Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony O. Elumelu, has called on business leaders across Africa to accelerate female representation in corporate leadership, highlighting the eight women serving as chairs and chief executives across the Heirs Holdings Group as evidence of the transformative impact of creating opportunities for women to lead.

Delivering the keynote address at the 25th annual conference of the Women in Management, Business and Public Service in Lagos, Nigeria, Elumelu challenged corporate leaders to move beyond just conversations about gender inclusion and demonstrate their commitment through appointments, access to capital and opportunities for women to lead businesses and institutions.

“Women’s economic leadership is not a concession to fairness. It is a requirement for competitiveness,” he noted, arguing that no economy seeking sustainable growth can afford to underutilise half its talent.

Speaking on the conference theme, ‘Rooted, Rising, Ready: Born in Africa, Built for the World,’ Elumelu presented the leadership structure across Heirs Holdings Group as a practical demonstration of his conviction that opportunity should be determined by merit rather than gender, geography or circumstances of birth.

Eight women currently serve as chairs and chief executives across the Group’s businesses, spanning financial services, investment management, hospitality, real estate and entrepreneurship development.

Elumelu highlighted the contributions of his wife, Dr Awele Elumelu, a Founding Director of Heirs Holdings, whose leadership spans healthcare, insurance, hospitality and energy. Dr Elumelu chairs Avon HMO, Avon Medical, Heirs Insurance Brokers, Transcorp Hotels Plc and Heirs Energies, and co-founded the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Other leaders include: Chair, Heirs Technologies, Dr Fumbi Chima; Chair, Afriland Properties Plc., Agatha Obiekwugo; Vice Chair, Transnational Corporation Plc. , Mrs. Foluke K. Abdulrazaq; President/Group Chief Executive Officer, Transnational Corporation Plc, Owen Omogiafo; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Transcorp Hotels Plc, Uzo Oshogwe; Chief Executive Officer, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Somachi Chris-Asoluka; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Africa Prudential Plc., Catherine Nwosu, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, United Capital Asset Management, Dr. Odiri Ogini; Adetola Fasuyi and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UCEE Microfinance Bank, Esther Adeola Balogun.

For Elumelu, these appointments show how organisations can build stronger institutions by recognising talent, developing leaders internally and creating pathways for women to assume positions of executive and board-level responsibility. “I did not do it for a headline. I did it because they were the best people for the jobs,” Elumelu said.

In addition, Elumelu cited The Tony Elumelu Foundation, which has deployed more than $120m in seed capital to 24,633 entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries over 15 years.

Women account for 48 per cent of beneficiaries. Collectively, these entrepreneurs have created more than 1.5 million jobs and generated over $4.2bn in revenue – a validation of his proposition.