Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

Timothy Adeola Odutola (16 June 1902 – 13 April 1995),

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, CFR, CON, was a prominent

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

businessman from

Ijebu-Ode Ijebu-Ode is a town in Ogun State, Nigeria, South Western geopolitical zone in Nigeria, close to the A121 highway (Nigeria), A121 highway. The city is located 110 km by road Northeast of Lagos; it is within of the Atlantic Ocean in the ea ...

Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It is bordered to the south by Lagos State and the Bight of Benin, to the east by Ondo State, and to the north by Oyo and Osun states while its western border forms part of the national borde ...

. He was one of the pioneers of modern Nigerian indigenous entrepreneurship and the first president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. He attended

Ijebu Ode Grammar School Ijebu Ode Grammar School (JOGS) is a boys-only secondary school located in Ijebu Ode local government area of Ogun State, South-Western Nigeria. Founded on 20 January 1913, the school is one of the oldest schools in Nigeria. Houses *Gansallo (G ...

, under the principal, the Rev.

Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (30 April 1891 – 6 April 1955) was a Nigerian teacher. Life Israel was born on 30 April 1891 in Abeokuta, Ogun State to Josiah Ransome-Kuti and Bertha Anny Olubi. He completed his primary and secondary schoo ...

Biography

Early life

Adeola Odutola was born in Ijebu-Ode, a community, which earlier had a fructifying gateway to the port of Lagos. However, the coming of colonialists had clipped the sovereignty of the Ijebu's and their right over the Lagos transit. It was during the latter period that he was born to the family of an Ijebu produce trader. He attended St Saviour's School, Italupe but he left at the age of fifteen after the death of his father. He was transferred to Ile-Ife by his family to ease his mother's burden but he later returned to Ijebu Ode to re-unite with his family and try to complete his secondary education. He then registered and attended the Ijebu Ode Grammar school for four years. After cutting short his secondary education, he left for

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

to fend for himself. He became a clerk in various departments of the

Lagos Colony Lagos Colony was a British Empire, British colonial possession centred on the port of Lagos in what is now southern Nigeria. Lagos was Lagos Treaty of Cession, annexed on 6 August 1861 under the threat of force by Commander Beddingfield of HMS ...

and later, in the Ijebu Native Administration. He occupied his spare time by engaging in private trading from 1921 to 1932.

Business career

In 1932, he resigned his positioning as a

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court and administering oaths ...

and entered private enterprise. He soon opened

damask Damask (; ) is a woven, Reversible garment, reversible patterned Textile, fabric. Damasks are woven by periodically reversing the action of the warp and weft threads. The pattern is most commonly created with a warp-faced satin weave and the gro ...

stores and fish stalls at various cities in western Nigeria, such as Ife,

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

, Ilesha and Lagos. After, his subtle beginnings as a fishing net and damask trader, he entered the Cocoa and

Palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

trading business and started buying lorries to transport the produce to Lagos for export. He built two large commodity storage stores during this period, one was located at Ijebu Ode, he was also involved in the business and political community as a member of the Produce Buyers Union and the

Nigerian Youth Movement The Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) was Nigeria's first genuine nationalist organization, founded in Lagos in 1934 at Stanley Orogun, with Professor Eyo Ita as the founding father and many others, including Samuel L. Akintola, Chief Shonibare, and C ...

. However, the establishment of

marketing board A marketing board is an organization created by many producers to try to market their product and increase consumption and thus prices. It can also be defined as an organization set up by a government to regulate the buying and selling of a certai ...

s, and the subsequent power of the boards to regulate Cocoa and

Palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

trading proved to be an inhibiting factor to private entrepreneurship in the commodity produce business. Odutola, gradually, transferred his resources and energy to saw milling and gold mining at Ilesha. He also became a major agent for John Holt Nigeria. At the beginning of the drive towards industrialisation in Nigeria, Odutola extended his industrial prowess to the production of rubber goods and started the manufacturing of cycle tyres and tubes in 1967. Throughout his career, he established various factories in the country, spanning, the transport and food industry, he also built a secondary school at Ijebu-Ode. He was a member and later president of the

Nigerian Stock Exchange The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX), now Nigerian Exchange Group, is an integrated stock exchange group in Africa founded in 1961 in Lagos. Following the demutualization of the NSE in 2021, NGX Group now has 3 subsidiaries - Nigerian Exchange Limit ...

and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria in the early 70s.

References

*Tom Forrest, The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise, University of Virginia Press (August 1994). *Reuben Abati, The biography of T. ADEOLA ODUTOLA, Africa Leadership Forum 1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Odutola, Adeola Yoruba businesspeople 1995 deaths People from Ijebu Ode 1902 births 20th-century Nigerian businesspeople People from colonial Nigeria Nigerian commodities traders Nigerian manufacturing businesspeople Founders of Nigerian schools and colleges Ijebu Ode Grammar School alumni Nigerian Stock Exchange People from Ogun State Businesspeople from Ogun State Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire