Tony Elumelu bags appointment into IMF advisory council

Tony Elumelu, the founder and group chair of Heirs Holdings, has been appointed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advisory council on entrepreneurship and growth.

The appointment was announced on Friday in a statement released by the IMF and convened by Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF managing director.

Elumelu’s appointment highlights his remarkable contributions to entrepreneurship and his commitment to economic development, particularly in Africa.

Through his leadership at Heirs Holdings and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, he has championed initiatives that empower entrepreneurs and foster business growth.

“Elumelu, Africa’s leading advocate of entrepreneurship and whose Foundation has funded, mentored and trained over 25,000 African entrepreneurs since 2015, champions entrepreneurship as the engine for the economic transformation of Africa,” the statement reads.

“A self-made entrepreneur, Elumelu’s embracing of entrepreneurship is fundamental to his concept of Africapitalism, his belief that Africa’s private sector can and must play a leading role in the continent’s development, making long-term investments, that deliver social and economic value.

“Elumelu will be instrumental in ensuring that Africa’s entrepreneurial potential is central to global economic policymaking.”

Other members of the council include Ufuk Akcigit, Harberger professor of economics at the University of Chicago; Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi ambassador to the United States; Marc Benioff, chair, CEO, and co-founder of Salesforce; and Ana Botín, executive chair at Banco Santander.

Others are Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Group; Margherita Della Valle, chief executive of Vodafone Group; Robert Smith, founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, and Federico Sturzenegger, Argentine minister of deregulation and state transformation.

Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the advisory council on March 26, Georgieva said the council brings together a group of leading thinkers and practitioners in business, finance, academia, and policymaking to share their views and experiences on how macroeconomic and financial policies “can provide a supportive environment for innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity  key ingredients for a thriving private sector and strong economic growth”.