(Tony Elumelu. Photo Credit: The State House)
Tony Elumelu, founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, says Africa needs investment and trade rather than aid to grow its economy.
He said the continent’s main problem is not a lack of talent but a lack of capital for businesses.
Tony spoke on Friday at the second day of the 25th annual conference of Women in Management, Business and Public Service, WIMBIZ, at Eko Hotels and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos.
He said the foundation received 265,529 applications from young Africans with business ideas in 2026.
It was only able to fund 3,200 of them, leaving more than 262,000 applicants with no support.
“This, therefore, is not a shortage of entrepreneurial talent in Africa.
It is a shortage of capital,” he said.
Elumelu said African countries must learn to fund their own development.
“The future is investment and trade, not free money,” he said.
He added that pension funds, banks, insurers and family offices should put more money into businesses at home.
They should not just buy government bonds or keep money abroad.
“The most important thing Africa needs to build in the next decade is African capital that invests in Africa,” he said.
He named electricity, value creation, access to capital and trade between African countries as the main obstacles to growth.
He said factories, hospitals and schools cannot work without reliable power.
He also urged African countries to process their raw materials locally instead of exporting them as they are.
On trade, he said less than a fifth of Africa’s trade takes place among African countries, even though the African Continental Free Trade Area has been set up.
He said it is easier to ship goods from Lagos to Liverpool than from Lagos to Luanda.
He called for better roads, railways, ports, payment systems and customs processes.
Elumelu also spoke about women in business.
He said women have shown they can lead and build strong companies but are often denied the capital and recognition they deserve.
“Women’s economic leadership is not a concession to fairness; it is a requirement for competitiveness,” he said.
He said the foundation, which he runs with his wife, Awele, has given more than $100 million in seed capital to 24,633 young entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries over 15 years.
He said the businesses it supports have created more than 1.5 million jobs and generated over $4.2 billion in revenue.
He added that women entrepreneurs in the programme reinvest their profits and hire staff at rates he said male entrepreneurs should copy.
Reports also stated that he talked about how his mother, who own a small restaurant, taught him important lessonsabout managing money and staying disciplined at all time.
A 2 day event called “Rooted, Rising, Ready: Born in Africa, Built for the World,” just finished on Friday in Lagos.
