Foreign investors should have long-term investment plans for Africa, because it boasts of huge returns on investment, Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu has said.
Speaking at the virtual World Global Summit (WGS), Elumelu said there was no place investors could get the kind of returns on investments like Africa.
He said returns on investment in Africa were huge, but that most people see only the risks in investing in the continent. “For me, it is a combination therapy. We need to democratise prosperity in Africa. When we make investment, we catalyse others to begin to think along that line. Poverty everywhere is a threat to our family and business,” he said.
On the $100 million support provided by the Tony Elumelu Foundation for African entrepreneurs, he said the fund would enable the beneficiaries take off with their ideas, before other investors could come in.
“We want to have more entrepreneurs out of Africa. We just need to identify the African entrepreneurs and help them to grow.
“We need our government to ensure that enabling environment to succeed is provided. We are happy that a tax regime that is favourable to small and medium businesses, which we advocated, is now in place in Nigeria,” he said.
Advising investors on Africa investment, Elumelu said: “What we support is medium-to long-term investment plan. Look for and identify credible local partners and invest in their ideas, or invest in the business with them. Stay with them on that journey, do not think about three years, five to 10 years is the right time. Then, capacitise them, so that when they achieve success, they stay successful. We have certain solid principles that guide our group. For us, the $100 million for Tony Elumelu Foundation beneficiaries is not the principal thing. It is the training that the entrepreneurs go through that is the biggest achievement for us.”
On the group’s investment, he said Heirs Holdings recently bought a 45 per cent stake in an onshore oilfield as part of a deal that included $1.1 billion in financing from a consortium of global and regional banks and investors.
Shell, Total and Eni each had sold stakes in the OML 17 field, which has production capacity of 27,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily and estimated reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, he said.
TNOG Oil and Gas Limited, which Heirs Holdings owns alongside Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, took the stake.
“The acquisition of such a high-quality asset, with significant potential for further growth, is a strong statement of our confidence in Nigeria,” Elumelu added.
