From the Archives
Siaka MOMOH
Nigerians robustly enterprising
Entrepreneurship is not foreign to Nigeria. Informed global business space stake-holders often comment Nigerians are highly enterprising people. This is unquestionably true going by empirical evidence. SIAKA MOMOH brings you the story of the rising zeal for entrepreneurship in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. It is a must read.
Jaja’s trading policies alarmed other British firms trading in the Niger Delta with the exception of Alexander Miller Brother and Company, which prospered and had stations throughout Southern Nigeria partly because it co-operated with Jaja. It is however instructive to note that the other eight firms that were virulently opposed to his policies ‘ganged’ up to form the African Association which was incorporated in 1889. Hence, it was this African Association and a few other firms that eventually formed the United African Company (UAC) in 1929.
The UAC Jaja old days
Thus, the history of the origins of the UAC would not be complete without adequate reference to the intense commercial rivalries between Jaja and the firm of Alexander Miller who were contemptuously referred to as the agents of Jaja by the other firms, on the one hand, and the other eight British firms in opposition to Jaja, on the other.
Talking about UAC, Siaka Momoh has clear memory of AT&P (African Timber & Plywood Company Limited) in Sapele which, as well as the thriving export business in ‘Safa’ ( Safa stands for Sapele just like ‘Wafi’ and ‘Lasport’ stood for Warri and Lagos. These were popular slangs that the present Delta State Boma Boys, the equivalent of these days ‘Area Boys’ of Lagos, sing song). Gone are the days when Sapele and Warri were all bubbles.
Adeola Odutola & others
It was this same UAC, that a few Nigerian entrepreneurs had to contend with in pre and post independence periods. The likes of Timothy Adeola Odutola and Hamzat Beyioku Adebowale were good examples. Adeola Odutola, who, according to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, is the foremost Nigerian and perhaps, African industrialist in history, had businesses that were household names in the country. His fleet of companies include: Odutola Nigerian Industries Limited – manufacturers of bicycle tyres and tubes in Ijebu-Ode, Odutola Tyresoles Company Limited with factories in Ibadan, Kano and Onitsha – re-threading automotive tyres, Odutola Tyre & Rubber Company Limited with factories in Ibadan for rubber compounding, Adeola Farms known for growing of rubber and oil palm, Odutola Food Industries Limited known for manufacturing assorted biscuits, and Odutola Stores Limited – department Stores.
There was also Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode, where Siaka was to do his HSC (Higher School Certificate) but couldn’t because his father, Aliu Ilori Momoh asked him to take up a job for two years. And he had to wait for six years to continue his education. Most of these six years was spent by him managing small and Medium businesses.
This business guru held substantial investments in breweries and pharmaceutical sub-sectors and served as chairman in many other companies including Kabelmetal Nigeria Limited, Bayer Pharmaceuticals Nigeria Limited, and Unichem Nigeria Limited in which he had substantial share holdings.
Adebowale, on his part, started his career with SCOA Group in 1959 as a marketing manager. By 1961, he founded Adebowale Stores as a retail outlet in Lagos. Taking advantage of the Federal Government’s favourable industrial policies later on, Adebowale incorporated Adebowale Electrical Industries Limited as a manufacturing concern. The move marked a turning point in his career from a businessman to a manufacturer, especially in 1975, when the young company rolled out its first set of locally manufactured electrical/electronics products, opening branches in Ibadan, Kano and Lagos.
The 60s and 70s entrepreneurs
There is a list of other indigenous entrepreneurs that the sixties and 70s and thereafter witnessed. This list included: Aminu Dantata, Odimegwu Ojukwu, Augustine Ilodibe of Ekene Dili Chukwu fame, David Dafinone, James Edewor – the Oloku of Eku, Wahab Folawiyo, Chris Ogunbanjo, Rasaq Akanni Okoya of Eleganza Group of Companies, and Adeyemi Lawson.
Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola and others
Only recently, Aliko Dangote, President Dangote Group, currently the richest man in Africa, and Femi Otedola, made the Forbes list of world billions. Dangote is the founder of the Dangote Group, which has operations in Nigeria and over a dozen African countries. Dangote began his career as trader at 21 with a loan from his uncle. He went on to build his Dangote Group into a conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, salt processing, cement manufacturing, textiles, real estate, haulage and oil and gas.
Femi Otedola is the Nigerian president chief executive officer of Zenon Petroleum and Gas limited. In 2009, he joined Aliko Dangote on World’s Richest List (Forbes magazine) with an estimated worth of 1.2 billion Dollars. In 2010, due to the recession, his fortune was reduced by half and he no longer figured in the Forbes list. Femi Otedola is the dominant force in diesel business among oil marketing concerns. Otedola started Zenon few years ago and within a short time seized control of the market. Today he has become the pacesetter in the downstream sector while expanding the frontiers of competition.
Also on the list of contemporary Nigerian entrepreneurs of note is Mike Adenuga Jnr., Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Globacom. At age 26, Adenuga had already become a millionaire with connections in high places. With his unique flair for risks and sheer tenacity of purpose, in no time he started reaping profits in billions. He owned defunct Equatorial Trust Bank, and Consolidated Oil which is involved in crude oil drilling, refining and marketing. His first shot into the consciousness of Nigerians was when his company, Consolidated Oil became the first indigenous company to strike crude in December 1991.
Craze for entrepreneurship
Never in the history of Nigeria has the awareness about entrepreneurship been so popular like it has been in the last decade. The reason for this is not farfetched. Job losses came with plant shut downs and we churn out about two billion graduates from our tertiary institutions yearly when we create jobs in thousands.
Now, Nigerians generally think self-employment and not paid employment. In answer to this development, tertiary schools across the country have now introduced entrepreneurship programmes into their curriculum.
Moreover, capacity building institutions such as Fate Foundation, Pan Atlantic University’s Entrepreneur Development Centre and a number of other private capacity building institutions are found across the country. When you add all these to small business development institutions that governments – federal and states – have created over the years, the robust focus on entrepreneurship by government becomes clearer. The Federal government had the National Directorate of employment (NDE), The Small and Medium Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and the states have institutions for the development of small businesses. Moreover, the CBN brought on board Microfinance Banks to replace moribund Peoples Bank.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation
The Tony Elumelu Foundation is one entrepreneurs growing and developing unit that is thriving big today. It is the leading philanthropy empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and increasing women economic empowerment. Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has granted over 2.5 million young Africans with access to trainings on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed over USD$100 million in direct funding to more than 21,000 young African women and men, who have collectively created over 1.5million direct and indirect jobs, and generated over $4.2billion in revenue. The Foundation’s mission is rooted in Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent.
This story, from Archives Siaka-Momoh, was first published in Non-Oil Digest, in 2019.
