hour flight that followed.
As we are chatting, a phone call inter- rupts what he was saying. It doesn’t have a caller ID but he answers it anyway. The news doesn’t seem good whatever it was. I could sense that but his demean- our didn’t change as he came straight back to his line of thought with as much enthusiasm and vigour as before the phone rang.
Fate has brought him where he is today. From working with his life mentor, Chief Ebitemi Banigo to buying the floundering
Crystal bank, being removed as CEO of UBA in 2010. He takes the grace as a blessing. ‘Everything that has happened in my life, the good and the bad, has been a blessing’
‘If you understand my story you will be able to understand my person better.’ Tony says very pensively.
I started from the bottom. After my NYSC, I had about 7 months before my Masters programme was to commence. I began to work as a sales rep in a company that was marketing photocopiers and office products, type writers etc. At that com- pany, we were trained to go on the field. The monthly salary was small but we had to earn a commission. You could say that at a young age I had a P & L responsibil- ity. It was like being a lion in the forest. If you didn’t hunt, you didn’t eat’. That was a pretty transformative period in the life of young Tony. He learnt how to be responsi- ble with money.
‘I finished my Masters degree and the rave then was merchant banking. Merchant bankers who wore suspenders and drove the posh cars then, Toyota Santanas, Honda preludes.’ He seems very excited as he reminisces about his beginnings.
‘I went into banking and I was fortunate to join a new bank. Fortunate because
MY NAME IS TONY
A foreign guest once came to Nigeria to meet him and spent a little time around him, listening to everyone call him ‘Chairman’. At the end of the visit, he had concluded that this was his name and proceeded to thank him saying, ‘Thank you Mr Chairman Elumelu’, to which Mr Elumelu replied ‘My name is Tony’.
BOLA ATTA has a heart-to-heart with the philanthropist, Entrepreneur and Chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA).
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