Prompted by friends and colleagues, renowned entrepreneur and industrialist Chief (Dr) Oladele Fajemirokun has put his life story into a book entitled The Making of Me–My Odyssey in Business. The autobiography will be presented on July 15, at Civic Center, Victoria Island, Lagos. But, considering his father’s prosperity, Chief (Dr) Oladele Fajemirokun is believed to have inherited his father’s wealth. This autobiography shows that the view is totally untrue. The author’s father, High Chief Henry Oloyede Fajemirokun was a prosperous industrialist and businessman. According to the author, some of his friends and colleagues prompted him to put some of his ideas into writing because they said many of his takes on business are not taught at the ‘Harvard Business School’ and would be of immense benefit to younger people who choose to go into business.
“Five years ago, my oldest childhood friend and confidant, Tunde Jose, suggested that I should have another go at a biography, which he termed The Project, Chief Fajemirokun says in the preface to the book. “We sourced a digital voice recorder and thereafter started putting my thoughts together. Even then, the Project would stall for weeks and sometimes months at the dictates of my whims and availability. Thanks to Tunde’s patience and tenacity, I could put together what you are about read.”
According to Jose, who wrote the book’s foreword, “This book is written by Dele in his own words, and I can assure you it is vintage Dele Fajemirokun.”
Chief Fajemirokun explained why he tells his own story in his own words: “I never set out to put my life story in writing because I reckoned I had no time to spare for such a time-consuming exercise; which was outside the boardroom. However, my habit of discussing with friends and colleagues usually veers towards some of them prompting me to put some of the ideas I have into writing because they say that many of my takes on business are not taught at the ‘Harvard Business School’ and that they would be of immense benefit to younger people who choose to go into my line of business, which is venture capital and ‘angel’ investment. The same sentiment has been expressed by my children and the top managers in my companies, some of whom I interact with on a regular basis. Though, I agree with these sentiments, I never made an effort to embark on The Project.
Several years ago, I delivered a lecture at an MBA class at the University of Lagos; the outcome of which was a request by the faculty for me to lecture on a regular basis, which I declined due to pressure of work. Suffice to say, I started giving occasional lectures, which I soon had to stop due to my tight business schedule, which often takes me out of the country. This group too had pressured me to put my business life journey down on paper. For many years, the bank directors at HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank in London urged me to write about my business life because of their fascination with my business and, moreover, through their roles, having witnessed the birth and growth of some of the companies in Nigeria. There was a feeble effort made by two eminent journalists–the late Dimba Igwe and Mike Awoyinfa–to put something together, but I was not happy with the result, which was more of an interview than a biography. Neither was it full of content and, more than anything else, it portrayed me as an inheritor, in the Harold Robbins’ genre, which I am not.”
The author, his first child, said: “Contrary to widely-held belief, I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. In fact, there was no spoon at all when I was born. Along the way, until my father died, twenty-seven years into my earthly life, I never tasted the silver spoon nor the special privileges associated with children of a wealthy father. I never travelled abroad, never went on summer holidays nor attended elite schools. Instead, I started school at St Peters, Ajele, and most holidays, I was sweeping the floor in my father’s warehouse or working as a tally clerk in his clearing and forwarding company. And later during secondary school and as a university undergraduate I worked as a clerk in the bank. My dad never believed in giving me pocket money. It was a concept that was alien to him, but only as far as it concerned me. He believed that I had to earn my keep. He made me open a passbook account, which he kept, and occasionally made me withdraw money for my siblings. This action of my father created the working hunger for money and survival all my life.”
The author said of his father: “However, I must confess that his image and influence in society, including his very wide business and social network, created opportunities for me when I eventually entered his business world (a created descent and deceptive street fella). To this extent, therefore, his posthumous influence was significant, and I have to thank him for that. But the story ends there.”
The autobiography is a story of self-belief; and ironically, the story of a self-made man, despite his father’s wealth. He says: “I can declare that I was not born into wealth, and, after my father’s untimely death, I did not inherit wealth… I have earned everything I own in life. My houses in prestigious locations in Nigeria, the UK, the USA and South Africa were all built or bought by me from my own labours. They were not inherited; neither were they in anyway proceeds from my late father’s estate.”
Chief Fajemirokun, 69, was born April 16th 1950 into the families of late High Chief Henry Oloyede Fajemirokun (Ifewara and Ile-Oluji descendants) and Chief (Mrs.) Osebosade Fajemirokun (Yeye Bobagunwa) – (nee Adepetun of Ondo descent).
Chief Dr. Dele Fajemirokun had his early education in various schools in Lagos, finishing both primary and secondary education at Mayflower School, Ikenne, Ogun State, and Loyola College, Ibadan, in Oyo State. Thereafter, he did his Higher School at ‘Gboluji Grammar School, Ile Oluji, in Ondo State, before proceeding to University of Ife, (Now Obafemi Awolowo University) in Ile – Ife, Osun State, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics.
Chief (Dr) Oladele Fajemirokun has cultivated and invested in a number of best – in- class companies in Nigeria; amassing a forte of high performance enterprises in key sectors of the economy including Insurance, Telecommunications, Oil & Gas, Agriculture, supply food chain and manufacturing. Notable among these are American International Insurance Company (AIICO Plc.), Food Concepts & Entertainment Plc. (Owners of Chicken Republic), Xerox Nigeria, now XHS, Johnson Wax (A Johnsons & Johnsons company, markers of Baygon & Raid Insecticides), Kings Guards Securities Group Limited (one of the largest employer of labour, employing more than 25,000 employees across the country in both private and public companies and parastatals, assets & difficult terrains), Logic Science Ltd, FSS Gases Ltd and Bluechip Communication Ltd. He is currently serving as the Chairman / Director on the Board of all these companies and many others, totalling forty three companies overall; and still counting.
He is a recipient of many chieftaincy titles, including: Baba Oba of Ifewara, Osun State; Bajulaiye of Okeigbo, Ondo State; Bobagunwa of Ifewara, Osun State; Obaluaro of Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State; Fiwajoye of Ipetu Modu, Osun State; Amuwajoye of Mopa land; Atayese of Ondo Kingdom.
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