At 78, he does not consider this routine too strenuous. ‘’I will attribute it to God, who has given me good health. I am used to it and still practise it,” he says.
Doesn’t he plan retiring? At this, he sits up and says emphatically that he is not ready to quit working. ‘’What will I retire to do? Sit at home? Inactivity is not my style and it actually shortens one’s life span. I am easily bored and all my life, I have been used to working hard. Advising me to retire is not right. I even work twice as hard now. I am not ready to slow down,” he states.
He continues: “I resume at quarter to eight or eight in the morning and I close at five in the evening but I still work at home. My day starts when God wakes me up but mostly, I am up by six am. I take my bath, pray and get ready for work. When I get to the office, I and my staff have a prayer session. My mother died at the age of 118 and if I live up to that age, all that I want is to work.’’
A successful entrepreneur in all ramifications, his accomplishments did not come easy but by dint of hard work. Not privileged to be born into a wealthy family, he reminisces on his childhood:
“My mother said I was born in Lagos but taken down to Agbamu, Kwara State, where I started school and read up to Standard Four. Before I returned to Lagos, I was already the local councillor of the village. I was 12 years and I was paid some stipend. I left for Lagos because I felt there were greater things in Lagos. I attempted to go to England as a stowaway on a ship. There were several of us on the ship but we were caught at Takoradi in Ghana. They wanted to send us back to Nigeria but I begged the man that I will do whatever he wanted me to do. He asked if I would be a steward. I agreed to this but after two weeks, I begged him to set me free because I had never practised it and could not do it. When he set me free, I had about two pounds with me and I started to sell padlock and door hinges on the road. The business was going well and I was making money but I did not have a good place to sleep.”
A chance meeting with a vendor solved this challenge. “He was selling Ashanti Pioneer, a newspaper and he said there was money in the business,” Adedoyin says.
“He took me to where he was getting it and I met the daughter of the owner, a Ghanaian printer, who was an opposition leader. They gave me distributorship and where to sleep. I did that for about three or four months and I realised that my padlock business gave me more money. So, I went back to it,” he adds.
At a point, he thought of his mother and went back to Agbamu. “When I got to there, they threw sand on me to confirm I was not a ghost! My mother said she had spent all her money, which was borrowed, (about 50 pounds) searching for me. I have so much affection for her and couldn’t bear to see her suffer. Therefore, I gave her the 50 pounds to pay all she owed. But I think she deceived me because after I gave her that money, I could not return to Ghana,” he says.
For one whose interest in industry was triggered after he embraced farming, he recalls with a smile playing around his lips:
“I was forced to become a farmer and I also became a palm wine tapper. I stumbled on a burnt cassava farm where I planted maize. After a while, it flourished because it was a very fertile ground. I called my father to come and see it because I did not want people to start asking where I got money. Later, I sold it and asked my father to bless the money. That was the only thing he did for me because we were always at loggerheads.”
Again, he came to Lagos and ventured into selling umbrella and school bags.
“One day, I tore one of the bags to see how it was put together and I realised it was something I could produce locally and I started local production on my own. Later, I went into manufacturing umbrella and suitcases. I have ventured into other things since then that have profited us,” he quips.
With these successes, the quest to acquire a university education suffered a blow.
He says, “I was a stowaway because I wanted to go and study. By the time I went into farming and other things, there was no way I could go back to schooling because all my contemporaries had passed out of college or were about to. There was no way I could catch up with them and I did not want to be below them. I chose and stuck to business.’’
Ask him what his interests are and he says without mincing words that politics is not one of them: “I don’t like long meetings and I have never been interested in politics. I have never joined any political party but I have sympathy sometimes for some parties.”
Making money at a young age did not have any negative impact on him; rather, it helped him stay focused and venture into matrimony at an age many of his peers were still tied to their mother’s apron strings.
“As a young millionaire, the only thing it did was to make me marry at a young age. I think I was about 23. By the age of 24, I had built my fourth house. My first marriage is over 50 years,” he says.
Drawing a comparison between what obtains currently and yester-years, he stresses, “Business was not as complicated as it is now and people were more straightforward. I think the values of yester-years have been displaced by the get-rich-quick syndrome of today.”
A great philanthropist, he is not in any way given to discussing ways in which he has impacted on society. He would rather not celebrate himself.
“These are things I don’t like to talk about. In my view, discussing it amounts to self promotion. “I would rather let other people talk about it,” he Adedoyin says.
How does he relax despite his busy schedules?
“I do exercises,” he explains. “Occasionally, I love listening to the news and I also like to travel but I am easily bored when I do not work. I enjoy my job because it boosts my morale. My job also forms part of my relaxation.”
Although he likes to dress well, simplicity and comfort is what counts. His love for native attire has overshadowed that which he has for formal wear especially suits.
“I do wear suits occasionally but only when I travel. I wear what I think fits since my style is uncomplicated. I only wear suits when it is deemed necessary but to relax, I like my buba and sokoto. It is simple and I can move around,” he says.
What does Adedoyin want to be remembered for? He gives a long and hard stare and then, his face breaks into a smile as he delivers his parting shot: “I just want to be remembered as one who contributed to the society through industrialisation and development.”
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