For Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of UBA Group and Heirs Holdings, there is no better time to invest in Africa than now.
As global economy is devastatingly hit by the lingering infectious disease, Elumelu advised investors to take advantage of the situation to invest in Nigeria, and other countries in Africa.
In an interview with Time, Elumelu pitched investors to put their bets on Africa’s economy for good returns.
His words; “Africa is a land of opportunity. Challenges exist in Africa, but we also have a huge return on investment. There’s no better time to make that bet than the time we live in.
“Today there’s more market stability than ever before and there’s a willingness and realization by African leaders that capital will come to where it’s welcome. So they’re trying to make an enabling environment in their markets and in their countries to attract foreign investments.”
The billionaire also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has leavened economic opportunities in Africa, particularly in the continent’s banking sector. “In the banking business, there’s a whole transformation of banking heightened by COVID-19. Now you have less than 15% of our over 20 million bank customers across Africa transacting in the bank. Most of them are transacting online, which is about 85% of 20 million customers—that’s significant,” Elumelu explained.
Acknowledging that the odds, at the moment, may not in Africa’s favour, Elumelu insisted that hope is all that is needed to emerge from COVID-19’s economic dredge.
“The difference is having economic hope, the difference is always thinking positive and knowing that tomorrow will be better than today. Don’t let your economic aspirations die with COVID,” he added.
Elumelu is right….
If you are considering a long-term investments that will yield laudable returns, Unmask NG is of the opinion that looking at the current economic condition to put one’s money to work may be regrettable.
As a smart investor, your personal circumstances should dictate your timing of investments, not the current conditions of the economy. Interestingly, financial experts like Elumelu subscribed to this school of thought.
It is however pertinent to note that while investing through a pandemic may be counterintuitive, as far as investment is concerned, it is about time in the market, not timing the market.
Elumelu, a living testimony…
The highly-revered billionaire, in 1997, led a small group of investors to take over a financially-distressed commercial bank in Lagos.
Few years after the acquisition, the acquired bank was renamed Standard Trust Bank (STB). Subsequently, STB became one of the leading financial service firms in the country, after merging with UBA.
