Tony is one of the most prominent winners of social entrepreneurship in Africa (Adeleye and Esposito

2018). He created Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) in 2010, a leading philanthropist empowering
Entrepreneurs in Africa. Bacq & Janssen 2011 defined social entrepreneurship as an undetermined set of
activities which are subjected to measurement and interpretive analysis. However in the context of
Thompson (2008), social entrepreneurship is a set of socially innovative initiatives ranging from the
dimension of profit to voluntary organizations. Defourny and Nyssens (2008) asserted that In the UK, the
focus has been to commercialize the non-profit oriented sector and on initiatives that can bring welfare
goods to the public. In the United States, the focus has been on entrepreneurship in a collective way
which is then analyzed at the organizational level. In the context of Tony Elumelu however, his legacy to
impact and bring change to different sector of Africa Economies, his philanthropic approach and support
for institutions working in and out of Africa which has been manifested in his TEF foundation for
creating employment and Empowerment of Africa Entrepreneurs with the aim of creating 1million jobs
for the continent of Africa. We can therefore conclude that Tony focused on the creating initiative that
will bring about better welfare of the masses.

This Philanthropic act of Tony Elumelu was emphasized on by Zahra, S.A. & George, G. (2002). when
defining social entrepreneurs that they play the role of agents of change as they take it as a mission not
only to create value but also to sustain it. The Recognition of new opportunities and mission, engaging in
the process of innovation, adaptation, and having a high sense of accountability are some of the
characteristics of a social entrepreneur (Zarah et al 2002). Tony Elumelu as proactive and a risk-taker
when he took the risk of acquiring a bank to be foreclosed on, an innovative person when he created his
economic concept of Africapitalism, Tony Elumelu Foundation for Africa and created initiatives such as
Elumelu professional program to access world class talents, social technology ventures. An opportunity
creator as he provided millions of opportunities for Africa citizens, a problem solver as he believed in
solving the problem of poverty in Nigeria is through the creating and empowerment of youths.

Beyond the role Elumelu has played in the process of creating a social change, the economic barrier
hitting Africa: poverty, recession, unemployment, lack of amenities and infrastructure, lack of health care,
Tony Elumelu took it as a social responsibility to create future for Africa when he founded the TEF in
2010.