Ayo Arowolo pens a tribute to the corporate icon and boardroom guru, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, who turns 85 tomorrow. Enjoy God willing (and why not?) Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, former Managing Director and Chairman of Nestle Foods Plc will be 85 tomorrow, Sunday September 7, 2025
Chief Osunkeye is one of the few individuals in the country who have been able to make it to the pinnacle of their careers and also finished well without scandals. Interestingly by staying on Nestle for 41 years, Chief Osunkeye, a Chartered Accountant by training, has demonstrated that you can be wealthy and live a good life working (or serving, as he would like to put it) for others.
My path and that of this corporate icon crossed about 34 years ago in 1991 when I had just been recruited into the defunct African Concord Magazine and assigned to work in the business and finance section of the magazine by my editor then, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, now President Bola Tinubu’s Media aid. It was also that year that Chief Oshunkeye had just been appointed the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nestle Nigeria Plc, one of the companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. One of my primary assignments as a business reporter was to cover the Nigerian stock market and one of the regular activities of the exchange was to invite directors of listed companies to make presentations at the popular Facts Behind the Figures event.
It was certain Chief Osunkeye , along with other directors of Nestle would appear on the exchange at least once in a year. As a reporter on the Exchange then, it also meant that I would encounter Chief Oshunkeye at the company’s other corporate events such as their Annual General Meetings.
Somehow, I developed a liking for this doyen of accounting profession, especially his very serious approach to his presentation. Later through his principal media adviser, Dr Samuel Adenekan, I also got several opportunities to meet with Chief Osunkeye in the corporate office of Nestle at Ilupeju, either to interview him or to clarify some issues on some of the stories I was developing. He also seems to like to see me around him . Since that time he has been on my radar.
Our relationship blossomed however after retiring from Nestle as the Managing Director but retaining the position of its Chairman. I have been to his consulting office located at GRA, Ikeja a couple of times where we would just sit down and he would share either his times at Nestles with me or the lessons life has taught him generally. Some of these have been reported and published. Here are some of the condensed versions of some of those very precious life lessons:
One, Be Professional and develop competence of the job. He believes that if you truly want to get to the top of your career, it is imperative that you develop competence on the job
Two, Have mentors and mentor others. He believes that the road to the top is laced with landmines and without the help of mentors, the journey can be complicated or event truncated. He shares the influence of key mentors in his life such as Chief Michael Omolayole, another corporate icon and Late Chief Akintola Williams
Three, you need to develop a great networking skill. To get to the top, according to him, you need to develop great networking skills. The question to ask is how many people can you call successfully for help when you run into rough waters? By consciously cultivating valuable relationships you are building an emotional bank account from which you can withdraw in times of needs.
Four, Develop a savings culture from the youth. As he related this with me, on the advice of an elder brother, he started saving from his first salary and this has continued till date.
“Apart from saving, I also invest particularly in shares. It was the proceeds from shares that I used to take care of my children’s education and the money saved over time has also helped me to retire with comfort.”
Five, maintain Work-Life Balance. This is how he put this:
“You must understand that and strive for balance in your life. Assume you are juggling 5 balls in the air, you name them – work, family, health, friends, & spirit. Work is a rubber ball, if you drop it, it will bounce back.
But if you drop any of the other 4 balls – family, health, friends, & spirit, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered”
Six, health is wealth. In his words: “you must look after yourself because many people depend on you. Give time to rest, not just working 18, 20 hours a day and bragging about it. You should live a work life balance. Do things in moderation and of course exercise. Sleep, watch what you eat, do exercise and do things in moderation.”
Seven, the Lord is my all : “Here is the summary: every success you ever achieved was made possible by the grace of God.
What you are and the height you attain is through the grace and mercy of God. The race is not for the swiftest. Give Him all the glory and praise.”
However, beyond those seven life lessons and several others he has shared with me over time and which were published in my column in THISDAY ON SUNDAY, what fascinate me most are the parchments from the notes I take ( mostly not published) during my visits to his office. The last visit was on Thursday August 14, where we spent about two hours in very light but deep conversation. He had sent birthday IV to my WhatsApp, which once I received, I asked if could come around and promptly he sent a note to me confirming the appointment. I share few of my observations in this article.
One, Chief Osunkeye appears to have recreated in his consulting office in GRA, the ambience of his corporate office in Ilupeju, when he was the CEO of Nestle . As a matter of fact, each time I enter his office, the image of his corporate office in Ilupeju flashes into my memory. Chief oshunkeye maintains a professional secretary downstairs while his own office consisting a lounge for visitors and his own private room are on the first floor. On the second floor, Chief Osunkeye maintains a boardroom which can seat 12 to 14 persons. While our meetings usually take place at the lounge, each time, he would ask that we go to his board room which is properly prepared for meetings. What amazes me is that he climbs the stairs very briskly as if he is younger than his age.
Two, I also observed that Chief Osunkeye likes to document his thoughts on paper even though he speaks extemporaneously on many issues, he always insisted on writing out his thoughts and send to me . This has been the pattern in all the interviews I have had with him. I had always wondered why he would do this, but I got the clue in one the documents he shared with me during one of our meetings. He does not like to be misquoted or better still he likes everything attributed to him to be exactly what he says. He shared a story with me: “ One day, I arrived in the office fully drenched by rain, straight into the hands of Mr. Akintola Williams… As a trainer , I went out on audit at ACB, Yaba with Mr. Williams. I had to add up “cast” $ ( put pound sterling symbol please as my keyboard doesn’t have it) s d of 3 months of the waste book. I had cut pieces of paper-no adding machine or calculator at that time (1959). Mr. Williams was watching, called me , and showed me how to add up. He said, an accountant should not use an eraser to erase a figure; instead you should rule a line over the figure; in order words, do not destroy nor deface accounting records-see what happened to Arthur Anderson and the Enron Scandal much later in 2001”.
Three, Chief Oshunkeye does not just like to keep relationships, in very creative ways, he also likes to service such relationships , especially the ones he considers very important to him. He speaks in glowing terms about all his mentors, his past associates who he consider valuable. While he tries at all time to keep his emotional bank account very positive, he does not seem to want to withdraw from the accounts. He once asked for my neck size for shirts while he was abroad and on return he would ask for my forward address and dispatch a matching shirt plus a tie. On my birthdays which I don’t celebrate , he would call me and insist on getting a gift to me.
Four and I would like to dwell on this and also end with it even though I still have a lot of those parchments in my notebook: You cannot be with Chief Osunkeye without leaving with an impression of his being a spiritually aware individual and a strong believer in applying the word of God to every aspect of his life. During my last visit to his office, he handed over to me a publication that was done to mark his 80th birthday, titled A Life Of Abundant Grace and another document containing the thoughts he shared at an interactive session held at the Guided Missile s Church, Ikeja. Inside the 177-page publication and the other document are accounts of his exploits in the corporate world and how he used Biblical principles to dissolve some situations that looked initially tough. For instance, he shared in the document how he used the principles he picked from reading the story of Nehemiah , an ordinary cup bearer who got inspired to rebuild the broken down walls of Jerusalem. This is how he put it: ‘ I set about to rebuild the company, much like rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. First, I had to disengage the dissidents ( the Sanballats and the Tobiahs), The HR Director, the CFO and the Company Secretary… Then I embarked on leading and motivating the management team (Nehemiah 2: 17-18).
I had been looking for the appropriate term to use in describing this corporate guru with sterling qualities but I found one as I was re-reading an old book on my shelf by Pabbi Levi Brakman and Sam Jaffe, with the title :Jewish Wisdom for Business Success-Lessons from the Torah and Other ancient texts. In the book, I found a concept that appropriately captures my impressions of Chief Osunkeye after years of interactions. Taking inspiration from the book, it would be fitting if Chief Oshunkeye is described as a wealthmaster.
Here is the paraphrased version of how the authors describe a wealthmaster and the accompanying attributes:
Wealthmasters are essentially SPIRITUAL ENTREPRENUERS and CAREER PROFESSIONALS, a network of Christians in business and careers who are using their God given passions to generate as much money as possible legitimately and deploying a large chunk of the income to promote kingdom projects and service the world entirely.
• A wealthmaster sees his or her entire moneymaking enterprise through the prism of the higher cause that the money could ultimately serve
• A wealthmaster sees money as a tool with which he can achieve things for the world
• A wealthmaster sees wealth as God given blessing of which he is the custodian
• A wealthmaster feels responsibility to use his money for higher purposes that go beyond selfish desires for material possessions
• A wealthmaster understands that his business/ career is another method by which he can connect to both higher power and share in divinity.
• A wealthmaster believes that as a branch connected to the vine, he is simply a pipe through which God channels resources to others
• A wealthmaster believes that the ultimate key to financial abundance is to continuously bless others with his resources.
From my own personal observations of Chief Oshunkeye I was able to come up 11 descriptions and principles that Chief Oshunkeye holds dear as a wealth master: As a wealthmaster, he believes that Poverty or Wealth is an inside stuff; unless your mind is programmed to think wealthy thoughts automatically, it is likely to attract the opposite polar poverty mentality. As a man thinketh, so is he; he believes that wealth accumulation is for a higher purpose: to service humanity and be a channel of constant blessings to others; He believes that prosperity of soul is the foundation for lasting wealth; when we prosper spiritually, we will prosper in everything else-including our finances; he believes that after God, our next priority is to be a source of blessing and continuous joy to our families;he believes that wealth is more of internal development than external provisions; He believes we are fully responsible for our financial destinies and no one should blame anyone else for his financial situations; he believes that health is wealth and that we should do everything to ensure that we keep our bodies healthy and fit to enable us fulfill our assignment on earth; he recognises that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and must not be treated carelessly; he believes that no matter the pressure, we should create time regularly to have fun and ‘spoil ourselves’ a little: he believes that when we cultivate the habit of giving back to the society from the wealth we legitimately accumulate the God will smile back at us with more abundance; He believes that wealth and success are really accumulation of contacts over time. We should therefore make every relationship we find ourselves count; He believes that maintaining an attitude of gratitude in every situation we find ourselves is an indication that we know fully well that the God will always work everything out in our favour; Above all, he recognizes God as the source of legitimate wealth and that He decided to send his only begotten son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth to the world, not just to die for our sins, but also to demonstrate how to be a real wealthmaster. Therefore, he will not be involved in any wealth accumulation where someone is cheated, short changed or defrauded.
I got more confident in describing him as a wealthmaster when I was reflecting on how he responded to the question I asked him while he was accompanying me downstairs on my way out how the birthday event of tomorrow would be. He told me it would be as it has always been with the past events: no birthday ceremonies, every guest would be handed a gift pack as takeaway and , wait for this: “Every single cash or cheque that people give to me will be collated and I will take them all, go to the altar of my church, kneel down , thank God for his faithfulness and mercy and I will give every single penny including my own contribution to God”.
Is it not fitting to describe this corporate icon and boardroom colossus as a worthy wealthmaster. Happy birthday sir.
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