Interview: “Well Done To Cameroon!”

The United Bank for Africa, which has as Chairman, Tony Elumelu has contributed to the socio-economic development of Cameroon and the empowerment of young Cameroonians through the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) training programme.

During his most recent visit to Cameroon as special guest for the AFCON closing ceremony, the Nigerian-born businessman stated his interest in exploring the tourism and energy sectors. About 700 Cameroonians entrepreneurs have benefitted from the TEF training and mentorship programme which holds yearly. Cameroon is host to about 20 UBA branches with prospects of expanding and even constructing a regional office for Central Africa in the country.

Tony Elumelu believes in the empowerment of the younger generation by equipping them with necessary entrepreneurial skills and the capacity of taking Africa to the next level. In the course of this visit to Cameroon, he congratulated the magnificent organisation of the 33rd edition of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations. 

Read his interview with Cameroon Tribune on his commitments to Cameroon and prospects of entrepreneurship in Africa:

What brought you to Cameroon at this time of the year?
I am here for two reasons, first because I love football. I love to see a unifying force for all of Africa especially our young ones. I was happy to see Cameroon host AFCON and the United Bank of Africa participated and supported the government of Cameroon in the constructing of the stadium. To him, it was an exciting moment to see the stadia, watch the beautiful game and also identify ones again with the good people of Cameroon. Another reason is that UBA likes to support small and medium scale enterprises, and government to provide infrastructure for social and economic development of countries.

Since we operate in Cameroon as one of our 20 countries in Africa, I thought it will be a good time of the year to come, sit down with the presidency and see what UBA can do more to help the country drive its economic and social agenda.

In terms of business, what are your commitments for Cameroon in the years to come?
Cameroon is like second home to me. Cameroon is like second home to the UBA Group. That is why the TEF supported about 700 Cameroonian young men and women. Each of the 678 getting the non-refundable circa 5,000 dollars. Each of them being trained, we call it the 12-week MBA. Each of them being appointed mentors to help mentor them to do good business. We do this because we see Cameroon and the young generation as holding a strong future for our continent. So, talking about investment, we are already investing in Cameroon. At the business level, UBA has over 20 branches in Cameroon and we are still expanding.

One of the conversations I had at the presidency is the issue of a regional head office. A regional head office for Central Africa here in Cameroon. We are waiting on the necessary authorisation to commence construction. We want to further explore tourism opportunities here, and of course the whole world has been talking about energy transmission we also think that Cameroon just like Nigeria has some potentials. We need to see how we can work together to realise these projects. There are areas of future investment and business collaboration.

You committed to train and provide to the African economy some 10,000 African entrepreneurs within a decade, providing 100 million dollars. What assessment do you make of that agenda?
First, it is our commitment to empower 10,000 young African entrepreneurs. We have surpassed that already. This is the seventh year and we have surpassed that. We have empowered over 15,000 young African entrepreneurs. But we did not do this alone. We also have global partners, that is people who come to realise that in the 21st century, Africa needs a different kind of intervention. That it is not just about aid, it is by investing in young Africans who will help take Africa to the next level. And that is what we do at the Tony Elumelu Foundation. We believe in giving people the opportunity to make their dreams come true. So, we have the United Nations Development Programme, the International Red Cross, the African Development Bank and in 2021, the European Union provided 25 million dollars for this programme just for one year to support the training of over 3,000 young African women.

The programme is growing and we want to see more. For us, it is a call on successful African business people to show interest in our young ones. It is a call to the friends of Africa, development partners and agencies across the world that we need to train the young to be fishermen and not just eaters of fish.  In terms of the next agenda, we want to see more of our people benefit from the programme. And when I say our people, am talking of Cameroonians, Nigerians, Ghanaians, Egyptians, Algerians, in fact, all across Africa. As you know, the Foundation supports young African across all 54 African countries. I want to see us touch many more liv...

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