From Suleiman Amagbor, Lagos
Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima had said the impact of Heirs Holdings (HH), the leading pan-African investment company on the continent is one that will be remembered for generations to come, whenever the history of banking investment is mentioned.
The Vice President spoke at the closing ceremony of the HH Group Summit, held at the iconic Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja between June 13 –16, where he paid glowing tributes to the Group Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu for his vision and belief in the continent.
The Heirs Holdings’ philanthropy, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, has impacted 1.5 million young Africans, and disbursed US$100 million in seed capital to 20,000 young African entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries, whose businesses have created over 400,000 jobs.
Senator Shettima remarked: “When the history of Nigeria and indeed Africa’s banking history and revolution will be written, one name will stand out – having carved a niche for itself and engraved its name on the walls of banking and Africa’s entrepreneurship.
Tony Elumelu has become an enigma, a banking colossus, a power industrialist, and a force that cannot be ignored. He is one of our own who believed in Nigeria and threw his heart into it. He is a Nigerian economist, entrepreneur and indeed a philanthropist, who has given life meaning to millions of Nigerians and Africans.”
Speaking, Group Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, emphasised HH’s mandate to ‘build to last’ and to “build for impact”.
He said: “Over the past decade, we have inculcated in our business the criticality of strong corporate governance practices. We only invest for the long term, strategically and patiently.
These twin commitments are fundamental to our success; we are indeed building to last, redefining success in every sector we operate in, and demonstrating our purpose to improve lives and transform Africa”.
The summit drew on the experience of board members of investee companies from sectors where HH invests including healthcare, power, energy, technology, financial services, hospitality, and real estate.
The event convened over 100 board members from across all HH investee companies, at the HH Group Directors’ Annual Summit.
Also present were trustees of the Group’s philanthropy, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which catalyses young entrepreneurs across Africa.
The convening provided the opportunity to reinforce the Group’s strong governance practices and identify opportunities for innovation and impact, as well as celebrating business achievements.
The HH Group Summit culminated in a closing ceremony and dinner, hosting influential figures across Nigeria’s public and private sectors, including the Vice President of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima, and Federal Ministers, Ambassadors, policy makers and leaders of civil society.
The foundation said the success and impact of Heirs Holdings reflects the philosophy of Africapitalism, the belief that the African private sector can change the course of African development, but that it must be committed to doing good and doing well.
“To date, HH investee companies employ over 40,000 people across 20 African countries, the United Kingdom, UAE, France, and the United States of America.”
The HH portfolio includes investments in Heirs Energies Limited, Africa’s leading indigenous-owned integrated energy company that produces over 40k bpd, which is transforming resource-based value chains, making African resources work for Africa.”
The HH Group boasts three NSE listed stocks each worth over N1trillion (SWOOTs) within its portfolio and manages an investment portfolio size worthN10.6trillion/USD7.1billion.
