Celebrating An African Institution: My Farewell From UBA

BY TONY O. ELUMELU

Why create an institution? To ensure that an institution can live long, grow ever stronger and deliver a vision.

I have never been able to look at Africa and see only borders. Where many see fifty-four separate markets, I saw one continent, one destiny — waiting to be transformed, waiting to be believed in.

Africa does not have a shortage of brilliant women and men. Africa suffers a shortage of institutions that outlast brilliant women and men.

Today is a day of huge excitement – of potential delivered and continued opportunity.

Leadership is not about holding onto a position, but knowing when an institution is ready for the next chapter.

I conclude my tenure as Chairman of the Group Board of United Bank for Africa (UBA), on August 21, 2026, after twelve years and decades of association with this extraordinary institution, with profound gratitude, immense pride, and most importantly – great optimism for the future.

My objective was to build an institution that would outlive individuals, one capable of connecting Africa to itself and the world, creating opportunities for businesses, empowering entrepreneurs, supporting governments, rewarding shareholders, and transforming lives. Together, we pursued the belief that Africa deserved a world-class financial institution that remained proudly African at its core. We set out to do something that had not been done. We took a Nigerian bank and we made it an African one, Africa’s global bank. This has been my vision for UBA – the United Bank for Africa.

Today, that vision is reality. UBA serves over 50 million customers, operates across 20 African countries and four continents, supports trade and investment, and demonstrates that an African institution can compete globally, while being deeply committed to our continent’s development.

This success belongs to generations of dedicated colleagues, exceptional management, visionary directors, loyal customers, supportive regulators, committed shareholders, and partners who believed in our shared purpose.

So, with great pride, I welcome Mr. Emmanuel N. Nnorom as the next Chairman of UBA. I have every confidence in his ability to lead the Bank. His experience, leadership, and deep understanding of our institution will provide the continuity and strategic direction needed to build on the strong foundation we have established. I ask our shareholders, customers, partners, and the entire UBA family to extend to him the same trust and support you have so generously given me over the years.

This is not an ending, but another chapter in a lifelong commitment to building enduring African institutions. Sixteen years ago, as I concluded my executive responsibilities at UBA, I vowed to advance entrepreneurship, investing in businesses, and contributing to Africa’s economic transformation through Heirs Holdings and the Tony Elumelu Foundation. That conviction has only grown stronger. Today, through investments across financial services, power, energy, hospitality, healthcare, technology, and other critical sectors, alongside the work of the Tony Elumelu Foundation in empowering entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries, I remain steadfast in my belief that Africa’s future will be shaped by Africans who create value, build businesses, and solve African challenges.

I have given my life to Africapitalism — the conviction that the African private sector, through long-term investment, can create not only economic prosperity but social wealth. Not charity. Not aid. But ownership. Dignity. Enterprise.

UBA has been Africapitalism made real. Every loan to a small business, every farmer banked for the first time, every young graduate given a desk and a future, every entrepreneur across fifty-four countries who dared to dream because someone finally believed in them — that is the satisfaction I will carry with me.

As I close this chapter at UBA, I do so not with nostalgia, but with excitement; for the future of UBA, for the future of African enterprise, and for the limitless opportunities that lie ahead for our continent.