Mr. Tajudeen Afolabi Adeola, FCA; mni; OFR
Fola Adeola is the chairman of the Main One Cable Company Limited currently building an open access submarine cable system that will span 14,000 kilometres and will provide international and internet connectivity to countries on the Atlantic Coast from Portugal to South Africa, connecting these countries with each other and with the rest of the world. He is also the chairman of FATE Foundation (www.fatefoundation.org), a non-governmental organization which is dedicated to encouraging the creation of wealth through entrepreneurship, using an innovative mix of training, mentoring, loan support and consulting to support young Nigerians. To date it has serviced over 5000 young Nigerian entrepreneurs. He founded the organization in 2000, following a one-year sabbatical at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Jos, Nigeria, where he carried out research on economic development and job creation policies.
Fola is also the founding Managing Director/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank, Plc.(http://www.gtbplc.com/). He ran the bank from its inception in 1990 to July 2002, during which he firmly established the institution as a strong and credible bank. Guaranty Trust Bank has grown to become one of Nigeria’s largest and most profitable companies. The bank has also expanded beyond Nigeria to other neighbouring African countries (The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia) and in United Kingdom. The bank became listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1996.
In 2002, Fola retired from Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, after twelve years, successfully handing over to his deputy. He took up a fellowship at the Washington, D.C. based Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) where he pursued research on pensions reform, entrepreneurship and financial services provisioning for poverty reduction. Subsequently, he served as Chairman of the National Pension Commission, following the promulgation into law of the Pension Bill (principally authored by him), by the National Assembly.
He was also a member of the National Honours and Awards Committee and the Chairman of Assets and Resources Management Company Limited, a subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Fola chaired the Lagos State Disaster Relief Committee which was set up following the January 27, 2002 bomb blast tragedy in Lagos, Nigeria. He was appointed a member of the Governing Council of Lagos State University in November 2004.
Currently serves as a member of the Solid Minerals Committee (constituted by the Federal Government) and is the Chairman of Ogun State Development Trust Fund Committee. He was a Council member, and is Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria; Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria. He is a Director of UTC Plc.
Internationally, he serves as a member of the Global Advisory Committee on Philanthropy. In 1992, Fola attended HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Commonwealth Study Conference in the UK. In 2001, Fola was invited to join twenty-four other business leaders for the Aspen Institute ISIB Annual Business Leaders Dialogue in Aspen, Colorado. In May 2004, Fola was appointed Commissioner on the Commission for Africa by the British Prime Minister Mr. Tony Blair.
Fola obtained a Diploma in Accounting from Yaba College of Technology in 1975 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1980 following his training with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells and D.O. Dafinone & Company (both Chartered Accountants). He has received professional development training at notable institutions worldwide including, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and the International Institute for Management Development.
He was nationally decorated as an Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in December 2002 by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Born in January 1954, Fola is married to Hajara, and has six children.