By Editor
Universally, some families in different countries have had the divine grace of being prominent through the achievements of siblings in such families. The achievements could be through sports, academics, entrepreneurship, politics and so on. Such achievers may be products of families where parents had laid good intellectual, economic, social or political foundation thereby making it easy for the siblings to latch on the foundation to greatness. Some families on the other hand may not have had visible economic, intellectual, social or political wherewithal as launch pad for the offspring of such families, yet through some divine arrangement and hard work by their parents, the children are in turn blessed and brought to prominence.
Such families exist in Nigeria where the siblings from an obscure or relatively known parental background, become prominent in their chosen careers. The Ibru family of Agbara-Otor near Ughelli in Delta State fits into this mould as it exemplifies the prominence of siblings who excelled in their various careers to the point of making the family a house-hold name in Nigeria and beyond. Wikipedia describes the Ibru family as a Nigerian business dynasty. The Ibrus are Urhobo people and the family patriarch was Chief Peter Epete Ibru. His wife, Janet Omotogor Ibru was the matriarch of the Ibru dynasty. The family rose to prominence with Michael Ibru who founded the Ibru Organisation in 1956.
The Ibru Organiation is one of the largest conglomerates in Africa. By 1990 it had between 9,000 and 11,000 employees and by 2009 the Ibru Organisation was a multi-billion dollar conglomerate with interests that included Shipping, Port Management, Hospitality, Real Estate, Agriculture, Aviation, Banking, Media, Oil and gas amongst others. Michael Ibru’s other siblings included Alex, Felix and Goodie. Alex was a businessman, founder and publisher of The Guardian Newspaper. He was Minister of Internal Affairs from 1993 to 1995 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha.
Felix Ibru was a businessman, architect and politician. He was the first democratically elected Governor of Delta State and later Senator for Delta Central Senatorial District. Until his death, he held the position of President General of the Urhobo Progressive Union. The fourth of the Ibru siblings, Goodie Ibru is a businessman, hotelier and one time President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
As one big humble family that subsequently gave birth to different nuclear families, the Ibru dynasty has remained a reference point within the Nigerian business circle with outstanding successes in various spheres.
Writing about the Elumelu brothers readily brings to mind the banking czar, Dr. Tony Elumelu and his brother Honorable Ndudi. The two brothers have been in the lime light in the past two decades and have continued to be relevant even as their achievements remain visible in the public space. Anthony Onyemaechi Elumelu fondly called Tony was born on 22nd March 1963 at Onicha Ukwu, in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State. He is an economist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, Transcorp and founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation. He ranks amongst the wealthiest Nigerians in the 21st Century, yet his richness did not come by happenstance as he has worked assiduously and moved from one stake of the ladder to the other over the years paying the price as it were. With a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Ambrose Alli University, Edo State and a Master of Science degree also in Economics from the University of Lagos, he had prepared himself adequately for the corporate world.
He started his career in Union Bank as a Youth Corp member of the National Youth Service Corps in 1985. Earlier in his banking career, Elumelu worked hard in contributing to the fortunes that helped to reverse the floundering status of a commercial bank in Lagos. He came into limelight in 1997 after he led a group of small investors to take over the bank which eventually culminated in the emergence of Standard Trust Bank (STB) that later became a top player in Nigeria’s banking industry. This achievement of STB facilitated its efficient merger in 2005 with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) following which Elumelu automatically became the Chief Executive Officer of the new UBA.
He subsequently brought the same Midas touch to the United Bank for Africa such that the bank grew in operational size and profitability leading to the establishment of subsidiaries in several African countries and beyond. Today, UBA proudly has subsidiaries in no less than twenty African countries and also in the United States of America and United Kingdom.
Like the Ibrus, Tony Elumelu has the penchant to seek gold in diverse business sectors hence following his retirement from UBA in 2010, as a strategic investor, he took a controlling interest in Transcorp; a publicly traded Nigerian conglomerate with diversification in agriculture, power generation, oil production and hospitality. He also founded Heirs Holdings, which invests in the financial services, energy, real estate and hospitality, agribusiness, and healthcare sectors. In the same year, he established the Tony Elumelu Foundation(TEF), an Africa-based and African-funded philanthropic organization catering for women and other less privileged ones. Of recent, the Foundation donated about 1,800 bags of rice to his Onicha-Ukwu community to cushion the effect of the biting economic hardship.
With a philosophy that centres on what is described as Africapitalism which is a belief that the private sector is a key enabler of economic and social wealth creation, Elumelu takes pride in advancing the frontiers of entrepreneurship in Africa. Africapitalism positions Africa’s private sector and most importantly entrepreneurs as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the continent.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation which was founded in 2010 has the mandate of empowering women and men across the African continent through entrepreneurship. The Foundation has a business management training that equips entrepreneurs with the technical and soft skills needed to run a successful business. Over the years, the Tony Elumelu Foundation with its philanthropic initiative committed to empowering African entrepreneurs has assisted thousands of African entrepreneurs from various countries of the continent. The financial assistance is usually given to African entrepreneurs with business ideas or existing businesses under five years.
His brother Godwin Ndudi Elumelu, born on 23rd February, 1965 is an astute politician who had represented Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives for now fewer than three terms. During his last term, he was the House Minority Leader and his records in the House show him as a people-friendly lawmaker who has so much passion for his Constituency. As a result of this,he received Hollywood and African Prestigious Awards in Los Angeles, United States as the Best Lawmaker on Constituency Development and Effective Representation and Empowerment programme. Prior to his venture into politics, Ndudi had distinguished himself in the insurance sector. He holds a degree in accounting from Ambrose Alli University and a Master’s in Business Administration from the same university.
One can modestly assert that activities of the Elumelu brothers in the public space with respect to the alignment of their interests with the society they represent in terms of empowerment through direct employment or service provision aligns with the philosophy of Ibru brothers which centred largely on people’s empowerment via their various business outlets. For a long time to come, the Elumelu brothers would remain a house phenomenon.
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