It is not every evening that a Nigerian banker, a Catholic Cardinal, and a Rabbi share the same applause in Manhattan. Yet on September 29, the Waldorf Astoria ballroom will play host to precisely that mix, when Tony Elumelu receives the 2025 Appeal of Conscience Award.
The prize is no trinket. Past recipients include titans of business and politics. It recognises leaders who hold conscience at the centre of power, insisting that faith, commerce, and civic duty can still serve humanity without succumbing to cynicism.
For Elumelu, the nod is not simply about a career in banking. It affirms a philosophy he has spent years refining: Africapitalism. The idea that Africa’s private sector, if trusted, if supported, can generate prosperity and dignity for millions, not just profits for a few.
His foundation has backed more than 24,000 entrepreneurs in all 54 African countries. Small ventures in technology, fashion, and green energy now carry his imprint. In a continent where aid has often overshadowed agency, that feels quietly revolutionary.
The award also arrives with a certain symmetry. Elumelu began as a young salesman, scrapping for opportunity in a crowded field. Now, at 62, he is honoured in New York for creating opportunity itself, turning the energy of ambition outward.
Sceptics will ask: can one man’s business creed really rewire the fate of nations? Perhaps not. But it can spark possibilities. And sometimes, possibility is the most contagious thing in a room. As Rabbi Arthur Schneier put it, Elumelu “stands as a beacon of ethical entrepreneurship.” A fitting description, but perhaps too neat. The truth is less polished: a restless Igbo son who believes money should mingle with morality, and who now has Manhattan clapping in
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