Tony Elumelu Says His Mother’s Small Restaurant Was His First Business School

Tony Elumelu has credited his mother’s work running a small restaurant with giving him his earliest lessons in business, saying her example shaped how he thinks about entrepreneurship and women’s economic leadership. Speaking at the 25th annual Women in Management, Business and Public Service conference in Lagos, Elumelu recalled watching his mother make a living and support her family through hard work. He said he did not begin with business capital, but learned by observing her turn limited resources into a future for her children. According to Elumelu, those early observations taught him about risk, cash flow, dealing with customers, discipline and resilience. He described his mother’s ability to keep going after difficult days as a practical education in running a business. The Heirs Holdings chairman used that story to argue that women’s place in business is not merely a question of fairness. He said women’s economic leadership is essential to Africa’s competitiveness and urged leaders and business owners to widen women’s access to funding and opportunities to lead. Elumelu also cited the work of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, saying women account for 48 per cent of the 24,633 entrepreneurs it has supported over 15 years. He said the foundation has provided more than $120 million in seed capital across all 54 African countries, with supported entrepreneurs creating over 1.5 million jobs and generating more than $4.2 billion in revenue. He also pointed to unreliable electricity, limited value creation and a shortage of capital as major obstacles to African prosperity. Addressing the conference theme, “Rooted, Rising, Ready: Born in Africa, Built for the World,” Elumelu argued that reliable power is vital for industrial growth and technology, including artificial intelligence. The article presents his remarks as both a tribute to his mother’s influence and a call to give women a greater role in shaping the continent’s economy.