The Deputy Managing Director of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana, Usman Isiaka has advised young entrepreneurs in Ghana and Africa not to allow their successes chalked in business to outshine their sense of humility.
According to him, humility will draw people to associate with their businesses thereby speeding up their growth at a geometrical rate.
Mr Isiaka gave the advice when Ghanaian beneficiaries of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) paid a courtesy call on the management of the bank in Accra.
The forum afforded the young entrepreneurs the opportunity to introduce themselves and their businesses to the management of the bank.
Addressing the beneficiaries at the bank’s boardroom, Mr Isiaka urged them to emulate the attributes of Tony Elumelu, the founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and brainchild of the programme.
Some of the attributes of Mr Elumelu, who is also the Chairman of the UBA Plc, the Deputy Managing Director touted include visionary leadership, entrepreneurial acumen, high sense of humility, can-do spirit, and respect for due process.
These attributes have catapulted the growth of the UBA group which currently has operations in Ghana, Nigeria and several African countries and beyond, Mr Isiaka stated.
He was quick to encourage the young entrepreneurs to keep their entrepreneurial flames burning, saying; “entrepreneurs like you, is what Africa needed and not aid from the developed economies”.
“If you are able to sustain your entrepreneurial drives, you will create jobs to the teeming majority of people, reduce poverty, and crime rates on the African continent”.
Mr Isiaka therefore appealed to the Ghanaian government and all other governments on the continent to create the enabling the environment for businesses to thrive.
At the forum, other senior managers of the UBA Ghana advised the young entrepreneurs to focus on the good things they had learnt from the TEEP training.
Speaking on behalf of the members, the President of the TEEP Ghana Chapter, Mrs Sheila Osei Boakye who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Literacy 4Life, appealed to the bank to give soft loans to the beneficiaries of the programme to further boost the growth of their businesses.
She used the occasion to thank Mr Elumelu and the UBA for their kind reception and pledged that the funds from the programme would be judiciously used for the intended purpose(s).
Instructively, the 34 Ghanaian entrepreneurs are beneficiaries of the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s recently launched 100 million pan-African entrepreneurship initiative known as the TEEP to support 100,000 young entrepreneurs in Africa within the next 10 years.
The programme being described as the first of its kind in Africa to be launched by an African philanthropic organisation is targeted at creating one million new jobs throughout the continent.
The Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony O. Elumelu said at the launch last year that the one million new jobs which would be generated from the programme would contribute $10 billion in annual revenues to the 54 African countries.
He explained that the largest African sourced philanthropic gift targeting the entrepreneurial sector was inspired by three guiding principles: the inclusive economic philosophy of ‘Africapitalism’, based on the belief that a vibrant African-led private sector is the key to unlocking Africa’s economic and social potential; commitment to drive African economic growth through the empowering of African entrepreneurship; and a mission to ‘institutionalise luck’ by creating an environment where African entrepreneurs can get critical elements of support in the early stages of their business life.
“Entrepreneurship is the cornerstone to African development and the key to local value creation in Africa. I am determined to ensure that Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs have the platform they need to turn their entrepreneurial aspirations into sustainable businesses that will drive economic growth and job creation across Africa”, Mr Elumelu stated.
“Whether you are in Lagos, Accra, Johannesburg, Nairobi or Dakar, Africa is buzzing with entrepreneurs who need a platform that enables them to take their business or idea to the next level. The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme has been designed to provide that mechanism”, the Director of Entrepreneurship at The Tony Elumelu Foundation, Parminder Vir added.
African Eye News.com
