Africa must be included in global digital, AI revolution — Elumelu

By Emeka Anaeto, Business Editor, Babajide Komolafe, Economy Editor & Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief, successful Washington

Chairman, United Bank for Africa, UBA PLC and Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu, successful this interview, spoke connected highlights of his presumption during the seminar connected Boosting Productivity Growth successful the Digital Age held astatine the ongoing yearly meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, IMF, successful Washington DC.  

He besides spoke connected cardinal findings of  the UBA White Paper titled Banking connected Africa’s Future: Unlocking Capital and Partnerships for Sustainable Growth launched connected the sidelines of the yearly meetings.  

In your presumption astatine the seminar connected ‘Boosting Productivity Growth successful the Digital Age’   you spoke connected integer translation and its benefits for Africa. What was your cardinal message?

My connection is elemental — Africa indispensable beryllium included. The satellite indispensable beryllium deliberate astir including Africa successful the integer revolution. Africa indispensable person a spot astatine the array wherever governance, practices, and protocols for artificial quality (AI) are being developed.

We indispensable beryllium intentional astir it and admit that, successful the 21st century, integer inclusion is economical inclusion. Digital translation should not lone pb to productivity and ratio — it should besides pb to the democratization of prosperity.

For america Africans, there’s a batch to bash to instrumentality vantage of this moment. We’ve had revolutions earlier — similar the mobile wealth gyration — and we did well. Now, there’s different accidental earlier america with the integer and AI revolution.

But for this to happen, entree to energy indispensable improve. Electricity is captious to powerfulness information and the AI revolution. Yet, implicit 50% of our radical bash not person entree to electricity. This is unacceptable.

I usage this accidental to telephone connected each African governments that are genuinely funny successful solving younker unemployment, driving transformation, and democratizing prosperity connected the continent — hole the energy challenge.

Our youths are not asking for sympathy. They are asking for systems that enactment — an enabling situation that allows them to enactment their talents to productive use. If this happens, Africa volition develop. If it doesn’t, we are doomed.

You spoke astir mobilizing fiscal superior wrong Africa. Could you elaborate connected that?

Yes. The African Finance Corporation (AFC) — which we helped to found — precocious published probe showing that Africa has implicit $4 trillion successful untapped economical resources.

We request to enactment unneurotic to unlock this potential. That’s wherefore the United Bank for Africa (UBA) released a achromatic insubstantial focused connected mobilizing home capital.

The lawsuit was held astatine the World Bank office during the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings 2025, bringing unneurotic authorities policymakers, planetary improvement institutions, starring commercialized banks, and academics — including a Harvard Business School prof who presented the paper.

The extremity is clear: to deliberation and enactment collectively connected however to mobilize Africa’s capital. Nations that person developed did truthful chiefly done interior superior mobilisation.

If we tin efficaciously mobilize this $4 trillion, we tin past pull adjacent much overseas investment. When investors spot that Africans are superior astir investing successful their ain continent, they volition beryllium encouraged to articulation us.

After this initiative, what are the adjacent steps?

Talking is little than 1% of the work. What matters is execution — getting things done.

As the Harvard Professor, the keynote speaker, noted, we’ve been saying “Africa is rising” for implicit 25 years, yet the aforesaid issues persist. Now is the clip to enactment — starting with improving entree to electricity. It remains the azygous astir captious origin holding backmost our continent’s development.

One cardinal revelation from the UBA White Paper is that 85% of Africa’s $4 trillion is held successful harmless sovereign instruments. Do you spot this arsenic a challenge?

Sovereign wealthiness funds are important, but the bigger contented is pension funds. Are we investing pension funds properly?

No 1 volition make Africa for us. We indispensable bash it ourselves. Look astatine the Dangote Refinery — it became a world due to the fact that section banks and African ins...