Speaking at the Le Club de l’Economie in
Paris France on Monday, Tony O. Elumelu, Chairman of UBA Plc and Founder
of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, made a call to the French business community, global stakeholders and
influential Africans in the development world to embrace 'structured
philanthropy' in support of rising entrepreneurs with great potential, as
a means to achieving sustainable development in Africa.
He made this call during a live interview conducted by
Serge Michel, Editor-in-Chief at Le Monde Afrique, to an audience of high
level political and business leaders, including the French Development Agency,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives of international organisations,
such as the World Bank, and the IMF, as well as representatives of civil
society and selected journalists. This is coming a few days before the Tony
Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Forum, the largest annual gathering of
African entrepreneurs, scheduled to take place on October 28-29th in
Lagos, Nigeria, to celebrate the 2016 cohort of Elumelu Entrepreneurs, selected
from over 45,000 applicants in 54 African countries.
In what has become a formidable gathering featuring a series
of talks on business and economic issues, this special edition of ‘Le
Club de l’Economie’ was dedicated to the influence of global
philanthropy on business, politics and culture, featuring the world’s most
influential philanthropists, including the world’s richest man, Bill
Gates. Prior to his participation at Le Monde, Mr. Elumelu paid a courtesy
call to the French Development Agency (AFD), where he met with CEO Mr. Remy
Rioux to discuss concrete ways in which AFD can be supported by local partners
ahead of plans to increase its annual financing commitment to Africa. Mr.
Elumelu was joined by Bill Gates, his co-panelist at the Le Monde Philanthropy
Forum.
Elumelu explained the challenges in developing Africa. “The
biggest obstacles to development in Africa are a lack of an enabling
environment, infrastructure and access to electricity. Imagine a young
entrepreneur having to provide power access for a growing business."
He proffered solutions to some of the obstacles saying: “It
is important that Africans increasingly embrace ‘structured giving’ because it
helps us, assist worthy individuals who are not part of our families, or
neighbourhoods, but who have great need and potential.”
Further expounding on the benefits of Africapitalism,
Elumelu cited the achievements of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s
Entrepreneurship Programme as a valid example of how Africans can solve their
own problems via entrepreneurship and better governance.
“Better governance will solve our problems. We can't
afford to ignore entrepreneurship. We need to do both. We need government to
realize that the success of entrepreneurs will lead to more success for
government. Government can't create all the employment opportunities needed in
the economy. Only the private sector can do this. Government must create an
enabling environment to allow businesses to thrive.”
Bill Gates also a panelist at the event buttressed this point
during his session,
"States can no longer fund themselves their
development, by giving back, we tap into the best part of ourselves. Everything
significant we've done was through partnerships."
Elumelu concluded by encouraging French investors to connect
with local partners, while also calling on both the public and private sector
to invest back into the continent by focusing on entrepreneurship.
Le Club de L’Economie is organised by leading French
newspaper, Le Monde. Other participants at the event included Bill Gates,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, France; The Aga Khan, spiritual head of the Ismaili Muslim community
and Remy Rioux, CEO of Agence Francaise de Development.
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