Alhaji Abdulfatai Gbemisola
Alhaji Abdulfatai Gbemisola founded the popular Fatgbems company in 1986 in Abeokuta, Ogun State. At that time, it was just a trading company that specialised in the sale of automobile components, such as tyres, lubricants and vehicle spare parts. The company was a major distributor for Michellin and Trendsetters tyres. But through sheer hard work, commitment and dedication learnt at his father’s feet, Alhaji Gbemisola’s son, Abdulkabir, has taken the company to greater heights.
After he passed away in 2012, Gbemisola’s four sons took charge of the company and ran it in their various capacities. Abdulkabir is the Chairman and Group CEO of Fatgbems Group of Companies as the first son. The 46-year-old rebranded it in 2017 and expanded it, diversifying into different sectors of the economy.
The conglomerate now has interests in petroleum marketing, haulage, trading, manufacturing, agriculture and real estate, making the company to become a top player in the Nigerian business space.
The Group is behind Torque tyres Nigeria. Fatgbems Petroleum Ltd started out with one service station in Ejigbo, Lagos in 2006, but today, it has grown to over a hundred service stations across the country.
Fatgbems Petroleum Ltd operates one of Nigeria’s largest petroleum storage facilities, a 30 million-litre storage tank farm located in Lagos. The facility has a state-of-the-art gantry capable of dispensing and trucking 3 million litres of petroleum products daily. The company has a truck holding bay that warehouses 100 trucks per time.
Chief Raymond Dokpesi
Chief Raymond Dokpesi is a man of many firsts. He was first a personal assistant to late politician, Alhaji Bamaga Tukur, when he was a general manager with the Nigerian Ports Authority. He later went on to work as a civil servant in the Federal Ministry of Transport where he was inspired to start a shipping business, Africa Ocean Lines, the first indigenous shipping line in Africa, in the 1980s.
Following the demise of the shipping company, Dokpesi turned to his second interest, broadcasting and established Daar Communications before launching RayPower, Nigeria’s first private FM radio station in 1994. Two years later, he launched Africa Independent Television, AIT and in the early 2000s, launched its signals in the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, as well as countries within Africa.
Long before his demise, he handed over the running of DAAR Communications to his first son, Raymond Paul Dokpesi Jnr alongside DAARSAT, Faaji FM. The official handover was done in 2014 during the 65th general annual meeting of the company’s board of directors. The older Dokpesi stepped down as the chairman of the company and elevated his first son to the position of chairman. The older Dokpesi however remained the founder. Dokpesi senior made the right choice handing over to Paul as the young man had worked his way up the ladder, starting from the newsroom. He had no special privileges and had to learn the ropes in other to keep the organisation afloat.
Larry Izamoje
Like Chief Raymond Dokpesi, sports enthusiast and founder of Brila FM, the first sports radio station in Nigeria, Larry Izamoje does not want to wait to die before bequeathing his legacy to his children. His first daughter, Debbie, has followed in his footsteps and is today, a force to be reckoned with in the global sports media. At only 30 years, she is making waves as the Chief Operating Officer of Brila Media Group, while her father remains the chairman and founder. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in information management from the University of Sheffield and a Master’s degree in management from UCL, she is driving the dynamic transformation of Africa’s sports entertainment landscape.With a Harvard certification in Innovation and Strategy, as well as expertise in User Innovation from MIT, Debbie leads a passionate team of sports media enthusiasts who are revolutionizing the industry through storytelling, cutting-edge digital strategies, stakeholder management and innovative systems. Her invaluable contributions include overseeing the remarkable rebranding Brila FM across key cities in Nigeria. Her unwavering passion for the business of sports and the challenges she has overcome as a woman in a male-dominated industry is worthy of emulation.
Aliko Dangote
Africa’s richest man and philanthropist, Aliko Dangote may have built a sprawling conglomerate, Dangote Group and is leading the charge in running it, but his three daughters, Halima, Fatima, and Mariya, who all work for the family business in various capacities, are already being positioned to handle different aspects of the business when he becomes too frail and old to run the conglomerate or after he has passed on. Halima his first daughter works closely with him and she is being groomed to take over the reins of leadership when he retires from active business. She follows him around and serves as his personal assistant. She also represents him at various fora when he is unable to be physically present. The Dangote Group, which began as a small enterprise trading in commodities, including bagged cement as well as agricultural goods like rice and sugar, is one of the largest conglomerates in Africa today, with international operations in Benin, Ghana, Zambia, and Togo. It has moved from being just a trading company to being the largest industrial group in Nigeria, encompassing divisions like Dangote Sugar Refinery, the largest refinery in Africa and the third largest in the world, producing 800,000 metric tons of sugar annually; Dangote Cement; Dangote Flour; a Peugeot assembly plant; Dangote refinery.
The Dangote Group is also a major importer of rice, fish, fertilizer and it exports cotton, cashew nuts, cocoa, sesame seeds and ginger to several countries. Additionally, it has major investments in real estate, banking, transport, textiles etc.
Oladipo Jadesimi
Although wealthy businessman, Oladipo Jadesimi has two daughters; his first daughter, Amy with his wife, Alero Okotie-Eboh, a daughter of Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh and another, Emma Thynn, a fashion model who is now the Marchioness of Bath, a product of his affair with a British socialite, Suzanna McQuiston daughter, it is however Amy that he is positioning to take over the running of his hugely successful Aradel Group which he established in 1993.
Amy is currently the chief executive officer of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL), a privately owned logistics and engineering facility in the Port of Lagos. Aradel plays big in the energy sector and is one of the biggest oil and gas companies in Nigeria. It has four oil wells in Nigeria and one of his subsidiaries, Aradel Holdings operates these oil wells. His Aradel refinery owns the biggest modular refinery in Nigeria with a capacity to produce 11,000 barrels of crude oil daily. Aradel refinery has its own oil well servicing the refinery, and this is why their refinery is one of the few refineries that runs at full capacity. Oladipo is also the founder of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base, where he serves as the executive chairman. He was a founding partner of Arthur Andersen Nigeria and is also the Chairman of the board of First City Monument Group Holding Company.
Edwin Ajaere
He founded the popular God Is Good Motors, GIG in 1998 with a vision to provide premium bus services across Nigerian cities. Unfortunately, he was kidnapped and killed in 2009. Rather than his vision dying with him, his first son, Chidi assumed leadership of the company and piloted its affairs to the success story that it is today at only 21. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of GIG Group and he has successfully transformed it into a leading technological driven logistics company while also playing in other sector of the Nigerian economy.
Chidi expanded the horizon of GIG Group which led to the birthing of other subsidiaries which includes GIG logistics with deliveries to US, UK, China and west Africa; GIG motors, Stellas banking and finance, Richmondhill Real Estate and properties, Ziuss energy oil & gas and GIG Aviation, its latest subsidiary after the purchase of two Atr72 cargo aircraft for logistics services. The story of Chidi aptly describes the saying that when there is a will, there will be a way.
Dave Umahi
Osborn Nweze, son of the current Minister of Works, David Umahi, has continued to remain an enigma to the Nigerian public. Despite his young age, he has been at the helms of affairs at Brass Oil and Construction Limited, a company founded by his father. He was barely over 21 years old when he took over running the company from his father, who had to relinquish the management of its day-to-day operations to him so he could focus on his duties and responsibilities while he was governor of Ebonyi State. The family business also includes the family’s hospitality business, a hotel chain, Osborn La Palm Royal Resort, named after him. The 300-room edifice located in Rivers State is comparable to The Lagos Marriott Hotel or any hotel of its kind in West Africa. Young, vivacious and innovative, Osborne who is a nephew to billionaire businessman, Arthur Eze, dreams of becoming a leader in the tourism and hospitality industry in Africa in the not-too-distant future. Osborn might be the son of a politician, but he has clearly proven that he can hold his own with how well he has transformed the family business set up in 1998 from a mere motel to one with edifices in three other major cities in Nigeria. And what is more, he is already forging his own path. A graduate of Engineering from Surrey University he also holds an Msc from the University of Aberdeen, Osborn runs Forte GCC Innovative Solutions, an engineering and real estate consultancy business that offers a wide range of entertainment and IT solutions. He is also the managing director of Brass Oil as well as The Osborn Foundation through which he shows off his philanthropic side. The foundation is dedicated to shelter, education, empowerment, poverty alleviation and infrastructural development for all Nigerians as evident in the helping hand, he has extended to pupils as close as in his home state to as far as Kano State.
Chief Chinedu Benson Madubuko
He is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of De Chico Investments Limited, a Rivers State based company with massive interest in the manufacturing and distributorship of a wide range of building materials, including aluminium profiles, stone-coated roofing sheets, and all types of ceiling cladding. He began his business with a simple strategy of distributing building materials in five locations across Nigeria. The business has grown to become one of the building industry giants in the country. Over the years, De Chico Group has grown to become a company that caters for the building material needs of various segments of the construction industry in different parts of the country. The company deploys modern strategies to meet the changing needs of the industry. A well known philanthropist with charitable gestures, Chief Madubuko has properly positioned his son, Chibuzo more popularly known as Chico, who is currently involved in the family business to take over from him when he retires. The 38-year-old who has a passion for flashy cars is the chief operating officer of De Chico Investments Limited.
Obafoluke Otudeko
Obafoluke Otudeko may be the chairman, call the shots and take all the important decision at Honeywell Group, a holding company investing in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy, but the running of the business, which sold majority of its shares to Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, a Nigerian agro-allied group, is carried out by a select group of technocrats, two of who are his children. That he prepared them well for the onerous task of running the company and most likely, taking over from him, is not in doubt. Some say don’t mix business with family, but he has clearly shown that the foundation of a successful venture is one that is supported by a family tree and that their bond goes beyond sharing a name.
There is Obafemi jnr who is the managing director of the group and is responsible for providing strategic direction and oversight to the Group’s portfolio companies and investments. He has been with the company for close to 20 years and started out as Senior Manager, Projects (Oil and Gas). Over the years, he has led several key initiatives including chairing the IPO committee responsible for the successful capital market listing and capital raising for the Group’s flour milling investment, coordinating the Group’s efforts in the completion, capital raising, and opening of the five-star Radisson Blu Hotel in Lagos. He is also a non-executive director of First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, and Anchorage Leisures Ltd and previously served as a non-executive director of Airtel Nigeria where his father has extensive interests. A graduate of Accountancy Studies from the University of Huddersfield, UK, Obafemi is a qualified chartered accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA). An alumnus of the London Business School, INSEAD Business School, he is also a member of the UK Energy Institute.
Then there is Tomi who is the Head, Corporate Services where she oversees various functions for Honeywell Group Limited, including, strategy and project execution, human resources, information technology, communications, administration, and facilities management. She has been with the company for only five years but helped set up Itanna, Honeywell Group’s corporate venture investing platform. Prior to joining Honeywell Group, she was at First Bank where her father had extensive interest. She was Head, International Banking Coordination for its International Business. Before joining First Bank, she was an Investment Manager at Stanbic IBTC Asset Management and also worked at IBM UK as a Business Development Specialist. A graduate of Law from King’s College, London with an MSc in Economics she holds a Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Stanford University and Harvard Business School.
Dr Samuel Maduka Onyishi
Dr Samuel Maduka Onyishi, businessman, founder and chairman of Peace Group of Companies with subsidiaries like Peace Mass Transit, Peace Micro Finance Bank, Peace Logistics, and Maduka University, Enugu has no doubt done quite well for himself and like the aforementioned, has positioned his first child, Judith, a female business leader who is understudying him and is very influential in the wider family business conglomerate to eventually take over the running of the business when he retires. She is currently in charge of Peace Micro Finance inAbuja, where she serves as the MD of the bank and has repositioned the bank in an uoward trajectory since her dad established it. She is also a member of the governing council of her dad’s university. She holds a degree, an Msc and a PhD in Philosophy all from Nile University.
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