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Saturday, August 01, 2020 / 02:17 PM / By UBA Group / Header
Image Credit: Ecographics
"This
is the time to invest. Africa is a land of opportunities; There is huge
population and there is now the realisation by African leaders who are creating
an enabling environment to encourage these investments," Elumelu said on
Thursday, while speaking at a virtual session organised by the TIME100TALKS
on the theme, 'Empowering Entrepreneurs'.
Bill
Gates, Founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and United States Senator,
Tammy Duckworth were other thought leaders who also spoke in sessions at the
event.
While
pointing out that the African continent is well positioned to emerge into a
strong digital economy, Elumelu said, there is now more macro-economic
stability than ever before, especially given that the young African is
energetic, restless and has the ambition to succeed, in the face of difficult
circumstances.
"Challenges
exist in Africa, but we have huge returns on investments. There is huge
population and there is realisation by African leaders who are now creating an
enabling environment to encourage investments into Africa. There is no
better time to make the multi-million dollar bet I made in Africa, than the
times we live in now," he said in a chat with Kimberly Dozier, a Time
Correspondent who moderated the session.
Speaking
on the effect that the pandemic has had on the operations of UBA in the last
few months, Elumelu noted that there has been a rapid increase in technological
embrace and called for the strengthening of infrastructure, networks and
digital platforms to support the growth.
"In
banking business this whole digital transformation is heightened further by
COVID-19, right now, you have less than 15% of our over 20million bank
customers that are transacting in the bank. Most of them now transact online,
which is 85% of over 20million customers. That is significant. Before COVID, it
was about 65%. UBA is seeing an explosion in its digital platforms. Thankfully,
the bank invested significantly in technology, and now, they are investing even
more so that they can serve their customers better. So, the digital
connectivity technical infrastructure should be strengthened in such a way as
to aid this explosion we are seeing," Elumelu said.
He also
spoke on how the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which he founded, has been supporting
the growth of its entrepreneurs especially in the tough business climate
presented by the ravaging coronavirus pandemic.
"Through
the TEF virtual platform called the TEFConnect, we are able to engage our
entrepreneurs on a day-to-day basis; get resource speakers from all over the
world and ourselves, to talk to them and to train them and let them know how to
manage difficult moments like this. And I can say that at-least 72% of our
9,500 beneficiaries are hanging in there, expanding their businesses. You know
most SMEs typically die after their first year, but we are seeing a different
trend, where beneficiaries of our programme in different countries are
contributing towards fighting the virus in their different countries. We are
seeing the creation of jobs, the one million jobs we set out to achieve," he noted.
The
TEFConnect Community is a meeting ground where entrepreneurship ecosystem
players share information and ask questions on their business activity.
Currently one million entrepreneurs are on TEFConnect
Elumelu
seized the opportunity to call on all bodies and key sectors such as the
private sector, public sector, development agencies like the African
Development Bank and other institutions to work together to make a
difference, adding that "What the world needs today and Africans, in
particular, is hope and that to me is what will make the difference but that
hope has to be backed by tangibility, some substance so that we can make it
work."
In his
submission, Bill Gates sought for collaboration between the private and public
sector to end the pandemic, adding "Every country has to think through the
right policies to stop the spread, there is need to speed up the process of
getting new drugs and vaccines, we need a global response."
Senator
Duckworth who also emphasised the need for funding for teaching and
appreciation for teachers, advocated for more teamwork at all levels to fight
the pandemic, said, "What the country needs is a team that will step forward
to deal with the crisis. It is very significant for me to be on a national
stage for other Asian Americans, because we often are the forgotten minority in
this country."
TIME100 Talks, an initiative of TIME magazine, is a new live event series that convenes leaders from every field to spotlight solutions to urgent global problems and encourage cross-disciplinary action.
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