14082018 - POPULATION GROWTH : Danger looms for Nigeria

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018 — 23
•Dr. Ayoola Obafoluke Otudeko...highly successful investor and entrepreneur
Oba Otudeko: Corporate titan
with philanthropic touch
By Babajide Komolafe
HE started as a clerk in the defunct
Cooperative Bank. With hard work, he
progressed to become an accountant and a
banker, rising to the position of General
Manager and later acting Managing Director
of the bank. Today, he is an accomplished
entrepreneur and investor who uplifts
humanity with his philanthropic touch. He is
Dr. Ayoola Obafoluke Otudeko, the widely
celebrated Chairman of Honeywell Group of
Companies.
Born August 18, 1943, Dr. Otudeko is an
astute and highly successful investor and
entrepreneur. He is renowned for being in the
Forbe’s list of Africa’s 50 richest people,
ranking at 33 with a net worth of $575 million
as of November 2013. He is married to Mrs.
Adebisi Aderonke Otudeko. They have three
children, a boy and two girls: Foluke, Moyo
and Obafemi.
Education and
professional qualification
Oba Otudeko studied Accountancy at the
Leeds College of Commerce, Yorkshire, United
Kingdom. He is a chartered banker, chartered
accountant and chartered corporate secretary.
He has also attended executive management
training programmes at International Institute
for Management Development (IMD),
Lausanne, Switzerland; Harvard Business
School, Boston, U.S.A; and then Arthur D.
Little School of Management, U.S.A
Entrepreneurship prowess: To give life to
the entrepreneurship gene yearning for
expression in his blood, Oba Otudeko in 1972,
established the Honeywell Group. His aim was
to use the company to sweeten human life,
hence the name Honeywell. The company had
a humble beginning and operated as a trading
concern, importing and marketing
commodities such as baking yeast, stock fish,
glass and steel rods, among others.
The Group has evolved into a diversified
enterprise with businesses in foods and agroallied;
real estate, infrastructure, energy and
services. Through additional portfolio
investments, it is also a significant provider of
capital to other sectors of Nigeria’s economy
including financial services,
telecommunications and security management.
The Honeywell Group today operates ten
companies namely Honeywell Flours Plc,
HOGL Energy Limited, Pivot Engineering
Limited, Uraga Estate, Anchorage Leisures
Services, and Pavilion Technology Limited.
Others are Broadview, Hogson, Uraga Power
Solutions and Honeywell Energy Resources
International Limited.
Through these companies, the Honeywell
Group employs over 5000 Nigerians, and
contributes to human and social capacity
development in Nigeria through diverse
platforms. These include the Honeywell
Excellence Programme, which provides a
Otudeko is an
astute and
highly
successful
investor and
entrepreneur
and renowned
for being in the
Forbe’s list of
Africa’s 50
richest people,
ranking at 33
with a net
worth of $575
million as of
November
2013
platform for
y o u n g ,
intelligent
Nigerian
graduates of
tertiary
institutions to
hone their
business
management
skills by
providing them
with a
comprehensive
and robust
training in
business
management
principles, over
a-12 month
period.
Giving Back
to Society: In
his quest to
give back to the
society and
contribute to
human capacity
development in
the country, Dr.
Otudeko in
2 0 0 3
established the Oba Otudeko Foundation.
Notable contributions of the Foundation include
institution of a Central Administration Building
for the Olabisi Onabanjo University; donation
of an Administrative Block to All Saints’
College, Edun Village, Ibadan; donation of
a Students’ Cafeteria to Bells University of
Technology, Ota, Ogun State; endowment of
the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies of the
Olabisi Onabanjo
University, Ago-Iwoye,
Ogun State
A corporate titan: In
addition the Honeywell
Group, Oba Otudeko has
used his entrepreneurship
skills to contribute to the
growth of many corporate
organisations where he
has served as chairman
or director. These include
First Bank of Nigeria Plc,
where he recently retired
after 12 meritorious years
on the Board of the bank.
He was, at various times,
chairman, First Bank of
Nigeria, FBN Bank (UK)
Limited; Airtel Nigeria and
Fan Milk of Nigeria Plc.
between September 2006
and August 2009, he was
the 16th President and
Chairman of Council of
the Nigerian Stock
Exchange. From 1990 to
1997 Otudeko served on
the board of Central Bank
of Nigeria; Guinness
Nigeria Plc, from 1999 to
2003; British American
Tobacco Ltd, from 2001 to
2004 and Ecobank
Transnational
Incorporated,
headquartered in Lome,
Togo from 2002 to 2010.
Oba Otudeko also served as chairman of the
Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce
(NSACC) and aimed to facilitate investment
flows into Nigeria. During his tenure as the
NSACC Chairman, the volume of Nigeria-
South Africa bilateral trade grew significantly
from $16.5 million in 1999 to $2.9 billion in
2010. He was also on the Board of the NEPAD
Business Group – Nigeria. He was Chairman
of the Business Support Group (BSG) for
delivery of the National Integrated
Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP).
Bilateral
trade
In 2013, he was also appointed the chairman
of the Digital Africa Conference Exhibition in
Abuja, Nigeria.
Recognitions: In recognition of his
achievements as an entrepreneur and corporate
leader, Oba Otudeko has received several
national and international awards. In 2016, he
emerged winner of the African Chief Executive
Officer, CEO, of the Year award. The previous
year, 2015, Otudeko was voted Leadership
Newspaper Business Person of the Year. Earlier
in 2009, Otudeko was conferred with
Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the ThisDay
Awards, while Silverbird Television conferred
on his the Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement
Award.
Furthermore, in recognition of his
contributions to the nation’s economic growth,
Otudeko was awarded the following national
honours: Commander of the Federal Republic
in 2011, Officer of the Order of the Federal
Republic in 2002 and the Member of the Order
of the Federal Republic.
Other awards include Honorary Doctor of
Science (D.Sc.) from Olabisi Onabanjo
University, Ago-Iwoye. Honorary Doctor of
Science in Banking and Finance from Crescent
University, Abeokuta, Ogun State; Honorary
Doctor of Science Degree (D.Sc.) from Ajayi
Crowther University, Oyo Town, Oyo State;
Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the ThisDay
Awards in 2009. Ernst & Young Lifetime
Achievement Award; Leadership Newspaper
Business Person of the Year 2015; Silverbird
Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement Award and
recently, the 2016 Africa CEO Forum’s Africa
CEO of the Year Award.