Tony Elumelu Story Inspires MBA Students

Source: http://www.connectnigeria.com/articles/tony-elumelu-story-inspires-mba-students/162

Scores of African MBA students from America’s leading business schools drew inspiration from the Tony Elumelu story at Wharton Business School in Philadelphia, United States of America at the weekend, and were encouraged to pursue their dreams using the same basics of hard work; discipline and visioning that have helped Tony Elumelu achieve unprecedented success.

The occasion was the 18th Wharton Africa Business Forum (WABF) themed “A Blueprint for Africa: Navigating the World’s Fastest Growing Continent” where Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings and Founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, addressed students, academics and others with business interests in Africa, on November 20, 2010.

With the global business community’s growing interest and involvement in Africa, Tony Elumelu, who spoke on “Perception and Reality - One African Entrepreneur’s Journey,” shared timely and invaluable insights on doing business in Africa as he drew on his experience in building United Bank for Africa (UBA) into a pan African financial institution.

In his role as CEO of UBA, he transformed a Nigerian bank into a global institution - now operating in 18 African countries and across 3 continents. "If I had left the shores of Nigeria, I would not be what I am today and I may not have been in a position to take advantage of the boundless opportunities in Africa. The right people have been a critical ingredient in enabling me to actualize my vision and achieve set goals” said Mr. Elumelu.

Compelled by his own achievements and flanked by a backdrop quoting a statement he made in 1998 at a Standard Trust Bank Town Hall meeting, “today we may appear young and people may not believe in us, but we are going to compel them to believe in us through our achievements,” Tony Elumelu encouraged students to rise and take the opportunities now available in Africa. Other lessons shared included the need to consistently adapt vision and goals to align with strategy, the importance of brand building and the deployment of African solutions. “If I can do it, you can too.” Elumelu emphasized.

The founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation also urged his peers to think broadly about the value creation for stakeholders and noted the importance of balance and timing for social responsibility. "I call on Africans who have succeeded as entrepreneurs to start giving back to Africa.  To do as Gates and Buffet have done, and make a difference in Africa.  We must all join hands in the 21st century and ask ourselves where Africa will be ten years from now and what role each of us will play.  We need to make Africa a proud part of the 21st century world community."

Looking forward to developing the private sector through the philanthropic and entrepreneurial work of The Elumelu Foundation and investing in the key sectors across Africa through Heirs Holdings, as a formula for ultimately impacting the economic development of the continent, Elumelu said, “I want to spend my time, my resources, and my experience building a legacy for Africa.”

Nice read, from a guy who has definitely proven himself in his career.

Tony!

Tony did a solid job with UBA; especially with the pan-african outlook thing. I'm even more impressed by his foundation.
The idea of devoting his resources for the public good is a lead I hope other Nigerian "big men" would follow.

Kudos Tony, i hope ur hands are clean shay.

Kudos to a great achiever of our time.

good one

Tony is a great guy. He has a very strong legacy to leave behind, unlike his peers & many other leaders in 9ja today. Kudos & kudos to him.

so !

Proud of you tony,glad to have worked under you in the past

702:

so !

Bad belle talkin

favouredjb:

Proud of you tony,glad to have worked under you in the past

Tuale for one of the greatest achievers of our time.

even if his hands become dirty in the future, i would still respect him for what he achieved.

I hope the havard students remember to study the achievements of Fred Ajudua. They (Tony Elumelu and Ajudua) are two sides of the same coins. Tony "succeeded" big time because he focused on public treasury. In Nigeria criminals are king!!!!!!! ha ha ha ha ha

I worked under Tony between 1998-2004 and I will forever cherish those years.The training I got I keep utilising even till date.Tony's greatest strength is the fact that He leads by example.I remember once we had a management meeting in Oghere between 6pm Thursday and 3am Sunday. The amazing thing was that Tony was in his Office by 8am the next day.
When Tony goes for a business meeting in a Company,The moment He steps out of the Office He is already calling his secretary in his Office to dictate a reply to the negotiations He just had with the Company and by the time he gets to his Office He signs off the letter and it's promptly delivered.
His efficiency and time management is unequalled.

. "If I had left the shores of Nigeria, I would not be what I am today and I may not have been in a position to take advantage of the boundless opportunities in Africa. The right people have been a critical ingredient in enabling me to actualize my vision and achieve set goals” said Mr. Elumelu.

This guys is talking porkies.

Tony, you had the chance to contribute to making Nigeria a great place. Instead you chose to prosper by providing vehicles to crooked politicians to rob the people of Nigeria blind. You succeeded big time from so doing. But what has the society got to gain from your efforts? The longest running oil boom of ages has left Nigeria with no medical facilities, no motorable roads, no power supply, unemployment at rates of more that 70%, no water supply, no security, no developments whatsoever. But it left crooked politicians and their collaborators like you stinkingly rich.

People left Nigeria for abroad not because they did not want to stay to contribute to making the country great, but because crooked Nigerians in privileged positions made it impossible for honest people to prosper in that society.

Even Akingbola and Cecilia would be sprouting the above garbage were it not for the fact that they were outed.

Tony, you are so great for our society that the Central Bank of Nigeria had to practically force you out of UBA.

Tony, you hammered big time in that country turned to a waste of space by people like you. But why not stay quietly somewhere to enjoy your own share of the loot rather than celebrating your so called "achievements" thereby adding salt to injury.

@ Honda 29

Thank you for stating undeniable facts.

'Honesty' and 'hard-work' my b.u.t.t - c.r.a.c.k.

Tony,

Please just stop deceiving innocent students with all these garbage u call word of "inspiration". Its pple like you that get young ones messed up in the head. So u are telling me, with all ur time at the helm of power at UBA, you didnt "add more zeroes" at the end of a particular cheque or didnt do any fraud whatsoever. Please stop this gaffe and stop telling blatant lies

Honda29:

. "If I had left the shores of Nigeria, I would not be what I am today and I may not have been in a position to take advantage of the boundless opportunities in Africa. The right people have been a critical ingredient in enabling me to actualize my vision and achieve set goals” said Mr. Elumelu.

This guys is talking porkies.

Tony, you had the chance to contribute to making Nigeria a great place. Instead you chose to prosper by providing vehicles to crooked politicians to rob the people of Nigeria blind. You succeeded big time from so doing. But what has the society got to gain from your efforts? The longest running oil boom of ages has left Nigeria with no medical facilities, no motorable roads, no power supply, unemployment at rates of more that 70%, no water supply, no security, no developments whatsoever. But it left crooked politicians and their collaborators like you stinkingly rich.

People left Nigeria for abroad not because they did not want to stay to contribute to making the country great, but because crooked Nigerians in privileged positions made it impossible for honest people to prosper in that society.

Even Akingbola and Cecilia would be sprouting the above garbage were it not for the fact that they were outed.

Tony, you are so great for our society that the Central Bank of Nigeria had to practically force you out of UBA.

Tony, you hammered big time in that country turned to a waste of space by people like you. But why not stay quietly somewhere to enjoy your own share of the loot rather than celebrating your so called "achievements" thereby adding salt to injury.

Finally, somebody with common sense and open eyes! Nigerians fall for so much PR nonsense! I am pretty sure Cecelia Ibru would have said the same things to these students if she hadn't been caught.

Akingbola had more 'inspiration' when he speaks. He had done so many seminars that we clapped for him. He has been praised in many fora than Elumelu. But what is it like today , 419 in Officialdom, Bank !!!

Elumelu ran Crystal Bank , What happened? then Standard trust , and bought UBA (you mean STB bought UBA, an irony like Access now to acquire Intercontinental , the Elumelu formula !!!)

I had always suspected Hakeem Bello and Elumelu bought UBA for peanuts (or what do you think of Govt. funding in business , devalue joo)

After the loot, the story is always sweet !!!!

Whether he stole or not.The guy is an achiever.Full Stop!!

kidgenious:

Whether he stole or not.The guy is an achiever.Full Stop!!

It is statements like this that has led Nigeria to its current state of decadence!! How can someone be a thief and you call him an 'achiever'? .

we cant tell who the "good ones" are any more

what i am still trying to grapple with is that why should he go all the way to Philadelphia to inspire students, don,t we have students in tertiary institutions here in Nigeria that needs inspiration?