KEY POINTS
- UBA commissioned an innovation hub and business office at UNILAG.
- Chairman Tony Elumelu, a UNILAG alumnus, led the commissioning.
- The four-floor complex links academia, industry and banking services.
United Bank for Africa has opened a new innovation hub and business office at the University of Lagos, deepening its ties with the school and its push for youth empowerment. UBA Group Chairman Tony Elumelu, a UNILAG alumnus, commissioned the facility. Moreover, he called the project both symbolic and strategic.
What the innovation hub offers
The four-floor complex sits at the heart of UNILAG as a shared space for academia and industry. Specifically, UBA will run a dedicated business office inside it, offering banking, financial advice and enterprise support to students, staff and the wider community. Additionally, the bank said the upper floors would serve the university’s own developmental needs. Students, in turn, can gain mentorship, incubation space and a clearer path from classroom ideas to real businesses.
UBA framed the innovation hub as an investment in young talent. Therefore, Group Managing Director Oliver Alawuba, who represented Elumelu at the event, said the facility would connect knowledge with opportunity. “This facility will provide students and the university community access to ideas, networks, innovation support, and financial services,” he said.
Elumelu returns to his alma mater
Elumelu said the commissioning carried personal weight. Indeed, he told guests that returning to his alma mater made the moment especially meaningful. “Universities remain the birthplace of ideas, innovation, and future leadership,” he said, adding that the investment reflected UBA’s faith in young people.
He tied the project to the bank’s wider mission. According to Elumelu, empowering people and building institutions sits at the core of UBA’s growth across Africa. UBA operates in about 20 African countries and beyond, and it has long courted students as future customers. Consequently, he cast the hub as one piece of a continent-wide strategy rather than a one-off gesture. Elumelu also runs the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which has backed thousands of young African entrepreneurs.
A partnership the university welcomes
The University of Lagos embraced the move. Vice Chancellor Folasade Tolulope Ogunsola called Elumelu “a son of the university” and praised UBA for a relationship built on impact and institutional support. Meanwhile, senior bank executives and university leaders attended the ceremony.
UBA ranks among Africa’s largest banks by customers and footprint, and it has built its brand partly around backing young entrepreneurs. The hub adds to a growing trend of banks and corporations partnering with Nigerian universities to nurture startups and skills. While such tie-ups raise the profile of both sides, they also give lenders early access to young customers and ideas. Together, UBA and UNILAG framed the facility as a bridge between learning and the wider economy.
