Renowned philanthropist and economist, Tony Elumelu, has pledged to provide empowerment opportunities for students of Start-Rite school, Abuja, in entrepreneurship and other skills that would increase their chances for global opportunities.
Elumelu said the choice of the school was because of the strategic position of the school in grooming future leaders and experts in different areas of human needs, as well as the desire of the founder, late Amaka Ndoma-Egba, to provide a platform for such opportunities, especially for children.
Speaking yesterday at the maiden memorial lecture of Amaka Ndoma-Egba, the wife of Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, who died in a road accident last year, Elumelu said his interest in such empowerment was because the world is looking at Africa for solution to global challenges in ICT, economy, security, and other areas.
He said: “At Tony Elumelu Foundation, which is my personal commitment to leadership and entrepreneurship development, we try to catch talents and potential at young age. Once that is done, we educate, empower and expose them to necessary opportunities so that collectively, we would make a great society.
“We believe that the best thing for people is to teach them how to feed and not to feed them. So, we would work together to see how Tony Elumelu Foundation and the UBA Foundation, which are committed to education and economic empowerment, can support the legacy of late Ndoma-Egba to turn these young ones into entrepreneurs, thereby, creating future billionaires out of them. This is because the future of Nigeria and the world belong to them, and we would support them.”
He described late Ndoma-Egba as a dogged and committed fellow who made her mark in the banking sector through her commitment and dedication to duty.
According to Elumelu, “Late Amaka Ndoma-Egba was a pioneer staff of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) right from Standard Trust Bank. Many people don’t understand that what we have today as UBA was made possible by our pioneer staff, and late Amaka Ndoma-Egba was one of them. She unarguably lives forever in our mind because we love her.
“Late Amaka Ndoma-Egba did not only work with me closely but demonstrated something that was uncommon during her time. She pushed hard for result. There was no impossibility in her dictionary.
“I interviewed her myself, and could still remember that she took night bus from Onitsha to Lagos to participate in the interview. That was early signs of commitment and seriousness. So, I was not surprised with what I saw. My only regret is that she’s not here to conduct me round the school and other facilities.
“I am particularly happy that Start-Rite school participated in the recent Microsoft examination, and one of students scored 100 per cent. That’s wonderful and impressive.”
He thanked the school management for helping to prepare the next generation of leaders that would be useful to the private and public sectors of the economy, saying: “Legacy is very important, and it’s also important that we leave a good one.”
The Principal of the school, Philip Reynolds, in his remarks, said the school has been able to pick up pieces of the itself and moved on.
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