Elumelu has urged African Firms to put more women in corporate leadership.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that Tony O. Elumelu, CFR, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, has called on business leaders across Africa to speed up the appointment of women to top corporate roles, saying companies should back their commitment to inclusion with appointments and access to capital.
Elumelu spoke in Lagos on Sunday as keynote speaker at the 25th annual conference of Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ). The conference theme was Rooted, Rising, Ready: Born in Africa, Built for the World.
“A requirement for competitiveness”
He urged corporate leaders to move beyond talk about gender inclusion and show it in practice by appointing women, giving them access to capital and letting them lead businesses and institutions.
“Women’s economic leadership is not a concession to fairness. It is a requirement for competitiveness,” he said, adding that no economy seeking sustainable growth can afford to underuse half of its talent.
Heirs Holdings as an example
Elumelu pointed to the Heirs Holdings Group as a practical example, saying women serve as chairs and chief executives across its businesses in financial services, investment management, hospitality, real estate and entrepreneurship development.
He singled out his wife, Dr Awele Elumelu, OFR, a founding director of Heirs Holdings, whose leadership spans healthcare, insurance, hospitality and energy. She chairs Avon HMO, Avon Medical, Heirs Insurance Brokers, Transcorp Hotels Plc and Heirs Energies, and co-founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
Other women leaders named in the Group include:
- Dr Fumbi Chima, Chair, Heirs Technologies
- Agatha Obiekwugo, Chair, Afriland Properties Plc
- Foluke K. Abdulrazaq, OON, Vice Chair, Transnational Corporation Plc
- Owen Omogiafo, OON, President/Group Chief Executive Officer, Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp)
- Uzo Oshogwe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Transcorp Hotels Plc
- Somachi Chris-Asoluka, Chief Executive Officer, Tony Elumelu Foundation
- Catherine Nwosu, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Africa Prudential Plc
- Dr Odiri Ogini, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, United Capital Asset Management
- Esther Adeola Balogun, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UCEE Microfinance Bank
Elumelu said the appointments show how firms can build stronger institutions by recognising talent, developing leaders internally and creating routes for women into executive and board-level roles. “I did not do it for a headline. I did it because they were the best people for the jobs,” he said.
Foundation figures
He also cited the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which he said has put more than US$120 million in seed capital into 24,633 entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries over 15 years. Women make up 48 per cent of those supported. Together, these entrepreneurs have created more than 1.5 million jobs and generated over US$4.2 billion in revenue, according to the Foundation.
The programme reflects what Elumelu calls Africapitalism, a philosophy that favours private-sector-led development creating both economic prosperity and social wealth. He argues that African businesses and investors have a duty to widen access to opportunity, strengthen institutions and unlock entrepreneurship across the continent.
“Opportunity in Africa is still distributed by accident of birth, of geography, of gender. My life’s work is to make it distributed by merit instead,” he said.
A challenge to other business leaders
Drawing on his experience in power, hospitality, banking, insurance, healthcare and oil and gas, Elumelu asked other leaders to examine their own leadership structures and the barriers keeping qualified women from advancing. “If I can do it in power, in hospitality, in banking, in insurance, in healthcare, and in oil and gas, so can others?” he asked.
He told young African women not to wait for permission to lead, build businesses or take ownership of economic opportunities, and urged WIMBIZ and the wider business community to keep up the momentum.
“Advocacy got women into the room. Capital will get them to the head of the table,” he concluded.
