The key to being a core industrial player lies in understanding when and how to play the master card in a competitive market, with the eye set on the heartbeat of an industry. That’s the key that Anthony Elumelu (CFR), Nigeria’s foremost economist, has used to unlock global financial mines. The 1963, Plateau State-born, Delta son, Tony Elumelu, grew from the front desks of banks in Nigeria to the cream of the global financial markets, being named in the 2020 Times list of the 100 most influential people in the world. From 1987 when he began to loom large on the financial scene, the Ambrose Alli University graduate easily looked beyond the periphery to gaze on the pole position.
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That’s the kind of eye that would trigger a junior banker like Elumelu into a swift transition to stock brokerage. From thence, Elumelu sought to control the industry drivers, a valuechain strategy though which he navigated Nigeria’s murky monetary waters to reach rare profit shores. Starting with BGL, a financial company he co-founded to give base to his stock trade, Elumelu made a swift move to acquire Standard Trust Bank (STB).
Having emerged strong from the banking shakeup of the 2000s, Elumelu would establish Heirs Holdings, which, together with STB, became beacons of successes that birthed the acquisition of United Bank for Africa, (UBA), a far bigger financial fish in the sea of banks. The acquisition of UBA tended to unveil more of Elumelu’s golden financial eyes as he was fully poised to take the Nigerian financial scene by tsunami.
Thus did Elumelu build a financial dynasty that culminated in the famed Elumelu Foundation, the flagship of blockbuster value chains: Heirs Insurance, United Capital, Prudential Registrars, Transcorp and utility companies that provide a range of services from building and maintaining banks to general property management. With UBA’s over 300 bank branches nationwide, Elumelu ensured that his services companies kept his branches ever clean and modern, yet ensuring that maintenance costs did not go elsewhere but the Elumelu business circles.
With this conglomerate kind of rare business acumen, Elumelu has since moved into power, agriculture and the hospitality industry value chains, with controlling stakes in their supply networks. Of course, he was quick to invest in the Transcorp Plc, which gave him the leverage to consolidate in power and agriculture. The blowback has also refreshed his huge banking stakes such that UBA has over-performed and outperformed peers in the banking scene despite Nigeria’s decades-old financial turbulence.
READ ALSO: Breaking News: UBA Surpasses N1 Trillion Market Capitalization
In 2023, UBA sang the music of financial miracles, having surpassed N1 trillion market capitalization, with a price share value of N29.90, more than 325% rise from N7.60 in early 2023. For this reason, the bank has over 34 billion shares in issue, and 275,000 shareholders. With a move from N283.8 billion at the beginning of 2023, UBA hit an impressive N1, 022,562,698,843, making it the third most capitalized institution in Nigeria. As the best performing bank in 2023, UBA grew its customer share funds from 992 billion in 2022 to N1.8 trillion.
This came with a festschrift of laurels foremost among which is the Best Performing Banking Stock, 2023; a listing on the Premium Board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange; and Local Arranger and Local Depository Bank for the $3.3bn forex liquidity support facility for Nigeria in partnership with the Africa Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank).
Elumelu has built a truly Africa’s global bank, leveraging quality human resources, sterling organisational structure and the latest technology to drive his businesses in 24 countries. His holdings span four continents, including the uncharted territory of being the only African bank with a deposit-taking license in the United States. Let’s give it to Nigeria’s global banking trailblazer and inimitable valuechain strategist of all time, Anthony Onyemaechi Elumelu!
Dr Mbamalu, a Jefferson Fellow, is an Editor, Publisher and Communications Consultant
Dr. Marcel Mbamalu is a distinguished communication scholar, journalist, and entrepreneur with three decades of experience in the media industry. He holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and serves as the publisher of Prime Business Africa, a renowned multimedia news platform catering to Nigeria and Africa's socio-economic needs.
Dr. Mbamalu's journalism career spans over two decades, during which he honed his skills at The Guardian Newspaper, rising to the position of senior editor. Notably, between 2018 and 2023, he collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Northeast Nigeria, training senior journalists on conflict reporting and health journalism.
Dr. Mbamalu's expertise has earned him international recognition. He was the sole African representative at the 2023 Jefferson Fellowship program, participating in a study tour of the United States and Asia (Japan and Hong Kong) on inclusion, income gaps, and migration issues.
In 2020, he was part of a global media team that covered the United States presidential election.
Dr. Mbamalu has attended prestigious media trainings, including the Bloomberg Financial Journalism Training and the Reuters/AfDB Training on "Effective Coverage of Infrastructural Development in Africa."
As a columnist for The Punch Newspaper, with insightful articles published in other prominent Nigerian dailies, including ThisDay, Leadership, The Sun, and The Guardian, Dr. Mbamalu regularly provides in-depth analysis on socio-political and economic issues.
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