Elumelu was born in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria, in 1963. He hails from Onicha-Ukwu in Aniocha NorthLocal Government Area of Delta State. He has two degrees in economics from Nigerian universities, a bachelor's degree from Ambrose Alli University and a master of science degree from the University of Lagos. Elumelu married Awele Vivien Elumelu, a medical doctor, in 1993, and they have seven children together. He has four siblings, one of whom is Ndudi Elumelu, a member of the Nigerian Federal House of Representatives. Tony Elumelu is married to Awele Vivien Elumelu, a medical doctor. and has seven children.
Career
Elumelu started his career in Union Bank as a Youth Corp member of the National Youth Service Corps in 1985. in In his early career, Elumelu acquired Standard Trust Bank in 2005 and United Bank for Africa was acquired afterwards. Following his retirement from UBA in 2010, Elumelu founded Heirs Holdings, which invests in the financial services, energy, real estate and hospitality, agribusiness, and healthcare sectors. In the same year, he established the Tony Elumelu Foundation, an Africa-based and African-funded philanthropic organisation. Elumelu serves as an advisor to the USAID's Private Capital Group for Africa Partners Forum. He sits on the Nigerian President's Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council. He is also vice-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria whose formation he was a key driver in, and serves as Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute Dialogue Series on Global Food Security. He additionally chairs the Ministerial Committee to establish world-class hospitals and diagnostic centres across Nigeria, at the invitation of the Federal Government and the Presidential Jobs Board, engineered to create 3 million jobs in one year. He also serves as a member of the Global Advisory Board of the United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Initiative and USAID's Private Capital Group for Africa Partners Forum. He was one of the co-chairs of the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, from 11 to 13 May 2016.
Organisation
The Tony Elumelu Foundation
Following his retirement from United Bank for Africa in July 2010, Elumelu founded The Tony Elumelu Foundation.
Other non-profits
His presence on the Bretton Woods Committee, which brings together senior leaders in the global banking industry, is recognition of his work on African development.
He is a Fellow of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative.
He is involved, through his foundation, with the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative in a partnership to strengthen the private sector's role in the economic transformation of select African countries. This partnership is called the Blair-Elumelu Fellowship Programme.
He is co-chair of the Africa Energy Leaders' Group.
Awards and honours
In 2003, the Federal Government of Nigeria granted Elumelu the title of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, a national honour. In 2006, he won the African Business Leader of The Year award conferred by the United Kingdom-based magazine, Africa Investor. In 2009, the Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'adua asked him to serve on the Presidential Committee on the Global Financial Crisis. In 2012, he was awarded the National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger for his service in promoting private enterprise. At the 5th edition of the annual Economic Forum of the Ivorian National Council of Employers, CGECI Academy, in Abidjan in April 2016, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. Also, in 2016, he was awarded the 'daily times, Nigerian man of the year.'
Publications
He has written about his philosophy and the economic development of Africa for several publications around the world including The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times.
