Entrepreneur

Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian business billionaire, was born on April 10, 1957. He is the Chairman and CEO of the Dangote Group, an industrial conglomerate, and Africa’s richest man, with a net worth of US$12.4 billion as of September 2021.

Aliko Dangote was born into a rich Muslim family in Kano, Kano State, as the son of Mohammed Dangote and Mariya Sanusi Dantata, the daughter of Sanusi Dantata. He is the great-grandson of Alhassan Dantata, who was the wealthiest West African when he died in 1955.

Dangote attended the Sheikh Ali Kumasi Madrasa before attending Kano’s Capital High School. He has remarked about his early life:

“I can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets (candy) and I would start selling them just to make money. I was so interested in business, even at that time”.

He graduated from Birnin Kudu’s Government College in 1978. Al-Azhar University in Cairo awarded him a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Studies and Administration.

The Dangote Group began as a tiny trading concern in 1977, the same year Dangote moved his company to Lagos to expand. It is now a multi-trillion-naira corporation with activities in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, and Togo, among others. Dangote has expanded its operations to include food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight transportation. In Nigeria, the Dangote Group controls the sugar market and is a key supplier to soft drink firms, breweries, and confectioners. Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Cement, and Dangote Flour are all parts of the Dangote Group, which has grown from a trading concern to Nigeria’s largest industrial conglomerate.

Dangote approached the Nigerian Ports Authority in July 2012 and was granted permission to lease an abandoned plot of land at the Apapa Port. Later, he established facilities there for his flour industry. In the 1990s, he approached the Central Bank of Nigeria with the concept that allowing his transport company to operate the bank’s fleet of staff buses would save the bank money, a proposal that was also approved.

He also contributed funds to the Nigerian Sport Ministry’s renovation of Abuja’s National Stadium.

Today, the Dangote Group is the primary supplier (70 percent of the market) to Nigeria’s soft drink firms, breweries, and confectioners, thanks to its dominance in the sugar market and refinery industry. It is Africa’s and the world’s largest sugar refinery, producing 800,000 tonnes of sugar each year. The Dangote Group has salt and wheat mills, as well as being a significant importer of rice, fish, pasta, cement, and fertiliser. Cotton, cashew nuts, chocolate, sesame seeds, and ginger are among the products exported by the company. It also has significant real estate, banking, transportation, textiles, oil, and gas investments. The corporation employs over 11,000 people and is West Africa’s largest industrial conglomerate.

Dangote has entered the telecommunications industry and has begun laying 14,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables to supply the entire country of Nigeria. As a result, Dangote was named the number 1 job creator in the Nigerian construction industry in January 2009.

“Let me tell you this and I want to really emphasise it … nothing is going to help Nigeria like Nigerians bringing back their money. If you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put our heads together and work.”

Dangote lives in Lagos and has been married twice and divorced both times. Mariya, Halima, and Fatimah are his three daughters, while Abdulrahman Fasasi is his adopted son.

Dangote’s accomplishments in business and entrepreneurship have been recognised and praised, including:

• Former President Goodluck Jonathan bestowed on Dangote, Nigeria’s second-highest honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).
• In 2014, Dangote was selected Forbes Africa Person of the Year.
• For six years in a row, Forbes named him the “Most Powerful Man in Africa” in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
• In 2014, CNBC (Consumer News and Business Channel, USA) named him one of the “Top 25 Businessmen in the World” who shaped the century.
• In April 2014, Time magazine named him one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
• Bloomberg Markets named Dangote one of the “50 Most Influential Individuals in the World” in October 2015.
• In 2015, he was named “The Guardian Man of the Year.”
• He received the Africa-America Institute’s (AAI) “2016 African Business Leader Award”.
• In 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019, New African magazine named Dangote one of the top 100 most influential Africans.

Civil Servant

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Nigerian-American economist, human rights advocate, global development specialist, fair trade leader, environmental sustainability campaigner, and sustainable finance guru, was born on June 13, 1954. Okonjo-Iweala has been the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 20, 2021. She is the first woman and the first African to serve as Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

Professor Chukwuka Okonjo, her father, was the obi (king) of the Obahai Royal Family of Ogwashi-Ukwu when Okonjo-Iweala was born in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, Nigeria.

She attended Queen’s School in Enugu, St. Anne’s School in Molete, Ibadan, and the International School in Ibadan for her education. She came to the United States as a youngster to study at Harvard University, where she received an AB in Economics, and graduated magna cum laude in 1976. Her thesis, Credit policy, rural financial markets, and Nigeria’s agricultural development, earned her a PhD in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. Her doctoral studies were funded by an international fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

She worked for the World Bank in Washington, DC for 25 years as a development economist, rising to the post of managing director. She oversaw the World Bank’s $81 billion operating portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia as managing director. During the 2008–2009 food crises and later during the financial crisis, Okonjo-Iweala led various World Bank programmes to help low-income nations. She chaired the IDA (International Development Association) replenishment in 2010, the World Bank’s successful push to generate $49.3 billion in grants and low-interest lending for the world’s poorest countries. She was also a member of the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa, which met between April and October 2008.

Okonjo-Iweala served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister twice and as Foreign Minister once. She was the first woman in history to hold both of these roles. During President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first tenure as Finance Minister, she conducted discussions with the Paris Club that resulted in the cancellation of US$30 billion of Nigeria’s debt, including an outright cancellation of US$18 billion. She was the driving force behind measures to enhance Nigeria’s macroeconomic management in 2003, including the establishment of an oil-price-based fiscal rule. Revenues that exceeded a reference benchmark oil price were stored in a special account known as the “Excess Crude Account,” which served to mitigate macroeconomic instability.

She also initiated the practice of the Federal Government of Nigeria disclosing each state’s monthly budget allotment in the newspapers. That measure went a long way toward improving governance openness. She assisted the Federal Government in developing an electronic financial management platform, the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS), which included the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), with the help of the World Bank and the IMF, reducing corruption in the process. As of December 31, 2014, the IPPIS platform had removed 62,893 ghost workers from the system, saving the government $1.25 billion.

In 2006, Okonjo-Iweala also played a key role in assisting Nigeria in obtaining its first ever sovereign credit rating (BB minus) from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.

In 2006, she served two months as Minister of Foreign Affairs after her first tenure as Minister of Finance. In December 2007, she rejoined the World Bank as a Managing Director.

President Goodluck Jonathan re-appointed Okonjo-Iweala as Minister of Finance in Nigeria in 2011, with the increased portfolio of Coordinating Minister for the Economy. With the establishment of the Mortgage Refinance Corporation, she has strengthened the country’s public financial infrastructure and stimulated the housing sector (NMRC – Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company). She also empowered women and youth through the Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria Programme (GWIN), a gender-responsive budgeting system, and the highly acclaimed Youth Enterprise with Innovation Programme (YouWIN), a support programme for entrepreneurs that has resulted in the creation of thousands of jobs.

The World Bank has rated this initiative as one of the most effective of its kind worldwide. Under her tenure, the National Bureau of Statistics completed the first re-basing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 24 years, allowing Nigeria to become Africa’s largest economy. She drew a lot of fire over the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidies, which sparked protests in January 2012. After it became clear that the fuel subsidy was unsustainable and ineffective, the new administration ended it in May 2016.

In addition to her government work, Okonjo-Iweala served on the Nobel Laureate Professor Michael Spence’s Growth Commission (2006–2009) and the UN Secretary-High-Level General’s Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (2012–2013). She also served on the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation as co-chair. She ran for President of the World Bank in 2012, facing off against Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim; if she had won, she would have been the organization’s first female president.

She is married to Ikemba Iweala, a physician who practices family medicine in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. Uzodinma Iweala, a writer, is one of their four children.

During her candidacy for the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Okonjo-Iweala announced that she became a US citizen in 2019 after spending decades working and studying there. Given the ongoing trade tensions between China and the United States, observers believe the disclosure will have a role in influencing China’s attitude toward her.

Entrepreneur

Tony Elumelu

Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu, a Nigerian economist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, was born on March 22, 1963. He is the creator of The Tony Elumelu Foundation and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa, and Transcorp.

Elumelu was born in Jos, Plateau, Nigeria, to Suzanne and Dominic Elumelu of Onicha-Ukwu in Delta State’s Aniocha North Local Government Area. Ndudi Elumelu, a minority leader in the Nigerian Federal House of Representatives, is one of his four siblings.

He earned a BSc from Bendel State University (now Ambrose Alli University) and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Lagos.

He has commented about his early career:

“I started my career as a salesman, a copier salesman to be specific, young, hungry, and hardworking, but the reality was that I was just one of the thousands of young Nigerian graduates, all eager to succeed”.

Elumelu, a member of the National Youth Service Corps in 1985, did his service in Union Bank (a Nigerian Commercial Bank) and thereafter started his career as a salesman.

Elumelu organised a small group of investors to purchase a failing Crystal Bank in 1997 (later renamed Standard Trust Bank). In 2005, Elumelu joined Allstates Trust Bank, which was later bought by United Bank for Africa (UBA). Within a few years, he had made it viable and managed one of the greatest financial mergers in Sub-Saharan Africa by acquiring United Bank for Africa (UBA).

Elumelu took the corporation from a single-country banking organisation to a pan-African bank with subsidiaries in 20 African nations, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom after the merger of Standard Trust Bank and United Bank for Africa in 2005, before stepping down in 2010. He is now the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa’s Board of Directors.

He established Heirs Holdings, a family-owned investment holding firm, in 2010. In the same year, Elumelu founded the Tony Elumelu Nonprofit, an African-based foundation that promotes entrepreneurship. Diversified investments, Banking, Financial Services, Real Estate, Energy, Oil and Gas, Healthcare, Hospitality, and Insurance are among the industries in which Heirs Holdings invests.

Elumelu launched The Tony Elumelu Foundation after retiring from United Bank for Africa in 2010. The Tony Elumelu Foundation encourages Africans to start businesses. The Tony Elumelu Foundation’s belief in the importance of the private sector in Africa’s development is based on Elumelu’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism: “that the African private sector has the power to transform the continent through long-term investments, creating both economic prosperity and social wealth.”

In Africa, he is most recognised for his entrepreneurial support, which includes a $100 million personal donation to the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme.

Through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, a Pan-African Entrepreneurship Initiative designed to empower African entrepreneurs through a multi-year programme of training, funding, and mentoring, Elumelu committed $100 million in 2015 to create 10,000 entrepreneurs across Africa over the next ten years.

Elumelu’s efforts to business and entrepreneurship have been recognised and praised thus far; and, they include but not limited to the following:

• In 2003, the Nigerian Federal Government bestowed the Honorary Title of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) on Elumelu.
• For his efforts in supporting private enterprise, he was granted the National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2012.
• In 2016, he was named the ‘Daily Times’ Nigerian Man of the Year.
• The Global Entrepreneurship Award from the Business Council for International Understanding in 2017.
• He was named Philanthropist of the Year by the All-Africa Business Leaders’ Awards (AABLA) in 2018 and 2019.
• In 2019, Bayero University Kano (BUK) awarded an Honorary Doctor of Business degree.
• In 2019, he received the National Productivity Order of Merit Award.
• TIME magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2020.

Entrepreneur

Folorunsho Alakija

Folorunsho Alakija, a Nigerian businesswoman and philanthropist, was born on July 15, 1951. She works in the fashion, oil, real estate, and printing industries, among others. She is the Executive Vice-Chairman of Famfa Oil Limited and the Group Managing Director of The Rose of Sharon Group, which includes The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited, Digital Reality Prints Limited, and The Rose of Sharon House Of Fashion (Formerly Supreme Stitches).

Day Spring Property Development Company is also majorly owned by Folorunsho Alakija. She is the richest woman in Nigeria, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $1 billion as of 2020. According to Forbes, Folorunsho Alakija is Africa’s second most powerful woman after Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the world’s 87th most influential woman.

Folorunsho Alakija, whose father was Chief L. A. Ogbara, was born into an upper-middle-class family in Ikorodu, Lagos State. From 1955 to 1958, Alakija received her Preschool education at Our Lady of Apostles in Lagos. She moved to the United Kingdom when she was seven years old to pursue her basic education at Dinorben School for Girls in Hafodunos Hall in Llangernyw, Wales, from 1959 to 1963. She attended “Muslim High School” in Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria, after completing her elementary school and returned to Pitman’s Central College in London to pursue her secretarial training.

After completing a Secretarial course at Pitman’s Central College London, Folorunsho Alakija began her work as an Executive Secretary at Sijuade Enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1974. She worked as the Executive Secretary to the Managing Director at the former First National Bank of Chicago, which later became FinBank and was later bought by FCMB (First City Monument Bank). She later became the Office Assistant to the Treasury Department of the International Merchant Bank of Nigeria (previously First National Bank of Chicago), where she was the new Head of the Corporate Affairs Department. Folorunsho Alakija took on a new challenge, spurred by her passion for fashion, to study fashion design at The American College in London and the Central School of Fashion, shortly after her 12-year career in Finance. She created her first fashion company, Supreme Stitches, after returning to Nigeria, and it was eventually renamed The Rose Of Sharon House of Fashion in 1996. Rose of Sharon House of Fashion became a household name within a few years. She made an everlasting imprint as National President and lifelong trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN), promoting Nigerian culture through fashion and style.

She submitted an application for an OPL (Oil Prospecting Licence) in May 1993. Alakija’s company, Famfa Limited, was granted a licence to explore for oil on a 617,000-acre block known as OPL 216. The block is located in the Agbami Field of the Central Niger Delta, roughly 350 kilometres (220 miles) southeast of Lagos and 110 kilometres (70 miles) offshore of Nigeria. Folorunsho Alakija signed a joint venture agreement with Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Texaco) in September 1996, appointing the company as a Technical Consultant for the license’s development and transferring 40% of her 100% ownership to Star Deep.

When word got out that they had discovered oil, the Nigerian government grabbed up a 40% interest. They later took an additional ten percent. She fought the government in court for twelve years. The government claimed that allowing Folorunsho Alakija and his family to keep their bloc would result in them earning $10 million every day. Folorunsho persisted, and in the end, she triumphed.

Folorunsho Alakija is the 96th most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes. Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Folorunsho Alakija, both Nigerian women, were named among the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes in May 2015. On the list, Folorunsho Alakija was ranked 86th.

Folorunsho Alakija was ranked number 80 Power Women in 2016; number 1941 in 2019 World Billionaires record; number 20 on Africa’s Billionaires list in 2020.
Benson Idahosa University in Benin City awarded her an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration on July 17, 2021. This was in honour of her achievements in the business sphere.

Alakija founded the Rose of Sharon Foundation, which provides scholarships and business awards to widows and orphans. Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), a higher educational institution in Lagos, has received a skills acquisition centre from Alakija.
In November 1976, Folorunsho married a lawyer, Modupe Alakija of the Adeyemo Alakija family. With their four sons and grandchildren, they live in Lagos, Nigeria. DJ Xclusive is her nephew. Folarin Alakija, Folorunso’s son, married Iranian model Nazanin Jafarian Ghaissarifar in a wedding at Blenheim Palace at England in June 2017. According to accounts, the wedding was one of the most expensive in the world.

Entrepreneur

Abdul Samad Rabiu

Abdul Samad Isyaku Rabiu is a Nigerian billionaire businessman and philanthropist who was born on August 4, 1960, in Kano, Nigeria. In the 1970s and 1980s, his late father, Khalifah Isyaku Rabiu, was a leading industrialist in Nigeria. Abdul Samad is the founder and chairman of the BUA Group, a $2.5 billion Nigerian conglomerate focused on manufacturing, infrastructure, and agriculture.  He is the Chairman of the Nigerian Bank of Industry (BOI) as well.

Abdul Samad Rabiu was born and raised in Kano, Nigeria, in the northwestern portion of the country. At the age of 24, he returned to Nigeria to manage the family business after attending Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. This happened during the detention of his father, Isyaku Rabiu, by General Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for allegedly failing to pay rice import charges.

BUA International Limited was founded in 1988 by Abdul Samad Rabiu with the primary goal of selling commodities. Rice, edible oil, flour, iron, and steel were all imported by the enterprise.

Delta Steel Company, which is owned by the government, signed a contract with BUA in 1990 to supply raw materials in exchange for finished products. This gave the young company a much-needed boost. BUA extended its steel operations in Nigeria, producing billets, importing iron ore, and constructing several rolling mills.

BUA bought Nigerian Oil Mills Limited, the country’s largest edible oil processing firm, a few years later. BUA began milling flour in Lagos and Kano in 2005. BUA had broken an eight-year monopoly in the Nigerian sugar business by building the sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest sugar refinery by 2008. In 2009, the business purchased a majority interest in a publicly-traded Cement Company in Northern Nigeria and began construction on a $900 million cement plant in Edo State, which it completed in early 2015.

Among the investments he has made in the past are:

1. BUA Sugar Refinery Limited, a private limited liability business, was founded on April 13, 2005. The refinement of imported and locally sourced raw sugar is the company’s major operation. The Refinery was designed to be a fully automated facility with cutting-edge technology. It can produce 2,000 MT of sugar per day at full capacity. The technology used is one-of-a-kind and comes from Brazil, which is largely regarded as having the best sugar production and refinery technology in the world. During the molasses-to-sugar conversion process, the refinery is designed to generate its own electricity. However, a gas supply from a gas firm has been made available to power the turbines. The refinery is wholly owned by Nigerians and is entirely funded through equity.
2. BUA Oil Mill is located at 8 Akilo Road in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria. Golden Oil Company, which was purchased by BUA Oil Mills, had been in business for nearly two decades. With a total installed capacity of 700TPD, the firm operates two refineries and related fractionation plants. The earlier refinery, which was commissioned by BUA Oil Mills, was supplied by Belgium’s Desmet and has a capacity of 200TPD, whereas the new refinery, which was supplied by Alfa Laval has a capacity of 500TPD.
3. BUA Ports and Terminals: On March 28, 2006, BUA Ports and Terminals Limited, a BUA Group subsidiary, was established. The corporation operates the Nigeria Ports Authority’s (NPA) Port Harcourt Terminal ‘B.’ Under the Public Enterprise (Privatization and Commercialization) Act No. 28 of 1999, this came after a very competitive bidding process.
4. BUA Cement: With three major subsidiaries and plants in Northern and Southern Nigeria, as well as a 2 million metric tonnes per annum floating terminal serving niche markets, the BUA Group has a strong cement manufacturing capacity. Damnaz Cement Company Ltd, the majority shareholder in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, is another company in which the group has an interest. The Group’s factories are capable of producing various grades of cement to fulfill the needs of the local Nigerian market while maintaining the highest standards of cement production.
5. BUA Estates: BUA Group’s real estate portfolio includes various residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments in major Nigerian cities to meet the growing demand for real estate in Nigeria.

The BUA Foundation is used by Abdul Samad Rabiu for his charitable endeavors. Among these are the erection of a 7,000-square-meter paediatric unit at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, and the Bayero University Kano’s Centre for Islamic Studies.

Entrepreneur

Femi Otedola

Femi Otedola, a Nigerian businessman, philanthropist, and former chairman of Forte Oil PLC, a petroleum importer, was born on November 4, 1962. Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd was founded by Otedola, who also owns a variety of other enterprises in shipping, real estate, and banking. As part of Nigeria’s power sector liberalisation, he recently invested in power generation.

Otedola was born into the family of the late Sir Michael Otedola, Governor of Lagos State from 1992 to 1993, in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State in South-west Nigeria.

Tolani Otedola, Femi Otedola’s first daughter, is a singer. Otedola and his former partner, Olayinka Odukoya, gave birth to her. Femi married Nana Otedola later in life and had two more daughters, Florence Ifeoluwa and Elizabeth Temi, as well as a boy, Fewa. Florence Otedola, as DJ Cuppy, is a Nigerian tourist ambassador as well as a DJ and music producer. Temi, her younger sister, is an actress, aspiring designer, and style blogger. Lagos, Abuja, Dubai, London, and New York City are all homes to Otedola.

Otedola received funding to start Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, a petroleum products marketing and distribution company, in 2003 after spotting an opportunity in the fuel retail industry.

Otedola was named Chairman and Chief Executive of Africa Petroleum in 2007 after purchasing a controlling stake in the company. He bought a further 29.3 percent of the company for N40 billion in December of that year. After combining this personal investment with Zenon’s, Otedola now owns 55.3 percent of the company.

African Petroleum was renamed Forte Oil PLC in December 2010 after a rebranding. Otedola restructured its firm, putting a greater emphasis on technology and better corporate governance. In 2012, Forte Oil generated a profit.

Otedola has contributed to the Michael Otedola University Scholarship Scheme, which was founded in 1985 to provide higher education to poor students in Lagos State. Zenon contributed N200 million to the scheme’s fund in 2005. More than 1,000 children have benefited from the programme since its start.

In 2005, Otedola contributed N300 million to the completion of the National Ecumenical Centre in Abuja, Nigeria’s major centre of Christian worship. He was one of a group of donors that contributed N200 million to the State Security Trust Fund in 2007 in an effort to curb crime in Lagos State. He contributed N100 million to the Otedola College of Primary Education in Noforija, Epe, later that year. He gave N80 million to the University of Port Harcourt’s Faculty of Agriculture in 2008. In the 2019 AFCON match against Algeria, Femi Otedola fulfilled his pledge of 25,000 dollars to the Super Eagles.

Media Mogul

Mosunmola Abudu

Mosunmola Abudu, popularly known as Mo Abudu, is a Nigerian media mogul, philanthropist, and former human resources management consultant who was born on September 11, 1964.  Forbes named her “Africa’s Most Successful Woman,” and The Hollywood Reporter named her one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television.”

Mo Abudu was born in Hammersmith, West London, in the United Kingdom. Her father worked as an engineer and passed away in 1975. Her mother worked in the catering industry. Mo’s ancestors were from Ondo Town in Nigeria’s South-west. She is the middle child of three sisters. Mo relocated to Nigeria at the age of seven to live with her grandparents before returning to England at the age of eleven.

Ridgeway School, MidKent College, and West Kent College were among her educational institutions. She graduated from the University of Westminster in London with a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management. She holds a qualification in occupational and personality testing and is a member of the British Psychological Society.

Babcock University awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (Honouris Causa) in 2014. Abudu received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Westminster in 2018 for her services to the Nigerian broadcasting business.

Mo received an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Westminster in 2018.

Mo Abudu was chosen as an AVON Cosmetics brand spokesperson for the African market in 1983.

In 1987, Mo Abudu began her professional career as a recruitment consultant with the Atlas Recruitment Consultancy firm in the United Kingdom, from which she transferred to Starform Group in 1990. In 1993, she returned to Nigeria and was hired by Arthur Andersen to lead ExxonMobil’s Human Resources and Training division. Vic Lawrence & Associates Limited is her company. She went on to design, produce, and host Moments with Mo, and eventually founded Ebony Life Television, where she continues to produce entertainment material to this day.

Mo Abudu founded EbonyLife TV (ELTV) in 2006, a pan-African network that airs in more than 49 countries across Africa, as well as the United Kingdom and the Caribbean. On July 1, 2013, Multichoice’s DSTV Channel 165 broadcasted EbonyLife TV for the first time. EbonyLife TV, which is among the top 25% of most-watched channels on the DStv platform, has launched a premium, multi-screen video-on-demand (VOD) network aimed at Africans in the diaspora less than a year after launching. Following a carriage partnership with another pay-TV operator, StarTimes, it increased its Sub-Saharan African reach. Desperate Housewives Africa in cooperation with Disney, Sons Of The Caliphate, Castle & Castle, On the Real, and The Governor are among the TV drama series executive-produced and/or created by Abudu and aired on ELTV.

EbonyLife Films was founded by Abudu in 2014. Fifty (film) was her debut film as an executive producer. In 2016, she collaborated with The ELFIKE Collective to create The Wedding Party. The film went on to become the highest-grossing title in Nigerian cinema history (Nollywood). The Wedding Party 2, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, Chief Daddy, Your Excellency (film), and ltré, “the story of a young, naive Nigerian journalist who goes undercover to expose the shady underworld of human trafficking,” were among the films she executive-produced or co-private produced. ltré’s screening was co-hosted with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) at CAA’s Los Angeles headquarters in June 2019.

In March 2018, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) announced that it had reached an agreement with EbonyLife TV for a three-year arrangement that included the co-production of The Dahomey Warriors, a series about Amazons who fought French colonialists in a 19th-century West African kingdom. She was named chair of the 47th International Emmy Awards gala, which took place on November 25, 2019 in New York.

AMC Networks (USA) and EbonyLife established a partnership in January 2020 to develop Nigeria 2099, an afrofuturistic crime drama created by EbonyLife.

In February 2020, EbonyLife TV and Netflix announced a new relationship. EbonyLife’s drama series Castle & Castle, Fifty, Sons of the Caliphate, On the Real, and The Governor, as well as a reality show, The Dating Game, and a feature film, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, were bought by Netflix.

Netflix will renew its partnership with EbonyLife in June 2020. According to the agreement, she will collaborate with Netflix to develop two original shows and many Netflix-branded films. A film adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s drama Death and the King’s Horseman, as well as a series based on Lola Shoneyin’s best-selling debut novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, will be among the highlights.

Mo Abudu inaugurated Ebonylife Place, a lifestyle and entertainment resort on Victoria Island in Lagos, in December 2019.

Mo Abudu teamed with Netflix, a streaming service located in the United States, to launch two new TV series and several films on June 12, 2020. She inked Nigeria’s first-look deal on February 4, 2021, which builds on a collaboration with Sony in 2018 and adds to the company’s multi-title arrangement with Netflix. On February 17th, 2021, Ebony Life announced a partnership with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios to produce a slate of film and television projects, all of which will be set in Africa.

Netflix released the film ‘Oloture,’ a stunning art nouveau-style film based on a story by Mo Abudu, in September 2020. The film was primarily shot in Lagos and focused on human trafficking in Nigeria. “ltré explores a world that few people know anything about,” she said of the film. “That had to be dealt with in a particular way,” she added. “It’s not a documentary, but it addresses real issues that the majority of our society is blind to, bringing together the talents of some of the country’s most talented actors and filmmakers to create a film that is both intelligent and profound – and forges bold new genre and stylistic ground for Nollywood.”

Mo Abudu launched Ebony Life Place in the month of December 2019. It is the first leisure and entertainment resort in Nigeria. EbonyLife Place, EbonyLife Cinemas, The White Orchid Hotel, Popina, Traká rooftop restaurant & bar, The Wrap Pool Bar & Restaurant, The Victoria Hall, and The VVIP Lounges are just a few of the distinctive features. It is located on Lagos’ Victoria Island. Mo Abudu ebony life media partnered with Sony Pictures Television to launch ‘Alo,’ which translates to once upon a time, an African writer’s effort.

Mo Abudu has a son and a daughter and resides in Lagos. Previously, she was married to Tokunbo Abudu.

Moments with Mo, her TV chat program, is the first syndicated daily talk show on African regional television, and she is the Executive Producer and host of it.

Over 200 episodes had been recorded and aired by October 2009, covering issues as diverse as lifestyle, health, culture, politics, entertainment, tradition, music, and inter-racial marriages. The show “highlights the life and accomplishments of a usually well-known, but sometimes an undiscovered African individual who, by his or her own tenacity and determination, has accomplished something, overcome something, or been a catalyst for something that makes her or him a role model to others,” according to Abudu. Guests have included celebrities, Presidents, Nobel Laureates, and the 67th US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The show, which first aired on M-Net in 48 African countries, is now available on terrestrial and cable television in other areas of the world.

The success of the show, as well as its goal of changing the world’s perspective of Africa, has prompted parallels to Oprah Winfrey, with The Independent and Slate Afrique dubbing her “Africa’s Oprah” and “Nigerian Winfrey,” respectively.

The Debaters, a reality television show, is created and executive produced by Mo Abudu. It was founded on October 3, 2009, and is funded by Guaranty Trust Bank. The show promotes oratory in order to “give Africa a voice.”

Abudu was named the first African woman to own a pan-African television channel by Forbes Africa (2013). In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter named her one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Global Television, and she was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Women Werk in New York (2014).

Abudu has been nominated to serve on Nigeria’s Advisory Group on Technology and Creativity. Abudu was named to the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Board of Directors, which oversees the International Emmy Awards. She was later named Chair of the 47th International Emmy Awards Gala, which took place in New York on Monday, November 25, 2019. She was the first African-American to be cast in the role.

She was nominated to the 2018 Power List, which honors the UK’s top 100 most important people of African and Caribbean descent. In 2018, Abudu was also nominated to serve on the Nigerian Advisory Group on Technology and Creativity.

She received the MIPTV Médaillesd’Honneur 2019 in Cannes, France, in 2019, making her the first woman to get the prestigious honor. Later that year, Abudu was named to the 2020 Powerlist, a list of the top 100 most important individuals of African/African-Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom. Greatest Blacks Ever: Top 100 Blacks Who Changed the World for Peace, Progress, Prosperity, Pleasure, a 493-page book, features her; an Ambassador Elliston Rahming’s book, was published by Dog Ear Publishing.

Mo Abudu received the 2019 Médaillesd’Honneur at the Marche International des Programmes de Television in Cannes (MIPTV). She was one of four prize honourees, and was honoured in April 2019. The Creative Artists Agency (CAA) represented Mo Abudu at the above-named awards.

She was ranked one of the top 20 most powerful women in global entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter in October 2021.

Entrepreneur

Jim Ovia

Jim James Ovia, a Nigerian businessman from Agbor in Delta State, was born on November 4, 1951.

Jim Ovia has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana in Monroe, Louisiana, both from the United States. He is also a Harvard Business School graduate.

In 1990, he launched Zenith Bank. He was the founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Nigeria’s tier-1 bank and one of the country’s most lucrative financial organizations until 2010.

During his two decades as CEO, he helped the bank become one of Africa’s largest and most lucrative.

Ovia is the Chairman of both the Nigerian Software Development Initiative (NSDI) and the National Information Technology Advisory Council (NITAC), as well as the creator of Visafone Communications Limited. He is a member of the Digital Bridge Institute and the Honorary International Investor Council (DBI). Also, Cyberspace Network Limited is owned by him. At the University of Lagos’ 50th convocation ceremony, he received an Honorary Doctorate Degree.

Ovia announced the publishing of his book Africa, Rise and Shine with Forbes Books in September 2018.

He is a member of the Lagos State University Governing Council and the Redeemer’s University For Nations’ Board of Trustees in Lagos. He was a member of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission’s Governing Council (between 1999–2007) and the Board member of American International School (between 2001–2003), Lagos.

At various times, Ovia led a number of non-governmental organizations, including serving as the first President of the Nigeria Internet Group (2001-2003). He is the Chairman and Founder of Mankind United to Support Total Education (MUSTE), a nonprofit organization dedicated to granting scholarships to the less privileged. He is the founder of the Youth Empowerment and ICT Foundation, which aims to improve the socio-economic well-being of Nigerian youngsters by encouraging and pushing them to adopt ICT.

Entrepreneur

Cosmos Maduka

Cosmas Maduka, a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist, is the Founder, President, and Chairman of the Coscharis Group. He was born on December 24, 1958.

Maduka was featured in Forbes Africa TV Series “Worst Day with Peace Hyde” in 2015 and was estimated to be worth $500 million USD. He was also reported to have been swindled out of N21 billion in a business transaction by Ifeanyi Ubah of Capital Oil and Gas. Maduka was also interviewed by Zaner Asher for CNN Marketplace Africa.

Maduka was born in the city of Jos to Mr. Peter and Mrs. Rose Maduka, Christians from Nnewi, Anambra State. Maduka started his business when he was six years old, two years after his father died. To help support his mother, he dropped out of primary school and began selling Akara, a traditional Nigerian bean-based dish.

Maduka started his own business at the age of 17 after being wrongfully sacked by his uncle, who had previously hired him as an automobile apprentice, for the price of two hundred Naira. With a friend named Dave, he co-founded CosDave, a spare parts firm. The business failed sooner than intended, and Maduka went on to create Coscharis Motors in 1977 with a capital of 300 Naira, focusing on the sale of vehicle spare parts. According to him, the company’s name is a mix of his first name, Cosmos, and his wife, Charity, whom he married when he was 21 years old. Maduka’s big break came in 1982, when the Nigerian government awarded ten motor businesses import licenses, one of which was Coscharis. The Coscharis Group is now a $500 million conglomerate with subsidiaries in the manufacturing, information technology, petrochemical, auto care and auto components, automobile sales and services, and agriculture and allied business sectors. Coscharis Motors is a significant distributor of luxury vehicles from companies such as Range Rover, Ford, and Jaguar.

The company became the sole distributor of BMW in Nigeria in 2015 and was the first firm to develop a Ford Ranger assembly plant in Nigeria, winning the Auto Brand of the Year award at the Marketing World Awards in Ghana. Anambra State granted 5000 hectares of land for Coscharis Farms to farm rice in 2016, with the project expected to provide 3000 jobs once completed. Top 50 Brands Nigeria has named the Coscharis Group as one of Nigeria’s top 50 brands.

Maduka credited his commercial success to his friendship with the Japanese. Maduka claims that his early direct contact with the Japanese instilled in him the virtues of commitment, humility, precision, and hard work, all of which were crucial to his economic success. In his autobiography, he vowed to always mention it.

Cosmas Maduka is a member of the Board of Directors of a number of notable corporations and organizations. From 2000 to 2012, he worked as a Director at Access Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s biggest banks.

Cosmas Maduka is well-known for being a devout Christian. According to him, he devoted his life to Jesus at a young age, and that this, together with listening to William Branham’s inspirational sermons, had a huge positive impact on his life. He has four sons and a girl with his wife Charity Maduka. Lagos, Nigeria is where he currently resides.

Cosmos Maduka was featured in an exclusive interview with Forbes Africa TV Series “My Worst Day with Peace Hyde” in 2015, and was featured on the cover of Forbes Africa as the man who transformed a dollar into $500 million.

Maduka enjoys both playing and watching football, according to him. During an interview, he stated that he enjoys vehicles and motorbikes, and that his entire family is a motorcycle enthusiast.

Cosmas Maduka was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in business administration from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2003. Maduka was also President and Chairman of the Nigerian Table Tennis Federation for 16 years, during which time Nigeria won every event. He took the Nigerian team to the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, Athens in 2000, Sydney in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. After completing an Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School, he was inducted as a Harvard Business School Alumni in 2012. Cosmos Maduka was one of the few people awarded the National Honours of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.

Entrepreneur

Ibukun Awosika

Ibukunoluwa Abiodun Awosika is a Nigerian businesswoman, motivational speaker, and author. Born on December 24, 1962, her maiden name at birth was Bilkisu Abiodun Motunrayo Omobolanle Adekola.

Ibukun was born in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, and completed her primary and secondary school education at St. Paul’s African Church Primary School, Lagos, and Methodist Girls’ High School, Yaba, respectively, before enrolling at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), where she earned a B.Sc in Chemistry, taking elective courses in Accounting, despite her initial desire to study Architecture. She graduated from the Lagos Business School and the IESE Business School – University of Navarra, Spain, with postgraduate and MBA credentials.

Ibukun Awosika worked as an audit trainee at Akintola Williams & Co., which later became Deloitte, during her mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kano state, but returned home after the service and became the showroom manager at Alibert Nigeria Ltd., a furniture company. In 1989, she founded Quebees Limited, a furniture manufacturing company that later became The Chair Centre Limited, and then SOKOA Chair Centre Limited after a joint venture with SOKOA S.A. and Guaranty Trust Bank in 2004.

She previously served as the Chairman of Nigeria’s First Bank.

Ibukun Awosika, a member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, the board of the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund, and the former Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Women in Management, Business, and Public Service, is a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative and the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She co-founded the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre in 2011 to combat Nigeria’s high unemployment rate.

Following the resignation of Prince Ajibola Afonja on September 7, 2015, Ibukun became the first female Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria.

IESE’s International Advisory Board (IAB) includes her humble self. She is also a member of the Boards of Directors of Digital Jewel Limited and Cadbury Nigeria Plc.

Ibukun Awosika was one of five Nigerian entrepreneurs who appeared in the first African Dragon’s Den in 2008. She is also the host of the Business His Way television show. She also acted alongside Temi Otedola in Kunle Afolayan’s upcoming film “Citation.”

She has written a number of business books, including:

• The “Girl” Entrepreneurs.
• Business His Way.
• The ‘Girl’ Entrepreneurs: Our Stories So Far Kindle Edition.

Ibukun Awosika is the mother of three children from her marriage to Abiodun Awosika.

The following are just a few of the prizes and recognitions she has received:

Nominated for the “Entrepreneur of the Year” award from the THISDAY Newspaper in 2005.

Nominated for “Female Entrepreneur of the Year” by Success Digests Magazine in 2005.

Nominated for Best Female “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Financial Standard and the Pan-African Organisation for Women in 2006.

She was named “FATE Model Entrepreneur of the Year” by the FATE Foundation in 2006.

In 2007, she received the “Golden Heart Award” from the International Women Society.

She was named the “International Women Entrepreneurial Challenge Award” winner in 2008.

Nominated for “YNaija Person of the Year” award in 2015.

She received the “Forbes Woman Africa Chairperson Award” at the 2020 Forbes Woman Awards in Africa.

Entrepreneur

Fola Adeola

Tajudeen Afolabi Adeola, a Nigerian businessman, and investor, was born on January 10, 1954. He is the Chairman and Founder of the FATE Foundation, as well as the Founder and Chairman of Guaranty Trust Bank (now Guarantee Trust Holding Company PLC, GTCO). He is also a member of the Commission for Africa.

Adeola attended Methodist Boys High School in Lagos for his high school education. After training with Deloitte, Haskins &Sells, and D.O. Dafinone & Company, he earned a Diploma in Accounting from Yaba College of Technology in 1975 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1980. He has undergone professional development training from prestigious universities throughout the world, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and Switzerland’s International Institute for Management Development.

He took a one-year sabbatical in 1999 to do research on economic growth and employment creation initiatives at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Jos, Nigeria.

He co-founded Guaranty Trust Bank in 1990 alongside Tayo Aderinokun, who is now deceased, and served as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer from 1990 until July 2002. Since then, the bank has expanded into neighboring African countries (The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Liberia) as well as the United Kingdom. In 1996, the bank was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

After twelve years at Guaranty Trust Bank, Adeola willingly retired in 2002, turning over to his deputy, Tayo Aderinokun. He has been chairman of UTC, ARM, Lotus Capital, Eterna Oil, Cardinal Stone Partners Limited, Tafsan Breweries (Board member), and Credit Registry Services since then.

In 2010, his company, Main One Cable Company, completed the installation of a 14,000-kilometer open access underwater cable system that provides international and internet connectivity to countries along the Atlantic Coast from Portugal to Lagos.

Following the adoption of the Pension Bill (principally drafted by him) into law by the National Assembly of Nigeria, Adeola served as Chairman of the National Pension Commission. He was the chairman of the Lagos State Disaster Relief Committee, which was formed in the aftermath of the Lagos Armoury explosion on January 27, 2002. In the 2011 presidential elections, he was the Action Congress of Nigeria’s (ACN) Vice-Presidential candidate, running alongside former EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu.

Adeola was also a member of the National Honours and Awards Committee and was elected to the Lagos State University Governing Council in November 2004. He was a member of the Federal Government-established Solid Minerals Committee and the Chairman of the Ogun State Development Trust Fund Committee;  a member of the Lagos State University Council and the Olabisi Onabanjo University Council till January 17, 2011.

In the year 2000, Adeola founded the FATE Foundation. FATE is a non-governmental organization that supports young Nigerian entrepreneurs through a combination of training, mentoring, financing support, and consultancy. It has serviced over 30,000 young Nigerian entrepreneurs to date.

FATE established the Institute for Venture Design in Abeokuta in conjunction with Stanford University’s Centre for Design Research, which provides an entrepreneurship program centered on engineering, technology, and innovation and aims to stimulate industry development in Nigeria.

For four years, Adeola was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Committee on Philanthropy. In 2001, he was asked to participate in the Aspen Institute ISIB Annual Business Leaders Dialogue in Aspen, Colorado, alongside twenty-four other business leaders. Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, named him as a Commissioner on the Commission for Africa in May 2004.

He served on the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria’s Council and is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria.

Adeola is happily married to Hajara and they have six children together.

President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded him the title of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in December 2002. Nkumba University in Ntebbe, Uganda, awarded him an honorary Doctorate. In 2009, he was named Banker of the Decade by the Vanguard Newspaper Group. Yaba Tech has honoured him with the Distinguished Famous Alumni award on several occasions. In 2003, he received the Zik Leadership Award. He also took home the This Day Awards for Change Makers in Social Entrepreneurship in 2011.

Entrepreneur

Olajumoke Adenowo

Olajumoke Olufunmilola Adenowo, a Nigerian architect, was born on October 16, 1968. In 1994, she founded AD Consulting, an architectural and interior design firm.

Both of Adenowo’s parents were professors, one in History and the other in Criminology.  She studied at Obafemi Awolowo University at the age of 14 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture with Honours at the age of 19. She earned the prize for Best Student Design as an undergraduate. In 1991, she earned a Master of Science in Architecture with Honours from the same university.

She also holds Degrees from Lagos Business School Chief Executive Programme (2002), the IESE Business School at the University of Navarra in Barcelona, Spain (2005), Yale School of Management (2016) and Harvard Kennedy School (2019),

Adenowo’s travelling to Paris and the Palais de Versailles as a kid, as well as living on the Obafemi Awolowo University campus with her parents, sparked her interest in building architecture. These influenced her design perspective, with the main takeaway being that architecture must be responsive to its climatic, technical, infrastructural, and physical settings in order to work well.

Adenowo was hired as an Assistant Architect at Towry Coker Associates after graduating from the University. She later worked as an Architect with Femi Majekodunmi Associates in Lagos. At the age of 23, she worked in Abuja on a project for the Federal Ministry of Finance.

When she was 25 years old, Adenowo launched her own boutique architecture and interior design firm, AD Consulting. AD Consulting has been involved in the design and construction of over 70 projects since its establishment. Nigerian government buildings, private mansions, healthcare facilities, industrial campuses, and business and financial institutions all fall within this category. Coca-Cola and L’Oreal are among AD’s clientele.

She has been dubbed “Africa’s Starchitect” by CNN and “the face of architecture in Nigeria” by The Guardian (Nigeria). She was named one of the inspirational women in architecture by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2018.

Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, The Nigerian Stock Exchange, Access Bank Plc, and Guaranty Trust Bank are among the multinational and Nigerian clients in Adenowo’s portfolio.

Olajumoke Adenowo was named a Visiting Professor at Germany’s Technische Universitat Munchen (TUM) in 2019. She was named a Laureate and a Guest Scientist at the University’s Department of Architecture’s Chair of Theory, History of Architecture, and Art & Design. This programme was developed in partnership with the Ministry of Education in Bavaria.

Adenowo created and controlled Advantage Energy, an oil and gas services firm, in addition to AD Consulting. She is a member of the African Leadership Network and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Adenowo has taught on topics such as the arts, architecture, gender issues, women’s empowerment, and entrepreneurial activities in Africa as a public speaker. She has given talks at the Harvard Business School and the Global Women’s Forum (African Business Club). She hosts the nationally syndicated leadership radio show “Voice of Change,” which has been covered in outlets such as CNN and Fortune.

Olukorede Adenowo is her husband and they have two sons together.

Her previous employment experience includes the following:

• In 2018, she served on the jury for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards.
• In 2018, she was the Director of the Vocational Training and Professional Development Academy (VPDA).
• In 2018, she was the Director of Hamilton Prep School.
• In 2012, she was the Director of the British School of Lome.

In 2011, she was the Director of Fountain Holdings Limited.

Adenowo is involved in a number of charitable endeavours. She started the Awesome Treasures Foundation (ATF) in Lagos, Nigeria, a UN-recognised faith-based NGO. The foundation’s goal is to develop 1000 leaders by 2030, with a focus on women and young people.

Her foundation’s programme focuses on impoverished women and children for the most part. ATF runs Program Dawn, an educational camp for inner-city youth, to close the education gap. It also runs Awesome Princesses, which provides medical screenings and educational intervention to young girls from the slums of Lagos who are at risk of sexual assault and HIV/AIDS. Through vocational training, business seminars, and leadership training held across Nigeria, Awesome Treasures directly coaches women for transnational leadership and entrepreneurship. 70,000 people have attended ATF leadership conferences in the first 15 years.

She speaks regularly at international summits and conferences on architecture, the arts, leadership, and gender issues, including McKinsey & Company Leadership Forum, Global Women’s Forum, SOLVE at MIT, Harvard Business School (African Business Club), Cambridge University (African Society), Haust Der Kunst (Munich), Institute of Directors, New African Woman Forum, and many others.

At the age of 24, Adenowo’s first significant project was spearheaded by her Principal Chief Femi Majekodunmi of Femi Majekodunmi and Associates. The Federal Ministry of Finance Building in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital, was designed by her. Other projects include:

• Guiding Light Assembly
• Kinshasa (DRC) City Centre redevelopment
• GTBank High Networth Individual Centre
• Access Bank Youth Banking Brand environment redevelopment
• VGC – Private Residence
• AD Studio
• Rain Oil
• OAU Senate Building
• Calabar Church

The following are a few of her publications:

• “Beyond My Dreams” was released on September 1^st, 2019.
• Author House published “Lifespring: The Mother’s Prayer Manual” (Revised and Updated Edition) on July 5, 2012.
• Author House published “The Mysterious Seed: Powerful Secrets of Financial Increase” in January 2013.
• “Awesome Treasures Foundation for Marriage,” published in 2013.
• “Covenant Forces”, a Sovereign Flame Publishing.
• “Child of Destiny,” published by Sovereign Flame Publishing in 1996.

Her honours include, among others, the following:

For her efforts with women’s empowerment, she received the Rare Gems Award in collaboration with the United Nations Information Centre and the Women’s Optimum Development Foundation (WODEF);

The World of Difference 100 Award from the International Alliance for Women;

Best Public Service Architecture, International Property Awards, 2012;

Best Mixed-Use Architecture; African Property Awards;

Best Public Service Architecture and Best Office Architecture, both in 2013;

Best Commercial Designer 2012; Best Interior Architect 2013 both at the organised IDEA Awards.

The 2014 Ekiti State Merit Awards;

The Cambridge African Society Award and the IDEA Awards gave her the Best Institutional Architect 2014.

The International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, UK, included Adenowo in the ‘Who Will Be Who in the Twenty-First Century’ in 1991. She is a member of the Global Philanthropy Forum, The African Philanthropy Forum, and The African Leadership Network, as well as a Vital Voices Lead Fellow.

Her alma mater has also named her an Ambassador of Excellence for her excellent contributions in architecture and women’s development.

At the CNBC All Africa Business Leaders Awards in 2014, Adenowo won the New African Woman in Business Award and was nominated for the West African Business Woman of the Year Award. She was named one of Nigeria’s top 100 most influential people. She has also been named one of Nigeria’s 100 Most Inspiring Women, one of AFK Insider’s Africa’s Most Powerful 10 Women in Business, and Africa’s Most Inspiring Business Woman by the La Batisseurs Des Economies De L’Afrique.

She was a member of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards jury and is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects. The University of West England, Bristol, inducted her into the Black History Month Hall of Fame.

Entrepreneur

Leo Stan Ekeh

Leonard Stanley Nnamdi Ekeh, a Nigerian businessman, was born on February 22, 1956, in Imo State, Nigeria. Zinox Group is owned, founded, and chaired by him. He is also the founder and CEO of Konga.com.

Ekeh was born into a middle-class family in Ubomiri Mbaitoli, Imo State, to three brothers and two sisters. His father was a nurse, while his mother was a nutritionist.

Ekeh received his secondary education at Holy Ghost College in Owerri. He aspired to own Nigeria’s largest transportation company in his early years.

He went on to Punjab University in India for his university study, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. Studying in India, according to Ekeh, was “a great turning point in my life because I found the economy of India a realistic economy”. Ekeh also has a Master’s Degree in Risk Management from Nottingham University.

In 2001, Leo Stan Ekeh founded Zinox Technologies Limited, a computer manufacturing company. He ensured that Zinox Computers had the WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs Testing) certification, the first in Sub-Saharan Africa, at the time of introduction, which was consolidated 5 years later with the NIS ISO (Network Information System – International Organisation for Standardisation) 2000: 9001 QMS (Quality Management System) Certification. The firm announced the launch of its Zipad computer tablet series in October 2013. In February 2018, Ekeh’s business Zinox purchased Konga.com from its current owners, purchasing 99 percent of the company’s entire shares.

Traditional Ruler

Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar

Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, the 20^th Sultan of Sokoto, was born on August 24, 1956. As Sultan of Sokoto, he is the spiritual head of Nigeria’s Muslims, who make up nearly half of the country’s population.

Born in Sokoto, Sa’adu Abubakar is the youngest son of the 17^th Sultan, Sir Siddiq Abubakar III, who ruled the Sultanate for nearly fifty years.

He attended Barewa College in Zaria before enrolling in the 18^th Regular Course at the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1975.

Abubakar was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the elite Armoured Corps in 1977. In the late 1980s, he was the commander of a Presidential security unit of the Armoured Corps that guarded then-military dictator General Ibrahim Babangida. Abubakar also served as a military liaison officer for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the mid 1990s and commanded a battalion of African peacekeepers in Chad as part of the Organisation of African Unity’s force in the early 1980s.

In 1993, he was promoted as Commanding Officer of the 241 Recce Battalion in Kaduna. From 1995 to 1999, he was the ECOWAS military liaison officer, and from 1999 to 2000, he was the commanding officer of the 231 Tank Battalion (ECOMOG Operations) in Sierra Leone. He was the Defence Attaché to Pakistan from 2003 to 2006, and he retired as a Brigadier-General. He was also accredited for Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan.

Following the death of his brother, Muhammadu Maccido, on ADC Airlines Flight 53 on November 2, 2006, Abubakar claimed the throne.

As Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar is the head of the Qadiriyyasufi order, Nigeria’s most powerful Muslim post, and is senior to the Emir of Kano.

He is also the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Chairman of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI – Society for the Support of Islam).

Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar IV was one of the ten recipients of the inaugural edition of the Global Seal of Integrity (GSOI) in 2015. An annual list produced and authored by two young Nigerians, Emmanuel Josh Omeiza and Godspower Oshodin (under the Global Youth Coalition for Integrity) for encouraging human integrity and thus the well-being of the Universe.

He was named Co-Moderator of the Council of Religions for Peace (CRP) on August 22, 2019.

Entrepreneur

Mike Adenuga

Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr., a Nigerian billionaire businessman, was born on April 29, 1953, and is Africa’s third wealthiest person. He is the proud owner of Globacom, Nigeria’s second-largest telecommunications business, which also has operations in Ghana and Benin. He owns Equitorial Trust Bank and Conoil, an oil exploration company (formerly Consolidated Oil Company). According to Forbes, his net worth as of May 2021 was $6.2 billion.

His father, Oloye Michael Agbolade Adenuga Sr., was a schoolteacher, and his mother, Omoba Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga (née Onashile, of Okesopin, Ijebu Igbo), was a royal Ijebu entrepreneur.

Adenuga attended Ibadan Grammar School in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, for his secondary education, and Comprehensive High School in Aiyetoro for his Higher School Certificate (HSC). To help pay for his college tuition, he worked as a cab driver. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Business Administration from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University in New York.

At the age of 26, Adenuga sold lace and distributed soft drinks and made his first million. He got a drilling licence in 1990, and his Consolidated Oil discovered oil in the shallow seas of Southwestern Ondo State in 1991, making it the first indigenous oil business to do so in commercial quantities.

In 1999, he acquired a conditional GSM licence; after it was revoked, the government organised another auction in 2003, and he received a second one. Globacom, his telecommunications company, grew swiftly and began to compete with MTN. It began operations in Benin in 2008 and has since expanded to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, with more licences being sought in other West African nations.

In August 2007, at the first African Telecoms Awards (ATA), he was crowned African Entrepreneur of the Year.

Adenuga made a $600 million deal in May 2015 to buy Comium Côte d’Ivoire, an Ivorian mobile telecom company.

The government of Nigeria appointed him Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) in 2012.

As the Otunba Apesin of the Ijebu clan, he wields a Yoruba tribal chieftaincy.

President Emmanuel Macron of France bestowed upon him the title of Commander of the Legion of Honour in 2018.

In 2019, New African Magazine named Adenuga in their list of the Top 100 Most Influential Africans.

Entrepreneur

Oba Otudeko

Oba Otudeko, the founder and chairman of the Honeywell Group, was born on August 18, 1943, in Nigeria. He founded the Oba Otudeko Foundation and was the previous Chairman of FBN Holdings. He has a net worth of US$550 million as of June 2017.

Ayoola Oba Otudeko is a Yoruba Omoba (prince) who was born into a royal dynasty in Ibadan, Oyo State, in the southwest of Nigeria. His mother worked in the financial sector. He attended Olivet Baptist High School in Oyo and St. John’s School, Oke Agbo, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State. He went on to Leeds College of Commerce in Leeds, Yorkshire, to study accountancy (which is now part of the Leeds Beckett University). Oba Otudeko is a Chartered Banker, Chartered Accountant, and Chartered Corporate Secretary.

Oba Otudeko has also completed Executive Management programs at IMD, Harvard Business School, and Hult International Business School (then known as Arthur D. Little School of Management).

Oba Otudeko worked for the Cooperative Bank of Ibadan for 23 years, rising through the ranks to become General Manager and interim Chief Executive Officer. In 1983, he stepped down as a banker. He was appointed to the Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria by the Nigerian Federal government.

Honeywell Enterprises was started by Oba Otudeko in the 1970s. Honeywell Group is a diversified industrial, trade, and investment conglomerate that came out of the trading enterprise corporation.

He is the creator of the Oba Otudeko Foundation, and is married to Mrs. Adebisi Aderonke Otudeko.

In September 2006, Oba Otudeko was elected as the 16^th President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, with the goal of transforming the Nigerian capital market. He was Chairman of FBN Holdings Plc, as well as Chairman of Airtel Nigeria Limited and Fan Milk of Nigeria Plc at various times, in addition to the Honeywell Group. He served on the First Bank of Nigeria Plc board of directors for 12 years, resigning as Chairman in 2010. He also served on the boards of directors of private corporations in the real estate, international trade and finance, and brewing industries, such as Guinness Nigeria and Ecobank Transnational Inc.

Oba Otudeko was the Chairman of the Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce (NSACC), which intended to boost investment into Nigeria. Nigeria-South Africa bilateral commerce increased dramatically from $16.5 million in 1999 to $2.9 billion in 2010 during his stint as Chairman of the NSACC. He also served on the NEPAD Business Group – Nigeria’s Board of Directors.

He served as Chairman of the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan’s Business Support Group (BSG) (NIIMP). He was also named Chairman of the Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2013.

He was the Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, from 2001 and 2010.

Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye is one of Oba Otudeko’s many Honours. Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State, awarded him an Honourary doctorate in banking and finance. Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the This Day Awards in 2009; Honorary Doctor of Science Degree (D.Sc.) from Ajayi Crowther University in Oyo Town, Oyo State The Ernst & Young Lifetime Achievement Award, the Leadership Newspaper Business Person of the Year 2015, the Silverbird Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement Award, and most recently, the 2016 Africa CEO Forum’s Africa CEO of the Year Award.

Entrepreneur

Cletus Ibeto

Cletus Madubugwu Ibeto, a Nigerian businessman from the industrial city of Nnewi, was born on November 6, 1952. He is the founder and CEO of The Ibeto Group, Nnewi’s largest business conglomerate. Under Ibeto’s leadership, the Ibeto Group has been a forerunner in the region’s and country’s trading and manufacturing development.

Cletus Ibeto began his career as a spare parts importer after working as an apprentice in the motor parts industry, a common progression for many eastern dealers. After finishing his facility in Nnewi, he prohibited direct importation of lead-acid automobile batteries and plastic motor accessories in March 1988. The Ibeto Group has grown to become one of the country’s top car spare parts manufacturers by 1995.

He founded Ibeto Petrochemical Industries Ltd. on October 2, 1996, which specializes in the mixing of oil lubricants as well as the production of a variety of petroleum products for both domestic and international markets. With a capacity of over 60,000 metric tonnes, the Company owns the largest liquid storage facilities for petroleum products in Nigeria, located at Apapa Wharf and Ibru Jetty Complex in Lagos.

In May 2018, Ibeto Cement Firm Limited announced a reverse merger with Century Petroleum Corporation, a publicly-traded petroleum exploration and production company in the United States, in order to get access to global markets without having to go through the lengthy listing process. Cletus Ibeto was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors after Ibeto bought a 70% controlling stake in the company. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

In 2008, the Federal Republic of Nigeria awarded Ibeto the National honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) for his excellent achievements in the country through his manufacturing business. For his continuous great service to the country, he was bestowed the Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2012.

Traditional Ruler

Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona

Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, the Awujale of the Ijebu Kingdom, a traditional state in Nigeria, was born on May 10, 1934. He assumed the throne on April 2, 1960, making him one of Nigeria’s longest-reigning monarchs. He is a member of the Anikinaiya House.

Oba Sikiru Olukayode Adetona, Ogbagba Agbotewole II, was born in Imupa, Ijebu Ode, into the Royal House of Anikinaiya of Ijebuland.

His father, Prince Rufai Adetona Adeleke (born in 1902), was the Awujale of Ijebuland from 1895 to 1906, and was the son of Oba Adeleke, Ogbagba Agbotewole I (1825-1906). Ajibabi Onashile, from the town of Ijebu Igbo, was his mother. His great-grandfather, Oba Anikilaya, Figbajoye Agboogunsa I (1775-1854), who reigned from 1821 to 1854 and was a son of Oba Gbelegbuwa, founded the Royal House of Anikinaiya (or Anikilaya). His paternal family claimed genealogy from Olu-Iwa, the semi-legendary first Awujale, who is said to have migrated to Ijebuland from what is now Sudan, and Obanta, another founder of the Ijebu kingdom, as a member of the Royal House of Anikinaiya.

Between 1943 and 1950, Prince Adetona attended Ereko Baptist School in Ijebu-Ode, Ogbere United Primary School in Oke Agbo, Ijebu-Igbo, and Ansar-Ud-Deen School in Ijebu-Ode. From 1951 to 1956, he attended Olu-Iwa (now Adeola Odutola) College in Ijebu-Ode for his secondary education. He worked for the then-Audit Department of the Western Region in Ibadan between 1957 and 1958.

In 1958, the Prince abandoned his position to pursue more accounting studies in the United Kingdom, which was Nigeria’s colonial ruler at the time.

The Permanent Secretary in the Western Region Ministry of Local Government conveyed to the Local Government Adviser in Ijebu Ode, by letter dated January 4, 1960, referenced CB. 4 1/333, the approval of the Western Region Governor in Council, the appointment of Prince SikiruKayodeAdetona as king, and his confirmation as the new Awujale of Ijebuland with effect from that date (January 4, 1960). Ijebu notables such as the late Ogbeni-Oja, Chief (Dr.) Timothy AdeolaOdutola, Bobasuwa I, Chief Emmanuel OkusanyaOkunowo (MBE, KFNM); and Asiwaju, Chief Samuel Olatubosun Shonibare were tasked with organising the King-return elect’s home. Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola, the Ogbeni-Oja, the Head of the Ijebu Ode Regency Council, publicly presented the new traditional Monarch to the entire world on January 18, 1960. This first-of-its-kind presentation signalled the start of the king-installation elect’s rites. In the histories of the Ijebu people, it was definitely a fresh dawn. Following that, the king-elect spent three months in traditional seclusion at the Odo.

The kingmakers unanimously chose Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, who had been nominated by the ODIS along with five others, in accordance with Section 11 of the Chiefs Law of 1957, which applies in the Western Region. The Instrument of Office approving Prince Sikiru Kayode Adetona as Awujale of Ijebuland was signed by the Governor at the time. On Saturday, April 2, 1960, the formal coronation took place.

After a formal presentation, newly crowned Oba Adetona assumed his place as a member of the Western Region House of Chiefs on Tuesday, April 5, 1960. Some Obas and Chiefs nominated Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona for the President of the House of Chiefs because he was a charismatic Prince. Despite this, the late Sir Adesoji Aderemi, Ooni of Ife, an older and traditionally more senior Oba, was elected President. The idea was that the twenty-six-year-old Awujale was a fit and proper ruler for the elevated position even at such a young age as a Monarch. This was, without a doubt, an admission of the Awujale of Ijebuland’s distinctiveness.

Traditional Ruler

Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi

Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja II), the 51^st and current Ooni of Ife, was born on October 17, 1974. He is the Yoruba kingdom of Ile-traditional Ife’s ruler/monarch. He ascended to the throne in 2015, following Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the 50^th Ooni of Ife dead.

Oba Ojaja II was born Prince Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi into the Royal House of Giesi, one of the four royal families of the House of Oranmiyan, as the son of Prince John Oluropo Ogunwusi and Princess Margaret Wuraola Sidikatu Abegbe Ogunwusi. Prince Joseph Olagbaju Adewole Ogunwusi was his paternal grandpa, and his grandfather was Oba Orayegba (also known as OoniOrarigba or Orasigba) Ojaja I, the 44^thOoni of Ife who ruled from 1878 to 1880. He is a direct descendant of Ooni Agbedegbede, who was a descendant of Ooni Giesi (the Giesi royal House’s progenitor), and so a descendant of Ooni Lajodogun. Through him. Lajodogun was the son of Ooni Lajamisan (or Lajemisin), who was the legendary Oyo Empire founder Oranmiyan’s grandson. Oba Ojaja II is a descendent of Oduduwa, the founder of the Yoruba people, as Oranmiyan was a son or grandson of the first Ooni of Ife, Oduduwa.

He attended Subuola Memorial Nursery and Primary School in Ibadan and Ibadan District Council in Akobo, Ibadan for his primary education. He subsequently went to Ibadan’s Loyola College and then Ile-St. Ife’s Peters Secondary School, where he obtained his secondary school diploma (SSCE). He earned his accounting degree from Ibadan Polytechnic.

He belongs to the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Accountants. He had worked as an Associate Accounting Technician. Oba Ogunwusi is a recognised Institute of Directors member. He is also a Global Real Estate Institute member. He has many honorary doctorates, including one in Public Administration from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and another in Law from Igbinedion University. The Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

On October 26, 2015, Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi was chosen from the Giesi Ruling House of Ile-Ife, among indigenes who were also heirs to the throne. On December 7, 2015, he received his office personnel. He has been dubbed a “astute entrepreneur driven by the need to transform impossibilities into possibilities.” Oba Ogunwusi, the Yoruba people’s spiritual leader, is now tasked with making supplications to God and the Orisa on behalf of his tribe and the world at large at annual festivities like Olojo.

Ooni Ogunwusi met with the Alaafin of Oyo shortly after his coronation, ushering in a new period in the Yoruba States’ history. He effectively ended the decades-long hex of institutionalised rivalry between the thrones in Ile-Ife and Oyo. The Oba is a strong supporter of women’s and young people’s empowerment and liberation. He has rebuilt Ile-Ife into a tourist destination, transforming the historic city via beautification, remodelling, and re-construction. Oba Ogunwusi is also a well-known humanitarian and champion for those who are less fortunate. Over the years, he has provided support through the House of Oduduwa Foundation and, more recently, the Hopes Alive Initiative.

Oba Ogunwusi was born in the city of Ile-Ife to the family of Oluropo and Wuraola Ogunwusi of the Giesi Royal House, Agbedegbede Compound. His birth was claimed to have been foreseen years before he was conceived, thus his mother gave him the name Enitan, and his grandfather named him Adeyeye, which means “the crown befits the kingdom.” In a family of seven, he is the fifth child.

Ogunwusi has previously been in a relationship. He and Omolara Olatubosun welcomed their first child, Adeola Aanuolouwapo Ogunwusi, in Ibadan in May 1994. They share parental responsibilities.

He married Adebukola Bombata in 2008, but they divorced in 2016 so he could marry Zaynab Otiti Obanor (his second wife from 2016 to 2017). He is married to Prophetess Morenike Naomi Oluwaseyi, whose marriage was in October this year, 2021.

Civil Servant/Entrepreneur

Theophilus Danjuma

Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, a politician and retired Nigerian Army Lieutenant General, was born on December 9, 1938, and played a crucial role in Nigeria’s post-independence military and political events. Danjuma amassed a huge fortune in the shipping and petroleum industries.

Theophilus Danjuma began his schooling at St Bartholomew’s Primary School in Wusasa, then transferred to the Benue Provincial Secondary School in Katsina-Ala, where he was the captain of the school’s first XI cricket team, and got his Higher School Certificate in 1958. On a Northern Nigeria Scholarship, Danjuma entered the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria (Ahmadu Bello University) in 1959 to study History. Danjuma, on the other hand, had left the institution by the end of 1960 to join the Nigerian Army.

In the Congo, Danjuma was commissioned as a second lieutenant and platoon leader in the Nigerian Army. He joined a UN peacekeeping team in Sante, Congo’s Katanga Province, in 1963, and was promoted to captain three years later. Captain Danjuma was a member of the 4^th Battalion during the counter-coup in Mokola, Ibadan, in 1966. At the start of the civil war campaign towards Enugu in 1967, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Enugu was captured later that year. He was named Commander of the Nigerian Army’s 1st Infantry Brigade in December 1967, a position he held until July 1968. Danjuma led a battalion that liberated Jaja Wachuku, the first Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, as well as the first Ambassador to the United Nations, and the first Foreign Affairs Minister, from the Ojukwu regime near the end of the Nigerian Civil War.

As Nigeria’s envoy to the International Court Martial in Trinidad and Tobago in 1970, Danjuma was named president of the tribunal in a case involving participants of a failed coup attempt in Trinidad and Tobago. Following his promotion to Colonel in 1971, he spent the following two years as the court-martialing officer for Army officers found to be corrupt and indisciplined. He was promoted to Brigadier and General Officer Commanding (GOC) in 1975, and the following year he was appointed Chief of Army Staff to President Olusegun Obasanjo. He was a key figure in the president’s resistance to the Dimka coup attempt in 1976. In 1979, he retired from the Nigerian army.

Nigeria American Line (NAL) was founded in 1979 by General TY Danjuma (Retd) and initially chartered a ship called ‘Hannatu’ that operated between Lagos and Santos, Brazil, when Nigeria’s bilateral trade agreement opened up maritime channels to economies in South American markets. NAL went on to secure government procurement contracts from Nigeria’s National Supply Company (NNSC). DICON Salt (Nigeria), project cargoes for Iwopin Paper Mill, ANNAMCO, and Volkswagen Nigeria were among NAL’s expanding client list. The American West African Freight Conference (MEWAC), the Brazil-Nigeria Freight Conference, and the Mediterranean Line all accepted NAL as a member. The National Maritime Authority (NMA), which was established in 1987/88, raised the profile of NAL by encouraging indigenous operators to demand their share of internationally traded cargo involving Nigeria. In 1979, NAL started with a core indigenous staff of roughly 12 people. In 2009, the number of employees at NAL-COMET was closer to 250, with about 12 expatriates. The NAL-COMET Group has opened branch offices in Port Harcourt, which service the seaports of Onne, Warri, and Calabar, from its Lagos headquarters.

Danjuma founded COMET Shipping Agencies Nigeria Limited in 1984, principally to act as an agent for Nigeria American Line (NAL). COMET has developed over the years, and by the late 1990s, it was one of Nigeria’s largest independent agents, with experience handling a wide range of vessels and cargo. At the ports of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Warri in 2009, Comet handled over 200 boats. NAL-COMET purchased a roll-in-roll-out port (RORO) in Lagos in 2005, making it Africa’s largest independent port operator.

General T. Y. Danjuma founded South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) in 1995 as a Nigerian oil exploration and production firm. In February 1998, the Nigerian Ministry of Petroleum Resources granted SAPETRO the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 246. The area of the block is 2,590 square kilometers (1,000 sq. mi). Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd (TUPNI) and Brasoil Oil Services Company Nigeria Ltd (Petrobras) teamed with SAPETRO to begin prospecting on OPL246. The first exploration well (Akpo 1) on the block was drilled in April 2000, and the Akpo condensate field was discovered. The Egina Main, Egina South, Preowei, and Kuro (Kuro was halted as a dry gas/minor oil discovery) are among the other discoveries found on OPL 246. In 2004, SAPETRO’s company in Benin obtained an oil exploration contract encompassing 550 square kilometers offshore from the Republic of Benin in a competitive tender process. The Federal government-backed in through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation when SAPETRO was granted Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130 in February 2005. SAPETRO sold a portion of its contractor rights and responsibilities to China National Offshore Oil (CNOOC) in June 2006. On March 4, 2009, SAPETRO produced its “first oil” (condensate). Nasarawa State University received a new state-of-the-art medical centre from SAPETRO in December 2009. The medical centre, which will be named as the South Atlantic Petroleum Medical Centre, will service the University, as well as the local and surrounding populations.

NatCom Development & Investment Limited is a company based in the United Kingdom. The NatCom Development & Investment Limited, trading as Ntel, has chosen Nigerian business billionaire Gen. TY Danjuma as Board Chairman. Following General Danjuma’s inaugural board meeting on July 3, 2016, the news was made. On April 8, 2016, Ntel began commercial operations of its 4G/LTE-Advanced network in Lagos and Abuja. Ntel is Nigeria’s most advanced mobile 4G/LTE network, enabling high-definition phone, data, and video services. The 900/1800 MHz frequency bands, which are the optimal propagation frequencies for the implementation of 4G/LTE technology, are used in Ntel’s network. National Bandwidth; International Voice Termination; International Bandwidth; Mobile and Fixed Communications services are among Ntel’s offerings.

On Monday, January 18, 2016, the business made its first on-net test data call in Lagos, followed by its first on-net Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) connection on Thursday, February 25, 2016. On Friday, April 8, 2016, commercial operations began.

Danjuma has been active in Nigerian politics since 1999, with some of his significant appointments including:

• 1999 Appointed to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Cabinet as Minister of Defence
• 2003 Appointed as Chairperson of the Warri Conflict Investigative Committee

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan nominated him as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council in 2010.

During his time in office, Gen. TY Danjuma worked to reduce the military’s politicization and was a staunch advocate of democracy and the rule of law. He was also in charge of renaming all Nigerian barracks and cantons after civilians or living people. He was also well-known for opposing President Olusegun Obasanjo’s attempt in 2006 to construct a system that would allow him and state governors to serve more than two terms in a row.

Danjuma is the Chairman of the Victims’ Support Fund Committee, which helps terror victims such as the Chibok schoolgirls. Danjuma “told President Jonathan that Boko Haram militants appear to be having the upper hand, as they select where to strike and conquer territory… Danjuma said the battle to win the insurgency war has already taken too long” in a speech at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on July 16, 2014.

The TY Danjuma Foundation was established in Nigeria in December 2008.

The main goals of the Foundation are to give long-term benefits through the implementation of development programs. The Foundation intends to function more as a philanthropic organization than a charity. This would allow the foundation to work with and make funds available to other deserving causes and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The TY Danjuma Foundation aims to eliminate poverty in communities by giving basic necessities, education for children and young adults, and free medical care to those who cannot afford it. NGOs striving to alleviate hardship in Danjuma’s native state of Taraba have received a total of US$500,000 in grants.

The TY Danjuma Foundation is actively collaborating with over 50 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across Nigeria, as well as 36 state governors. CASVI, which works in Takum, Wukari, and Donga, is one of the many NGOs supported by the Foundation. The provision of free eye care services, such as the treatment of river blindness in Wukari, Ibi, and Donga, is CASVI’s core area of competence.