Tony Elumelu, chairman of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), has asked the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) to continue catalysing impactful projects across the continent.
Speaking at a recent AFC conference, Elumelu said the corporation plays a critical role in Africa’s development, especially in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
“I want to encourage AFC to continue to identify and catalyse projects that have scale, impact and relevance for Africa,” he said.
“This is very important. More so at a time like this, when the world is changing. It is changing very fast and no one but us will develop Africa and AFC is actually helping.”
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Reflecting on his experience with the AFC, the entrepreneur said the corporation’s interventions have been instrumental to his group’s business successes, particularly in the power and energy sectors.
“As the chairman of Transcorp Group, one of our investments was in the power sector. We know that access to electricity is very important for the development and transformation of Africa,” Elumelu said.
“We invested in that space but we needed support and AFC supported, I think the first time was about $120 million.
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“When we decided also to go into energy space, we did a $1.1 billion transaction. AFC supported us also, I think $150 million, which is very well serviced today.
“These are signature transactions that without AFC, or for us in particular, may have been difficult to conclude.”
Elumelu called for more support for the private sector in Africa, while expressing optimism for greater achievements in the years to come.
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