Elumelu, Kenyans Feature in African Voices

Economist, philanthropist and entrepreneur, Anthony Onyeamaechi Elumelu, and two Kenyan change makers will this week feature in the compilation edition of African Voices, a magazine programme of the Cable News Network (CNN).

The Kenyans include Elizabeth Njoroge, founder of the Art of Music Foundation who deploys the transformative power of classical music to provoke positive change in the lives of young Kenyans and Peter Tabichi, 37-year-old winner of the 2019 Global Teacher Prize.

Elumelu, 56, will share the details of how his sheer grit and raw confidence earned him his first job as a salesman at the defunct All States Trust Bank after earning his Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Lagos.

He eventually became the chairman, United Bank for Africa, Heirs Holdings and Transcorp and founded The Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2010 as a major philanthropy in Africa championing the cause of entrepreneurship and sponsoring outstanding entrepreneurs across the continent.

Holder of the national honours of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) and Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR), Elumelu was recognised as one of Africa’s 20 Most Powerful People by Forbes magazine in 2012.

Njoroge returned to her country home where she founded the Art of Music Foundation after bagging a Strathclyde University, UK degree in Pharmacy in 1994. She had earlier earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry in 1989 from the McMaster University in Canada upon the completion of her Pharmacy degree in 1997.

She uses the transformative power of classical music to stimulate noticeable change in the lives of young Kenyans, especially those in the rural parts of her country. She equally runs the National Youth Orchestra of Kenya (KNYO), which serves as a rallying point for musically gifted youth from all parts of the country.

Tabichi is a science teacher and Franciscan friar at the Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School which boasts of just one computer, intermittent access to the internet and a student-teacher ratio of 58:1. He donates 80 per cent of his salary to supporting pupils in his rural Pwani Village while the Talent Nurturing Club which he founded has dramatically aided school attendance. Similarly, his peace club unites youths who have been involved in acts of violence.