Dr. Awele V. Elumelu, OFR is a business leader dedicated to transforming healthcare and fostering entrepreneurship across Africa.

A founding Director of Heirs Holdings, the family-owned investment company, investing in strategic sectors of the African economy, including energy, power, banking, insurance and financial services, technology, real estate and hospitality and healthcare, and committed to improving lives and transforming Africa, Dr Elumelu also chairs several Heirs Holdings group boards, including:

• Avon Healthcare Limited (Avon HMO), Nigeria’s leading health insurance provider, and Avon Medical Practice, a growing network of full-service clinics and medical centres, driven by her commitment to improving access to quality healthcare in Nigeria.

• Heirs Insurance Brokers, the brokerage arm of Heirs Insurance Group. Through an extensive network of insurance partners, Heirs Insurance Brokers delivers tailored solutions that help clients mitigate risks, protect assets, and preserve wealth.

• Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s leading hospitality company, owner of the iconic Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja, where she drives its commitment to redefining hospitality across the continent. Transcorp Hotels is a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate with strategic investments in the power, hospitality, and energy sectors.

As Co-Founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation, committed to empowering entrepreneurs across Africa, Dr Elumelu advocates extensively for gender inclusion and youth entrepreneurship, across the continent. The Foundation has empowered over 27,000 young African men and women across the 54 African countries with non-refundable grants, mentorship, and business training.

In 2023, in recognition of Dr Elumelu’s healthcare leadership, entrepreneurship development, and philanthropy, she was conferred the ‘Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic’. In 2026, she was recognised as a TIME100 Philanthropy honouree, named among the world’s most influential philanthropists for her transformative impact across Africa through the Foundation.

In 2018, Dr. Elumelu was appointed as the Private Sector Champion for Immunisation in Africa by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. In this role, she harnesses her knowledge, corporate networks, and expertise from the healthcare and business sectors to champion vaccination and immunisation in Africa.

She also sits on a number of regional and global boards including the Yale Institute for Global Health, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (EJS) Presidential Centre for Women and Development, the African Union’s African High-Level Ministerial Committee on Global Health Architecture (AHLMC).

Dr. Elumelu holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree from the University of Benin, with advanced executive and professional certifications from the International Institute for Management Development, Switzerland, Harvard Business School, and the Indian School of Business. Her career as a medical doctor includes experience with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, in Nigeria, and Grantham and District Hospital, Grantham, in the UK.