The chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, says his professional career began with a job he was not qualified for because someone gave him an opportunity.
In a post on X on Saturday, Elumelu said he considered himself fortunate but argued that luck should not be the only route for African talent to access opportunities.
“I started my career in a job I wasn’t qualified for. Someone took a chance on me. Everything I have built since has been to repay it,” he said.
“I was lucky. But luck should not be the only way an African talent gets a chance.
“Our job is to democratise that luck!”
Elumelu said Africa currently accounts for less than one per cent of the world’s “AI compute and 3% of its AI talent”.
“The constraint is not talent. It is electricity. We leapfrogged landlines with mobile. We will not leapfrog electricity,” he said.
The businessman stressed the need for African countries to tackle their electricity challenges urgently to avoid being left behind in the digital revolution.
According to Elumelu, Africa’s artificial intelligence (AI) race is closely linked to its ability to generate sufficient electricity.
“My closing advice: To the youth in the room: start before you are qualified. I did,” he said.
“To the investors and partners in the audience: @TonyElumeluFDN seed capital has proved that young African entrepreneurs are investible.
“Now co-invest with us to take them to scale.”
On September 11, Elumelu said his experience working as a photocopier salesperson continued to influence his approach to business.