Tony Elumelu to African leaders: Collaborate to deploy $4trn domestic capital in Africa

Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings, has urged African nations to collaborate in mobilising over $4 trillion in domestic capital across the continent.

Elumelu spoke on Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings.

The businessman said “it is estimated that Africa has over $4 trillion in domestic capital on the continent”.

“If we can mobilise this, we will not put strain on companies’ fiscal burden. But, the challenge is in working together to mobilise this capital,” he said.

“To do so, we need to establish trust, accountability, and make sure the domestic savings and capital mobilisation on the continent is working for the people and channeling that resources in the required area.”

He argued that improving access to electricity would significantly boost productivity and youth employment, enabling Africa to better support global economic growth.

Elumelu said inclusion is not automatic, adding that inclusion is deliberate.

“We need to have African voices on the table. Digital inclusion in the 21st century is economic inclusion. If we want to deal with inequality, if we want to create and democratise prosperity across the globe, we must deal with some of these issues,” he said.

“When we talk about productivity in the digital age, we are talking about people. Productivity is not just about output per worker, it is really about opportunity per person.

“In Africa, we see this age, the challenges and the prospects. We have leapfrogged in the past, and we think that this digital age provides an opportunity to even leapfrog further in the area of healthcare, agriculture, and even in the area of electricity.”

However, Elumelu noted that for Africa to fully harness the opportunity, there are structural barriers on the continent that must be addressed.

“We have infrastructure deficit on the continent. Access to electricity is so critical for the advancement of AI and of course, the productivity that comes with it,” he said.

“We do have the challenge on the continent. We also have access to capital challenges that affect entrepreneurs in this space of AI and co.”

Elumelu also said the continent needs to find a combination therapy “that addresses these challenges for us to reap these benefits that we see”.

“We need to see a deliberate and concerted massive investment in AI and infrastructure that unleashes AI’s capabilities and productivity on the continent,” he said.

The philanthropist also highlighted the continent’s infrastructure gap and called for investment in capital projects and AI development.