Tony Elumelu Calls for Economic Reforms at WIMBIZ Conference

Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings and Transcorp Group, addressed the 25th annual conference of Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) on November 6. He identified unreliable electricity, inadequate access to capital, poor value addition, and limited intra-African trade as significant barriers to Africa's economic development.

Elumelu called for urgent reforms, emphasizing the need for investment in infrastructure, mobilization of domestic capital, and promotion of women's leadership in the economy. He highlighted Africa's abundant natural resources and youthful population as the continent's greatest commercial opportunity of the 21st century but warned that without deliberate investments and policy changes, this potential would remain unrealized.

He stressed that reliable electricity is crucial for industrialization and urged a shift from exporting raw materials to creating local value through processing and manufacturing.