At the recent MEDEF Summer University Forum in
Paris, the annual meeting of French business and political
leaders, Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings and UBA Plc and
Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, stressed the opportunities
Africa offers and urged stronger business relationships between
France and Africa; calling for a deepening of
commercial relationships based on mutual respect and interest.
The Forum is one of France’s leading gatherings,
bringing together over 7,500 business and opinion leaders, including Heads
of State, government officials, political and business leaders,
academics and over 450 French and international journalists. Elumelu
was one of the select representatives from Africa, where he contributed to the
opening panel debate, ‘The World is Watching Us’. Moderated
by Frédéric Ferrer, journalist, consultant and professor at ESCP
Europe, other participants were the President of MEDEF, Pierre Gattaz;
Gary Coombe, President of Proctor & Gamble Europe; and Oudet Souvannavong,
Executive Vice-President of the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
and President of Lao Hotel & Restaurant Association.
As a leading advocate for the African private sector
and champion of African entrepreneurship, Elumelu began his speech
by thanking France for the cordial business relationship between
France and Africa. “When we as Africans look at France, we see a long standing
friend of Africa. Looking forward, France and Africa must continue
to partner in a manner that brings about positive change.”
Mr. Elumelu is known as the proponent of
Africapitalism, the philosophy that Africa’s private sector can
and should drive economic change on the continent. Fundamental to
this is the role of entrepreneurship, which creates wealth
and jobs on the scale needed in Africa. Mr. Elumelu pursued this
theme, stating that the solutions to issues of social
exclusion are enterprise and entrepreneurship.
He urged France to look beyond its traditional
relationships with Francophone countries, important as they
are, and to embrace Anglophone and Lusophone Africa.
He called on small and large businesses in France and in Africa to seek ways of
collaborating in order to deepen economic ties. “France has very
strong links with Francophone Africa, and we would like to see you
engage more commercially with the Anglophone countries; creating a
new form of economic and commercial partnership between France and the whole of
Africa,” he said.
Mr. Elumelu has long been an advocate of Africa on the rise and
seized the opportunity to encourage businesses to invest on the
continent, which has so much to offer in returns. He highlighted
the role of Africans themselves investing on the
continent, while making a call to the French public and private sector to
do the same, stating that there is nowhere else that can give as much
return on investment as in Africa.
“There is a reason MEDEF has a new economic interest in
Africa. Africa is home to the largest and fastest growing
consumer population globally. It is a huge opportunity for both
international and domestic businesses – and African businesses
are increasingly competing successfully. What we all want to see is Africa
growing its own value adding industries; the days of commodity extraction are
over.”
Elumelu advised governments to support the private
sector, in order to create more value in the society. “What is good
for the private sector is also good for society. The private sector
is best placed to assist government achieve its mandate. If the private
sector succeeds, it creates more jobs, enhances security, and
improves living standards”.
Pierre Gattaz added to this statement saying: “Full
employment should be on the agenda of any political programme that is worth any
value or worth its name. This should take up 70% of any political agenda moving
forward. We must encourage and trust those who bring enterprise and create
jobs”.
Elumelu himself has an extraordinary track record
of job creation, including creating the UBA Group, which now employs
over 20,000 people in 19 African countries. And he is giving
back, through the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s $100m commitment
to support 10,000 entrepreneurs over a period of 10 years. Mr
Elumelu concluded the session by encouraging the entrepreneurs present to
reach for their dreams. “Entrepreneurs are able to bring their ideas to
fruition through the support we give them. This is helping them not just to
dream, but to turn their ideas into successful ventures – and
create the foundation for broad based and meaningful change in Africa”.
The event was closed by the moderator, Frederic Ferrer, who
applied the tag line of the Tony Elumelu Foundation's entrepreneurship
programme to France, "Your ideas can transform France too and not just
Africa!".
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