TIME magazine has named one of Africa’s leading investors and philanthropists, Tony Elumelu, in the 2020 TIME 100, the annual list of the 100 most in
TIME magazine has named one of Africa’s leading investors and philanthropists, Tony Elumelu, in the 2020 TIME 100, the annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The list, now in its 17th year, recognises the activism, innovation, and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.
Elumelu, Chair of United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Founder and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, is one of three Nigerians on the list, alongside Tomi Adeyemi and Tunji Funso.
He made the TIME 100 list for his track record of business turnaround and value creation, and economic empowerment of young Afticans.
Elumelu also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp, whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, one of the leading generators of electricity in Nigeria and Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s foremost hospitality brand.
Adeyemi, a Harvard University-trained born Nigerian-American novelist and creative writing coach, is also on the celebrated roll.
She is acknowledged by Wikipedia as the writer of the #1 New York Times bestselling book, Children of Blood and Bone, the first in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers.
The book won the 2018 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, the 2019 Waterstones Book Prize, and the 2019 Hugo Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book. In 2019, she was named among Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.
Funsho could have retired years ago, but in 2013, with polio still paralyzing children across Nigeria, he decided to step up to lead the Rotarians’ effort. Together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO, the CDC and UNICEF, Funsho and Rotary helped lead National Immunization Days, getting millions of doses of the polio vaccine to children in cities and villages around the nation.
