Fola Adeola
Tajudeen Afolabi Adeola | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nigeria |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, investor |
| Known for | Co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank, founder and chairman of FATE Foundation |
| Notable work | Guaranty Trust Bank, FATE Foundation |
Tajudeen Afolabi Adeola is a prominent Nigerian entrepreneur and investor, recognized as a co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank Plc). He is also a member of the Commission for Africa and the founder and chairman of the FATE Foundation.
Education
Adeola attended Methodist Boys High School in Lagos for his secondary education. He obtained a Diploma in Accounting from Yaba College of Technology in 1975. Following his training with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, and D.O. Dafinone & Company, he became a certified Chartered Accountant in 1980. His professional growth continued with executive programs at Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and Switzerland’s International Institute for Management Development. In 1999, he completed a sabbatical at Nigeria’s National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, concentrating on strategies for economic growth and employment generation.
Private sector
Adeola co-established Guaranty Trust Bank alongside Tayo Aderinokun in 1990, where he held the position of Managing Director and CEO until July 2002. During his tenure, GTBank extended its operations beyond Nigeria into countries such as The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, and the United Kingdom. The bank was publicly listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1996.
Following his departure from GTBank in 2002, Adeola took on leadership roles as chairman of several key enterprises including UTC, ARM Holdings, Lotus Capital, Eterna Oil, CardinalStone Partners Limited, Tafsan Breweries (as a board member), and Credit Registry Services. He also chairs Main One Cable Company Limited, which successfully deployed a 14,000-kilometre open access submarine cable system in 2010 that connects Portugal to Lagos, enhancing international internet connectivity.
Public sector
Adeola was appointed Chairman of the National Pension Commission after playing a central role in drafting the Pension Bill. He led the Lagos State Disaster Relief Committee following the 2002 armoury explosion in Lagos. In the 2011 elections, he was selected as the vice-presidential candidate for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), partnering with former EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu.
His public service portfolio includes membership on the National Honours and Awards Committee, appointment to Lagos State University’s Governing Council in 2004, involvement with the Federal Government’s Solid Minerals Committee, and chairmanship of the Ogun State Development Trust Fund Committee. Additionally, he served on the councils of Lagos State University and Olabisi Onabanjo University until January 2011.
Civic work
In 2000, Adeola established the FATE Foundation to advance entrepreneurship through initiatives such as training programs, mentoring schemes, loan provision, and consultancy services. The foundation has empowered over 30,000 Nigerian youths to start businesses; over 65% have become fully self-employed with an average workforce size of approximately four employees.
FATE also launched the Institute for Venture Design in Abeokuta in partnership with Stanford University’s Centre for Design Research. This initiative emphasizes engineering, technology, and innovation aimed at stimulating industrial growth within Nigeria.
Adeola contributed four years to the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Committee on Philanthropy. In 2001, he participated alongside business leaders at the Aspen Institute’s ISIB Annual Business Leaders Dialogue. In 2004, British Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed him as a Commissioner on the Commission for Africa.
He holds fellowships with both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Institute of Directors of Nigeria.
Honours and awards
In December 2002, he was nationally honored with the title of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) by President Olusegun Obasanjo. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Nkumba University, Uganda. In 2009, the Vanguard Newspaper group named him Banker of the Decade. Additional accolades include the Distinguished Famous Alumni award from Yaba Tech, the Zik Leadership recognition in 2003, and the This Day Awards 2011 for Change Makers in Social Entrepreneurship.
Personal life
Adeola is married to Hajara, and together they have six children.