Oladele Fajemirokun: Creating a blueprint for Africa’s next generation of entrepreneurs

Success stories are important now, more than ever. Many young entrepreneurs need a jolt of inspiration to establish thriving businesses that may look otherwise impossible to create. But while many stories teach, not all inspire. Thankfully, that is not something we can say about Chief Dele Fajemirokun’s autobiography “The Making of Me – My Odyssey in Business.”

Over 312 pages of uplifting text, the 71-year old astute industrialist who is a major shareholder in some of Nigeria’s biggest enterprises has generously narrated his experiences building businesses in the country.

Like many of us, life threw at him, in no small measure, challenges that have now become springboards for the success that many across the globe now celebrate him for. He would relocate from the Northern part of Nigeria following the death of his father to manage a company with little or no experience.

Before then, he had been a cleaner at one of his warehouses as well as a clerk at his father’s clearing & forwarding company. But Fajemirokun always had business ingrained in his veins and a positively deviant approach to life. And that is probably why the author could take risks that many entrepreneurs would have ordinarily avoided.

Truly, he realizes this fact and, he takes his time to highlight the relationship between risk-taking and value creation. Fajemirokun testifies to this via his first major deal while resurrecting his father’s dying company. At the age of 29, he negotiated an agreement with T-CAS, an American company contracted and indebted by the Nigerian Ministry of Communications, which allowed him to gain a 51% stake in the business.

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Another example of taking risks for the greater good is using his house as collateral to raise a N650 million draft while serving as Board Chairman at AIICO Insurance. As a result of his propensity to carefully analyze business opportunities, today, he has a majority stake or affiliations with high-performing companies like DF Holdings Limited, AIICO Insurance, Kings Guards Limited, Blue Chip Communications, Johnson Wax (producers of Baygon & Raid insecticide), and so on.

However, the man does not shy away from recounting his failures, which indeed helps the reader realize that it is not always rosy in business. There will be missteps here and there. But it is the kind of grit that people like Dele Fajemirokun possess that fuels a will to keep going and eventually becoming the benchmark for building successful enterprises.

Chief Fajemirokun is an ardent believer in societies where people from different walks of life have equal access to opportunities for building wealth. It is why, despite retiring from active service years ago, he has written this memoir to serve as a reminder that anyone can build a successful business in any environment. But more importantly, to serve as a companion on that journey.

Readers can find the book in bookstores across the country, including Glendora, Laterna, Quintessence, and order online from trusted booksellers like Roving Heights. Hardcover copies can also be purchased online from anywhere in the world on Amazon.