Following his advocacy for entrepreneur led development for Africa at the White House and Georgetown University, African business leader and philanthropist, Tony O. Elumelu is billed to speak on African energy issues at the Sustainable Energy For All (SE4ALL) Global Advisory board meeting in New York, on May 19. The event will be co-chaired by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim.
Mr. Elumelu, the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa and the Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, is on the Advisory Board of SE4ALL along with global leaders such as US Secretary of State John Kerry, and the Directors General of the UNDP and UNIDO. The initiative brings together leaders from all sectors of society to collaborate to help increase energy access and build a more prosperous and safer world.
“I have a strong interest in ensuring that Africa has reliable access to power for all citizens,” Tony Elumelu said. “I look forward to sharing my thoughts on sustainable energy with global leaders at the SE4ALL meeting.”
Following the energy meetings, Elumelu will be in Paris, France at the invitation of French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on May 20 to take part in a global business dialogue focused on influencing the agenda for the 2015 Conference of the Parties (COP 21), the leading annual negotiating summit on climate issues. Mr Elumelu, the only business leader invited from West Africa, has been invited along with an exclusive group of 40 Global Business leaders, including Jack Ma, the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla.
“It is important for Africa’s private sector to be represented at high level discussions on energy and climate change,” Tony Elumelu said. “There’s still a lot to be done to increase Africans’ access to energy while simultaneously mitigating the risks of climate change. It is a delicate balance but one we are working hard to address on the global stage.”
To round up the week, on May 22, Tony Elumelu will deliver the closing keynote address on the topic “Africapitaliam as a Catalyst for the Development of Africa” at Oxford University courtesy of the Oxford Africa Society. The opening keynote of this year’s Africa conference will be delivered by His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana.