Elumelu embodies the conscience of business, that entrepreneurship can be an altar of empowerment, argues PAT ONUKWULI

When the Appeal of Conscience Foundation gathers at the Waldorf Astoria in New York towards the end of this September, two men from different callings will share the spotlight: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, and Tony Elumelu, Nigeria’s titan of business and philanthropy. One represents the pulpit, the other the boardroom. Yet their joint recognition with the Appeal of Conscience Award underscores a truth Africa urgently needs to embrace: whether in faith or finance, leadership without conscience is empty.

The Award, founded on Rabbi Arthur Schneier’s conviction that “a crime committed in the name of religion is the greatest crime against religion,” has historically honoured statesmen, clerics, and advocates of peace. By recognising Elumelu, the Foundation expands its message: conscience must also govern commerce. In a continent where economic discussions are often reduced to aid packages or extractive deals, this is a surge of fresh air. Business, it insists, should not be just about profit; it should also be about purpose.

Philosophers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau once described the social contract, a covenant that binds citizens and rulers. Elumelu’s philosophy of Africapitalism is its African resonance: a pact between entrepreneurs and society. The private sector must not be an island of privilege but a catalyst of dignity, opportunity, and progress.

Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation, he has committed $100 million to funding and mentoring more than 24,000 entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries. This is not charity in the old paternalistic sense. It is an investment in agency, a refusal to let young Africans remain mere statistics of unemployment or poverty.

Where Hobbes warned that life without order would be “nasty, brutish, and short,” Africapitalism suggests a structure where markets are tools of renewal, not despair. For Nigeria, where joblessness and insecurity feed cycles of violence, this is not theory; it is survival.

Elumelu’s personal journey makes the philosophy compelling. Born in Jos in 1963, raised in modest circumstances, he did not inherit privilege. He studied Economics at Ambrose Alli University, struggled for recognition during his NYSC, and even sold photocopiers. He often described himself at the time as “young, hungry, and hardworking.”

From those unlikely beginnings, he rose to build Standard Trust Bank. He later orchestrated the audacious takeover of United Bank for Africa (UBA), transforming it into a pan-African giant spanning 20 African countries and beyond.

His story mirrors Greek myth, but with a twist. Icarus flew too close to the sun, his wax wings melting in reckless ambition. Elumelu, by contrast, built wings of steel through grit, humility, and vision. He soared not by defying reality but by transforming it. His life is a reminder that in our realm, where talent too often dies in the waiting room of opportunity, grit can rewrite destiny.

Sadly, wealth is often flaunted in large convoys, mansions, and champagne rituals. However, true wealth is not the number of digits on a balance sheet. It is the number of lives touched. When a mansion becomes a school, when dividends turn into jobs, when profit becomes possibility, that is wealth with conscience.

Elumelu’s investments exemplify this. His BeGreen Africa initiative equips young innovators to tackle climate change with green jobs. His foundation provides seed capital for small businesses from Lagos to Lusaka. In a country where the average young person hustles like a roadside hawker dodging danfos, these interventions transform hustle into a structured enterprise.

Africapitalism is thus not a slogan. It is philosophy translated into action, a rebuke to leaders who see wealth as a private ornament rather than a public instrument. The symbolism of honouring Cardinal Dolan and Tony Elumelu together is profound. Dolan embodies the conscience of faith, urging people to love their neighbours and resist division. Elumelu embodies the conscience of business, showing that entrepreneurship can be an altar of empowerment.

In Greek myth, Pandora’s Box unleashed evil upon the world but left hope at the bottom. Africapitalism is that hope for Africa: amid unemployment, insecurity, and climate shocks, it insists that Africans can build progress for Africans. This pairing of pulpit and profit is a message to the world: integrity must undergird all forms of leadership. Whether you wear the collar or the suit, you must serve.

For Nigeria, Elumelu’s global recognition is both a pride and a rebuke. Why should it take a foundation in New York to celebrate one of our finest? Why must prophets be validated abroad before being honoured at home? In a nation where politics is often reduced to the sharing of spoils, Elumelu’s journey is a sharp contrast: merit, not mediocrity; conscience, not convenience.

Across Africa, his example dismantles dependency. For decades, the continent has been treated as a patient hooked to foreign aid drips. Africapitalism tears out the intravenous line. It says I beg to differ and declares that we can heal ourselves if we invest in ourselves. From Sokoto to Soweto, from Lagos to Lusaka, young Africans demand not handouts but an enabling environment to soar. If African governments provide stability and business leaders embrace conscience, then the continent can shift from tales of failure to songs of renewal.

Awards are symbolic, but symbols matter. The Appeal of Conscience Award is not just a plaque for Elumelu or Dolan. It is a mirror held up to our leaders. It asks: will you, like Sisyphus, keep rolling the boulder of failed policies up the hill only to watch it fall again? Or will you, like Elumelu, build a philosophy that outlives personal ambition?

As Aristotle wrote, “The good of man must be the end of politics.” To this we might add: “The good of society must be the end of business.” Tony Elumelu’s story, from Jos boy to global capitalist with conscience, is not just his. It belongs to every Nigerian graduate hawking dreams on the streets; every African youth yearning for dignity; every citizen who believes leadership should be service.

This award, then, is not just recognition. It is a call. A call for leaders in government, faith, and business to remember that conscience is not an ornament of leadership. It is its foundation. Therefore, if Elumelu’s Africapitalism teaches anything, it is this: Africa will not rise on handouts or hollow politics, but on leaders with the courage to put conscience before convenience.

Dr. Onukwuli, a legal scholar and public affairs analyst, writes from Bolton, UK. Email: patonukwuli2003@yahoo.co.uk

 

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