Excerpts of an interview granted to CNBC by Tony Elumelu on the sideline of the ongoing WEF in Davos.
On why he is in Davos: I believe that the development of our continent requires massive private global capital into Africa to fire and power investments in the area of infrastructure to create employment and eradicate poverty. I came to Davos to interact with global leaders who have control capital and that to me is important for the development of our continent. I believe strongly that entrepreneurship is key for eradicating poverty in Africa and more importantly, getting our youths busy, empowering our youths so that again they will all team up to create employment that we need on the continent. When you come here you meet global philanthropists, development partners, people who are interested in supporting Africa and will begin to change the narrative and the conversation, we begin to let them know that what we need now more than ever before is how to empower young Africans to entrepreneurship. That we are achieving, so when we come here, we think this year’s has been quite exciting.
On Attracting global private capital: As you know, capital goes to where it is most welcome, or where the investment destination is more hospitable, so for us as Africans, the issue is not about attracting private global capital, they are ready and willing to come to Africa, but we need to work with our political leaders to ensure that we create the enabling environment that will attract and retain the capital we need in Africa. I speak as someone who invests in other Africa countries, infact, we have investments in 23 African countries and I know that there is a lot of investment opportunities, what we need to do more of in Africa is to ensure that the enabling environment is good. Because if this is done, SMEs will do well, Big businesses will also do well and as our foreign associates and partners see that business is flourishing in Africa, they will come to invest in Africa. There is nowhere else you get the kind of ROI that you get in Africa and that is good for Africa, but we need to make sure that the global capital attracted is retained in our continent.
On Shaping the environment in Nigeria, how to make capital feel secure at home: I think everyone realises the fact that we need to prioritise private sector, we need to encourage entrepreneurship and our young ones, we need to encourage SMEs, and we all are in agreement that that is the way to go to develop Nigeria, and if Nigeria develops, Africa develops. I believe that is can only progressively get better, so I as an investor in Nigeria am extremely optimistic about the future and that is what I have been preaching to global partners here to come invest in Africa and Nigeria, the returns are good and the environment and outlook is going to get even better.
On TEF how has it been so far and the impact?: The TEF founded in 2010, has been quite phenomenal in terms of trying to lift young ones out of poverty and to help create massive employment in Africa. As you know the demographic structure of our population could be something to be both excited and frightened about. 60% of our population are under age 30….the question we need to ask ourselves is are we prepared for this? Are we creating jobs fast enough to accommodate this rising population and get them gainfully employed? And the answer unfortunately is no. so what the TEF is doing is trying to democratize luck and trying to improve access to economic opportunities, remembering our own story – trying to ensure that we are able to support those who have ideas. Unfortunately, we are not able to support everyone, it’s a $100,000 commitment; we have supported over 4,000 and this year, we will be supporting another 1,000. We see successes, and we hear stories of how these young men and women from Africa are succeeding. And when I hear their stories I tell myself that indeed the future of Africa is in these young ones. I tell my friends that there is the need to partner to do more. We as a group, the TEF have committed $100,000, it is not because we have so much, but it is because we believe that in the 21st century, we should live in a manner that is all inclusive – wealth for one is not enough, we should democratize access to wealth, we should make sure that Africa, like I always say, is the next frontier, and that our young ones are prioritized and are given hope and opportunity, so that they do not go into extremism. So, we believe that world is listening, great things are happening and many are ready to support us, because, last year for instance, we have over a 150,000 applications from 54 African countries, we were unfortunately able to take just a thousand, because that is our commitment. So, I say to my friends when we come up here, can you team up with us, can you support these young Africans and the reception is becoming very interesting. So I am sure this year, from what I can see, we might be able to announce more than the thousand that the TEF is committed to.
