Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, has opened up on how he started his career in a job he was not qualified for.
The billionaire businessman disclosed this in a post on his social media handle, on Saturday.
Elumelu, who said he was lucky to have had someone take a chance on him, maintained that luck should not be the only way Africans get a chance.
“I started my career in a job I wasn’t qualified for. Someone took a chance on me. Everything I have built since has been to repay it. I was lucky. But luck should not be the only way an African talent gets a chance.”
The businessman also highlighted Africa’s position in the global artificial intelligence race, saying the continent accounts for less than one per cent of the world’s AI computing capacity and about three per cent of its AI talent.
“The constraint is not talent. It is electricity. We leapfrogged landlines with mobile. We will not leapfrog electricity,” Elumelu said.
He said African countries must urgently address their electricity challenges to avoid missing opportunities presented by the digital economy.
According to him, the continent’s AI race is also a race to secure adequate electricity generation and computing capacity.
“My closing advice: To the youth in the room: start before you are qualified. I did,” he said.
He also called on investors and partners to support the growth of young African businesses, citing the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s seed-capital programme.
“Tony Elumelu Foundation seed capital has proved that young African entrepreneurs are investible. Now co-invest with us to take them to scale,” he said.
