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- Sir Louis Philip Odumegwu Ojukwu, KBE
A lot of people may not know Sir Louis Philip Odumegwu Ojukwu besides the fact that he is the father of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Former Military Governor of the Defunct Eastern Region, and Leader of the Unsuccessful Biafra Republic.
But as a matter of fact, he is one of the greatest and richest entrepreneurs ever produced in Africa.
Louis Ojukwu was born in Nnewi, present day Anambra State of Nigeria in 1909 and was the second and only male child of four children.
He started his educational pursuit at Government Primary School, Asaba. In 1922, he proceeded to the only secondary school in the Eastern Region (that is present day, South-South and South East Geo-Political Zones) at the time, Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar and graduated in 1928.
After a brief stint at the Agriculture Department, in 1929, twenty year old Louis Ojukwu moved to Lagos with nothing, but 10 years later, he was already managing his own chain of businesses which included, Ojukwu Stores, Ojukwu Textiles and Ojukwu Transport Company. By 1950, Ojukwu Transport Company had over 200 Trucks in its fleet.
In Lagos, he secured a job at John Holt as a Tyre Sales Clerk. It was while working there that he observed that many Igbo traders who came to Lagos to buy tyres also bought textiles as well and the severe strain a lack of adequate transportation had on Eastern Textile Traders.
With his meagre saving, Louis Ojukwu travelled to Onitsha and opened his first business venture called ‘Ojukwu Stores’ and employed one of his relatives to oversee it. He then returned to Lagos and started sending down textiles through lorries to his shop in Onitsha while still working at John Holt. Soon, his textile business boomed.
By 1930, he bought a second hand truck and employed a driver in other to start transporting his goods himself and thus 'Ojukwu Transport Company' was born. Working with the West African Railway Company and the newly inaugurated Produce Boards, he also made his fleet of trucks available for the transportation of commodities of other traders.
Ojukwu Transport Company was the first transport company between the Eastern Region and Lagos from the Asaba end of the River Niger after they have crossed over from Onitsha by boat.
Louis Ojukwu worked tirelessly and by end of the 1930's, he was the major transport service provider on the East-West Road.
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the British Government requested the use of Ojukwu’s fleet of trucks for the war effort to which he agreed.
When the war ended in 1945, the British Government recognized the sacrifices he made and honoured him with Knight of the British Empire (KBE). The end of the war also created a high demand for raw materials from West Africa which helped Ojukwu Transport Company explode within a short time, so he diversified into other businesses.
Some of Sir Ojukwu's early drivers such as Chief Ilodibe (Ekene Dili Chukwu) Transport Company and Chief Izuchukwu (Izuchukwu Transport Company) would later become Transport moguls themselves.
Sir Louis Ojukwu was so wealthy that in 1956 when Queen Elizabeth II visited Nigeria, the British authorities borrowed his Rolls Royce Silver Wraith and personal driver to chauffeur the Queen around.
Louis Ojukwu was also the Financial Pillar of Nnamdi Azikiwe’s NCNC Party. So when the party came to power in 1960, he was offered the position of Finance Minister, but he turned it down, and the position was given to Chief Okotie-Eboh.
Sir Louis died in September 1966 in Nkalagu, present day Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
Sir Louis CV is the most intimidating I have ever seen and probably will ever see. He was:
1. The Founding President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange
2. President, African Continental Bank
3. Chairman, Nigerian Cement Company (NIGERCEM)
4. CEO, Ojukwu Transport Company
5. Chairman, Nigerian National Shipping Line
6. Chairman, Lion of Africa Insurance Company
7. Chairman, BISCO Nigeria Limited
8. Chairman, Nigerian Industrial Development Bank
9. Vice President, Lagos Chamber Of Commerce
10. Chairman, Palm Line Shipping Company
11. Chairman, Nigerian Produce Marketing Board
12. Chairman, Eastern Nigerian Development Corporation
13. Chairman, Costain West Africa
14. Director, Shell D'Arcy Petroleum
15. Director, Thomas Wyatt & Son
16. Director, Nigerian Coal Corporation
17. Director, Guinness Nigeria Limited
18. Director, Nigerian Tobacco Company
19. Director, Daily Times of Nigeria
The man was simply larger than life. Sir Louis also owned numerous building, landed properties and stocks. It is estimated that as at the time he died in September 1966, he was worth about 4 Billion Dollars in today's money.
There is no age limit to create your own business, but opportunities do have age limit.
For example, Bill Gates knew that the business opportunity of building Operating System for Personal Computers has an age limit, so he was so much in a hurry to catch up with the opportunity before its age limit so he dropped out of university to start Microsoft Corporation.
Steve Jobs also knew that the business opportunity of building affordable Personal Computer has a age limit, so he was so much in a hurry to catch up with it, that he dropped out of school to start Apple Inc.
Mark Zuckerberg also knew that Social Media was the biggest business opportunity of his time which also has an age limit, so he was so much in a hurry to catch up with the business opportunity before it reaches its age limit, so he quickly dropped out of university to start Facebook Inc.
Although there is no age limit to start a business, but every business opportunity has an age limit.
Don't wait when one comes your way.
No wealthy person had only one source of income. Spread your seed.
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1909 - 1966 (57 years)
