Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu is a Nigerian economist, and philanthropist. He was born 22nd of March, 1963 and is the CEO of the UBA Group.
The banking tycoon also founded The Tony Elumelu Foundation and funds 1000 African entrepreneurs every year to start and grow their businesses.
7 Top Rules For Success By Tony Elumelu
Sharing his 7 top rules for success, the 58-year old entrepreneur wrote:-
Stay focused
According to the banking tycoon, the journey to a successful career as an entrepreneur is a long one and should be taken with much focus.
“Stop seeing it as a short term journey. Great entrepreneurs or companies didn’t build their businesses overnight. It’s a long term journey. So dare to dream, implement your dream and stay focused.”
Elumelu says.
Have a vision
When Tony Elumely joined the banking industry, it wasn\’t looking as promising as it is right now.
Speaking on his illustrious career as a banker, the UBA Chairman once said;
“I grew up with certain beliefs and motivations, one of which is: when you envision and take a position to make that vision come through, then significant opportunities will crystalise.”
“We saw a banking industry that was growing very fast, and we didn’t think the requisite human capital capacity was available to support the continued support of these banks. So we took an early position in putting in place a company that would help guarantee the survival of banks, and when an opportunity presented itself, we were ready for it.”
And he came, he saw and he conquered!
Seize your opportunities
Opportunities come only but once, the wise man would say. While going through the world of business building, it is only wise to grab opportunities that come your way because they might not make it back to you.
“They say that success, to a large extent, depends on being at the right place at the right time, and this philosophy has helped us many times to take advantage of a situation and turn things around.”
TE would say.
Read and execute
Tony Elumelu is an avid reader and he gathers points from both fiction and non-fiction materials.
He is encouraging the younger generation to both read and execute whatever plans they have because the execution is what differentiates between successful and non-successful people.
Be disciplined
You cannot grow your business if you are not financially disciplined enough.
According to the billionaire entrepreneur;
“Growing up, my dad always told me that if you earn a dollar and don’t save when you earn a billion-dollar, you won\’t save anything. And so that discipline of investment, keeping something and not consuming everything has helped me significantly.”
Work hard
The concept of hard work really cannot be underestimated. Hard work is what separates a dreamer from an achiever.
“I say to people who work with me that there is no substitute for hard work. Today, we hear many people talk about “working smart”, but I prefer a combination of working hard and working smart. So my message to entrepreneurs is to work hard to actualise their dreams.”
Impact others
According to Tony Elumelu, the amount of money you have should not be the measure of success but the number of lives you have influenced.
Speaking on his TEF Programme, the billionaire banking tycoon said,
“Early on in my career, I realised that entrepreneurship was critical to the development of this continent. And as a successful African private sector business leader, I knew I needed to promote entrepreneurship so that we could have more successful business leaders in Africa. This was why we started the Tony Elumelu Foundation.\”