Anthony Onyemaechi Elumelu OFR, the Keynote Speaker of NBA 2023 Annual General Conference (AGC), is a Nigerian economist and philanthropist, with trademark red tie and red socks, was born on March 22, 1963, in Jos Plateau State to Dominic and Suzanna Elumelu from Onicha-Ukwu LGA of Delta State.
He holds a Bsc Economics degree from Bendel State University (now Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma) and Msc from University of Lagos. Elumelu worked in the Nigerian Bank Union Bank as a Youth Corp member during his in 1985, before starting his career as a salesman.
In 1997, Elumelu led a small group of investors to take over a struggling Crystal Bank (later renamed Standard Trust Bank). He turned it profitable within a few years and in 2005, being given 20 million Dollars by billionaire Femi Otedola, he led one of the largest mergers in the banking sector in Sub-Saharan Africa by acquiring United Bank for Africa (UBA)
On his early career, he has said: “I started my career as a salesman, a copier salesman to be specific, young, hungry, and hardworking, but the reality was that I was just one of the thousands of young Nigerian graduates, all eager to succeed.”
