Otudeko dynasty: Succession of a boardroom strategist

Nigeria’s manufacturing sector has some of the most influential and richest men in the country. Oba Otudeko, who clocks the golden age of 80 on Friday (today), is a well-known industrialist.

Otudeko may be the chairman, overseeing board meetings and making sure his billion-dollar conglomerate is effective in implementing the company’s direction, but the day-to-day running of the business is carried out by a select group of technocrats, two of whom are his children.

For more than five decades, business empires such as Honeywell Group under Otudeko’s tutelage have stood the test of time despite economic challenges and political uncertainties that killed a number of other businesses.

Otudeko’s tenacity also ensured the business empire survived difficult periods by adapting to changing market conditions, diversifying its operations, and investing in innovation despite economic headwinds.

New findings showed the industrialist is preparing his children (Moyo, Obafemi and Folake) for the onerous task of running the company.

Obafemi currently has the company’s second-largest indirect shares of 618 million units at Honeywell Flour Mills Plc as of August 17, 2023.

He is also the managing director of the Honeywell Group and is responsible for providing strategic direction and oversight to the group’s portfolio companies and investments; he started out as senior manager of projects (oil and gas) about 20 years ago.

Further findings showed Obafemi 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 its efforts in the completion, capital raising, and opening of the five-star Radisson Blu Hotel in Lagos.

Moyo Otudeko-Ogunseinde is the CEO of Uraga Real Estate Ltd, a company owned by Oba Otudeko. She directs all day-to-day operations of a $250 million commercial and residential real estate portfolio in key locations within Nigeria.

Tomi Otudeko is the head of corporate services, overseeing 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.

BusinessDay’s findings showed Otudeko owns several other valuable, privately-held, unquoted companies that add hundreds of millions of dollars to his wealth.

Barbican Capital

Barbican Capital, an investment bank and corporate advisory firm, is one of the major companies owned by Otudeko. The firm accumulated shares of about 4.8 billion units in FBN Holdings, the parent company of Nigeria’s oldest lender FirstBank, translating to a 13.3 percent holding, according to the document seen by BusinessDay.
That is more than twice the portion held by another business mogul, Femi Otedola, who in late 2021 had acquired a 7.6 percent interest in the financial services group via off-market deals.

Barbican Capital was registered in Nigeria on March 9, 2023 and has Obafemi Otudeko and Oyeleye Foluke as persons with significant control, according to BusinessDay’s check with Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Broadview Engineering Limited

According to Billionaires Africa, another company owned by Otudeko is Broadview Engineering Limited, an engineering firm focused on optimising local content to create value and jobs in the oil and gas sectors in Nigeria and across West Africa.

Data from CAC showed Broadview Engineering was registered in Nigeria on September 29, 1999 and has Oba Otudeko and Wole Osinupebi as persons with significant control.

HOGL Energy Limited