One of Africa’s most successful investors and renowned
philanthropists, Tony Elumelu, has urged French businesses to invest in Nigeria in
spite of the country’s current economic challenges.
Elumelu, who is the chairman of publicly traded financial services
provider United Bank for Africa (UBA), wooed the French investors during
a speech as a keynote speaker at the 1st ‘Colloque Nigeria’, a
colloquium on doing business and investment in Nigeria, which was
organized by the French Senate in collaboration with the Business France
and Banque publique d’investissement (BPI). The event held at the
Palais de Luxembourg in Paris, France late last month and had more than
4,000 leading French entrepreneurs in attendance.
Tony Elumelu
In his address, Elumelu encouraged the French business leaders to
come and discover Nigeria and find the right partners to help them
navigate the business environment. He cited the example of UBA - which
has been operating profitably and successfully in Nigeria for 70 years
and its subsequent footprint into 18 countries in Africa over the last
decade.
“The Nigerian economy plays an important role in West Africa and
beyond. So when you invest in Nigeria, the benefits spill over to our
neighbors in dozens of countries,’ he said.
Elumelu posited that in spite of the challenges faced by African
economies and especially the sharp drop in commodity prices, Nigeria
still offers one of the highest returns on investment on the continent
and beyond.
According to Nigeria’s Central Bank, the country is on the precipice
of a recession. An upsurge of militant attacks has sent crude
production, which accounts for 70% of government revenue, plunging to an
almost 30-year low. Delays in approving a budget and a cabinet as well
as President Buhari’s reluctance to devalue Nigeria’s overvalued naira
has caused foreign investors to flee the country while Foreign direct
investment in Nigeria was the lowest last year since the 2007-08 global
financial crisis. But Elumelu told the attendees that Nigeria’s economic
woes are only “temporary”. (Forbes)
No comments:
Post a Comment