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He grew up in the slum of Agege(of the famous Agege bread) as an 8-year-old. Being the son of a manager with John Holt and a mother that was a trader, they were able to afford enough money to send him to public schools. To his parents' disapproval, he exercised his early entrepreneurial dexterity when he embraced the bike business popularly known as ‘Okada’ to help him meet his basic needs. He was able to grow his business from 1 to 6 motorcycles as a testament to his irrepressible desire to succeed. His desire for business would lead him into hawking souvenirs in the streets of France. He was said to have done alabaru(head porterage in the marketplace) for his mother in the Oke Arin Market, acclaimed Africa’s most populous market. This was in an era when young boys of his age would have taken to street fighting and gang-related activities as ways of survival.

Thirty-one years later, Sijibomi Ogundele, would become Nigeria's youngest billionaire. He is a luxury real estate mogul that built SUJIMOTO GROUP, a company that is worth $400m within a space of five years. They have a track history of building exceptional edifices in the premium locations of Ikoyi and Banana Island in Lagos that fetch them revenues in the margins of $30m per annum. His encounter with the King of Dubai dragged him out of his comfort zone when he pushed him to transform his 15 storey building project to a 30 storey building. The king said to him;
“To be second is to be the last! If people on their 30’s are building 5000 units annually in Asia, 75 units shouldn't scare you”

It is no longer a secret that success is more than work. Different stages of planning and execution are involved to achieve success. Sijibomi knew this and already made a blueprint of his 10-year plan. He has put plans in place to invest $1.9bn into a real estate project that will produce 100 luxury hotels with 16,000 rooms. The idea is to have an investment that would push the company net worth to over $5bn in the next 10 years. There is an equal plan in place to build a first 6-in-1 international standard plaza, a one-stop-shop retail and hospitality centre valued at about $47bn with a combined rental income of $11bn per annum.

There is no gainsaying it that he has already put in place a detailed plan to climb the wealth ladder within the next ten years. He knows you have to plan for success because it doesn't just happen.

REFLECTION
I can agree with those that believe that the activities of young Nigerian men like Invictus Obi, Hushpuppi, Woodberry and hundreds of thousands of youth involved in internet scam have utterly deflated the little acceptability that the average hard-working Nigerian youths managed to build over the years. In the same vein, one might wave aside the massive progress Sijibomi has made classify it as a ticking time bomb waiting to be discovered eventually. Yes, because the trust issue on young men who have found unusual wealth is at an all-time low.

Having said these, the confidence and desirability that these stories could build in us have nothing to do with the way these guys made their money or the model they used. I remember seeing a movie titled “The Leap of Faith’(directed by Richard Pearce) some years back. A faith healer, Jonas Nightengale, travelled across America conducting alleged miracles. While on tour, he met Marva and his brother Boyd who was crippled in an auto accident that took their parents. Previously, a separate faith healer had blamed Boyd’s inability to heal on his lack of faith. But, in the end, Boyd became healed at a convention hosted by Jonas. This healing had no bearing on the veracity of Jonas as a healer but rather on the faith he inspired in Boyd from his purported and stage-managed healings and miracles. We can still thrive from what inspiration these young men generate. That they could do it, is enough reason that it can be done- but this time the right way.

Below are notable quotes from Sijibomi and they are reflections of what inspired him. They can inspire you too to do great things;

“While growing up on the streets of Agege, the fear of poverty was my greatest motivation. Out of the 47 houses on our street, only two people owned a power generating set. This taught me a great lesson that for wealth to be generated, my environment and the people I surround myself with, need to change”

“I found wealth by reading books. My first introduction to entrepreneurship was when I read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Ten years in any university could never have given me what I learned in 10 days”

“Anyone aspiring to be great should not accept failure. When failure happens, people should rather be strong and learn from it. Nobody succeeds without challenging himself. I want to encourage young people in this country to read books because a widely read person is an asset any day. Being creative should not be ignored as well as associating with the right people.”

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