Chairman of Heirs Holdings,
Mr. Tony Elumelu, yesterday appealed to the leading candidates in the
United States presidential election — Democratic Party’s Hilary Clinton
and Republican Party’s Donald Trump — to retain the prevailing US-Africa
policy, saying it was adequate and would only need to be expanded and
scaled up.
“On US-Africa policy, some
things don’t need to change,” he told his audience as the keynote
speaker at the US Senator Chris Coon’s Opportunity Africa Conference
2016 in Delaware, adding: “What they need is to be expanded and scaled
up. In other words, we need more US engagement in Africa through
mutually beneficial trade and investment.”
He said this would be his and
200 other US and African political and business leaders, including
President Obama and over 30 African presidents’ focus during next week’s
US-Africa Business Forum in New York.
“We would discuss how to
strengthen mutually beneficial economic ties between the African and
American peoples,” the chairman of Heirs Holdings said.
Elumelu, who spoke on the
theme, entrepreneurship, is one of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs, who
isdedicating time and money to create a new generation of African
business women and men, committing $100 million of his own money to the
laudable project.
According to him, “If we give
our people the economic tools to thrive and living standards increase,
the political challenges that Africa face can be tackled and fundamental
positive change can be assured.”
He, therefore, called on the
next US president to work in shared purpose with Africans on
implementing innovative solutions to the complex but surmountable
challenges in Africa.
He challenged the American electorate to impress it on their candidates and the eventual president to engage more with Africa.
“So when you meet, write,
call and email your political candidates and representatives and the
elected president in November, tell them that when it comes to Africa,
you want more. And by more, I mean more engagements, more positively
impactful policies and more development and commercial investment in
Africa,” Elumelu said.
Closing his address at the
eventful conference, Elumelu said: “I am an unashamed optimist and I
believe that working together, in shared purpose, which is what
Africapitalism is about, we can help usher in economic transformation
that will ensure Africa is a critical player in the 21st century global
economy.”
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