| Birth & Education Born 21 March 1940 in Eruwa, then under Ibadan Province, Western Region, Nigeria, Adeseun Ogundoyin started his working life as a barber. At the age of 17, a frail, fair-complexioned, poorly-clad boy walked gingerly into the office of the headmistress of Baptist Day School, Eruwa, begging to be admitted. Bemused, the headmistress, Mrs. D. B. Gbolagunte took him to Primary 1 and asked if he would not feel ashamed in a class of boys and girls much younger. Not at all, he replied. Thus Ogundoyin started school at the age of 17. After school hours and on weekends, Ogundoyin would ply his trade as a barber, He also had old bicycles to rent out to young boys at so much per minute. Mrs. Gbolagunte would one day say of her pupil: 'he became extremely wealthy as he had earlier been extremely poor ...' Ever first, Ogundoyin completed the four-year course in two and gained admission to the Secondary Modern Commercial School. He had no money to pay his way through and was helped along by sympathetic acquaintances who noticed the promise he held. Ogundoyin would later sit for and pass the Ordinary and Advanced Levels. He then attended Yaba College of Technology for a diploma in Business Studies. In 1983, already a man of means, but still insatiable in his thirst for knowledge, Ogundoyin studied at the University of Bradford for an M.Phil degree in Management. Business Life After graduating from Yaba College of Technology in 1968, Ogundoyin was appointed Sales Administration Manager by Messrs Steiner Nigeria Ltd. The company sent him on a 6 month senior management course in Switzerland. On his return he was promoted Area Manager for the Western Region. Soon, the urge to be the captain of his own business ship got the better of him. In 1973, Ogundoyin established what was to become the first in a chain of phenomenally successful business concerns. His companies included Femo (West Africa) Ltd, Messrs Niko Engineering Ltd, and a plastics and nails industry. He also had a 4000 hectare oil palm plantation in his home town, Eruwa. Everything he touched turned to gold. At the peak of his success, over one hundred expatriates worked for him. Ogundoyin had a big heart for indulging in audacious business risks. Although quiet on the outside, he had such feisty aggressiveness that put him ahead of competition. Philanthropy The more the money rolled in, the wider his palms grew! Ogundoyin gave hugely, in private and in public: As a councilor in 1974, he gave his entire salary to the Sickle Cell Clinic at the University College Hospital, Ibadan A keen sports philanthropist, he built a stadium at his own expense and established the Femo Football Club, a team that once played in the premier league. In 1988, he handed over the stadium to the Oyo State Sports Command. Among the institutions he supported with cash were St. Andrews College, Oyo (now Ajayi Crowther University), Oyo State University of Technology (now Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH). A whopping N12.5m donation in cash and equipment helped establish the Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and Agric Engineering Faculties of the Eruwa Campus of Ibadan Polytechnic Ogundoyin gave hundreds of scholarships to indigent students to study at higher institutions. Ogundoyin's London residence was a public house of sorts. Everyone knew where the keys were kept to let themselves in. Many Nigerians, nay, Africans in London for the first time had a comfortable place to dwell in till they could find their own feet. Sickle Cell Challenge Sickle Cell (Hb SC) was no match for Adeseun Ogundoyin's personal drive and ambition. Haematology Professor Lucio Luzzatto of the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, University of London, describes the wealthy businessman as ‘a brave patient who took things in his stride’. Once, on recovery from a ‘serious episode', Luzzatto remembers, Ogundoyin grilled his doctors with a lot of ‘hard questions’ about his special condition. Likewise Professor G. J. F. Esan, of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, who attended to Ogundoyin as a physician for over twenty years, recalls his patient as a 'meticulous man of big ideas' who spared no expense to get himself properly managed. Sunset & Eclipse Chief Adeseun Ogundoyin was hard at work at noon on the 18th of June 1991. As usual, he had meetings with business associates and the multitude who thronged to see him daily for assistance. Later that day, he developed a sudden health crisis, which took him away. At the time he passed away, the indefatigable Chief was pursuing a doctorate at his alma mater, the University of Bradford. Nigeria had lost an industrialist and an academic, a philanthropist and a patriot, who meant well for fellow citizens. He was a man to whom wealth meant nothing if not shared. |
| REMEMBERING CHIEF ADESEUN OGUNDOYIN, THE LEGEND WHO DEMONSTRATED THAT SICKLE CELL IS NO BARRIER TO EXCELLENCE |
ISSN 2141-1093
Ogundoyin, 1973
1974. Ogundoyin handing over cheque to Prof
Kayode Osuntokun, Medical Director,
UCH, He gave his entire salary as a Councillor to
the Sickle Cell Clinic, University College Hospital,
Ibadan
Kayode Osuntokun, Medical Director,
UCH, He gave his entire salary as a Councillor to
the Sickle Cell Clinic, University College Hospital,
Ibadan
Ogundoyin, and his wives
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