YOUNG & SUCCESSFUL – The inspiring story of AKEEM OYEWALE, Chartered Accountant at 20, Bank Subsidiary’s CEO at 27

He has arguably the fastest career rise in Nigeria’s financial services industry. No, he is not the son of Mike Adenuga. His father never owned the company he worked for. He joined the firm, writing test like everyone else. His rise is phenomenal, it is teachable. His story has never been told by any newspaper or magazine before, underscoring his humble, unassuming, self-effacing, probably media-shy nature. And when I say media-shy, I don’t mean he doesn’t talk to press. But wait, he talks only about the Africa’s financial markets, not his private life. Jarushub thinks aspiring youths of today can learn a thing or two from Akeem Oyewale, the Group Head, Global Markets Sales, StanbicIBTC Group and Director of Equities Brokerage at Standard Bank Group, the South African banking giant. Ride with us:

EARLY LIFE

• Akeem was born in October 1977 in Offa, Kwara state. He was named Oluwashina – meaning, ‘God has opened the door of success’ by his parents because his birth co-incided with the period his then young parents were making financial breakthrough as young couples. You think name doesn’t matter?  Give your child a good name
• He started his elementary education at Adeola Model School, Offa, reputed to be the first private primary school in the old Kwara state (now Kwara and Kogi states). Guess what? He didn’t finish. No, he wasn’t rusticated. So brilliant was he that he was made to ‘skip’ primary six, wrote National Common Entrance Examinations at primary five in 1987, and gained admission into Offa Grammar School, Offa (do you know that almost 90% of successful personalities from this community attended this school?) . He not only coped with his ‘seniors’ in primary school at OGS, but continued the academic streak. By the time he finished secondary school in 1993, age 16, he emerged the best graduating student in the school and one of the best in Kwara state, finishing with nine distinctions, five of which were A1’s. He had A2 in English Language – that dreaded subject, and biggest headache to public secondary school pupils
• Akeem was said to be a very studious pupil. He never played with academics. He was mostly seen reading at the school library, and at home, supported by his parents.
• The then pint-size Akeem was actually an all-rounder. It wasn’t about books alone.  Everything he learns, he grasps quickly. At age 15, he was already a good driver – well, by the rural Offa standard. Far before that age, he had completed the Qur’an in Arabic. Talk of a genius.

FROM THE ‘VILLAGE’ TO THE CITY – THE UNILAG DAYS

• Offa, even by 1993 when Akeem left, wasn’t a village per se. And even if was, the young Akeem can’t be said to be a village boy in the sense of the word, because one that had been watching CNN and aware of global events even from the remote Offa, can’t be said to be unexposed. But this is Lagos – the city of wisdom
• In UME 1993, Akeem scored 263 (and the highest score in Nigeria at the time was a little above 280). The first candidate to score above 300 in UME was Johnson in UME 2000. (Jarushub shall track him and feature him on this platform one day. Keep visiting). That was before JAMB was bastardized and every Dick and Harry buys 300 marks.
• Yet, his admission into Unilag wasn’t exactly seamless. How on earth will someone score 263, less than 25 marks less than the score of the best candidate in Nigeria for that year, yet his name didn’t come out of first batch of admitted students? Not good, but Akeem wouldn’t want us talk ill of his revered alma mater.  So we are not delving into what Unilag has turned into, not taking anything away from the good sides of the school.
• Akeem gained admission into Accounting department of Unilag in 1994, age 17. Now, why would someone that had A1 in Physics, Chemistry, amongst other Science subjects, suddenly turn to Accounting? Keep reading

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT BEFORE 21

• His father had always admired accountants and actually wanted him to be one, but the then principal of his secondary school was able to convince him that this boy was too good not to be a science student. He went on to finish secondary school as a science student.
• Added to that, he once told someone that, in 1993, at the 50^th anniversary celebration of Offa Grammar School, after receiving his prize as best student for that year, one of the VIP alumni present, Prince Yunus Oyeleke, who was one of Nigeria’s earliest Chartered Accountants of the generation of the Doyen himself, Akintola Williams, called him aside and enlightened him about the difference between an Accountant and a Chartered Accountant.
•  The old man’s advice to the 16-year-old Akeem stuck. Akeem started ICAN just the next year, 1994, in his year 1 in Unilag. By the time he celebrated his 21^st Birthday in 1998, he was not only a graduate but a Chartered Accountant. He was one of the youngest persons to qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Nigeria.  Who are your own advisers? Do you learn from masters in your trade? It isn’t too late. That is why Jarushub has dedicated this section to discuss the success of personalities.
• Akeem finished from Unilag in 1998 with Second Class Upper (Jarushub believes he was a First Class material, lost the First Class target probably because he was writing ICAN simultaneously).  Yet, he finished as best student in Unilag’s faculty of Administration for that year.
•  Actually, before he finished from Unilag, a number of job offers were flying around, including from Anderson, one of the world’s biggest accounting firms then. He wrote and passed the recruitment test of the then Investment Banking and Trust Company (IBTC) and joined the company for pre-NYSC in late 1998. He did his youth service there, and guess what, he is still with that investment banking giant today.

FROM IBTC TO IBTC-CHARTERED TO STANBICIBTC TO STANDARD BANK – A RISE IN LEAPS

• Akeem joined IBTC at a time the company was using a relatively small office in Marina, before its edifice at Bonny camp was completed. He was to grow with the company and rise within short time, and by 2004, at age 27, he was promoted the Chief Executive Officer of IBTC Asset Management Limited, the biggest asset management firm in Nigeria. For his role in positioning IAML he was nominated by Thisday newspaper for the award of Nigeria’s Young Manager of the Year 2006. He was later moved to IBTC Stockbroking Limited as pioneer CEO. He currently holds the dual position of Head, Global Markets Sales at the enlarged StanbicIBTC Bank and Director, Equities Brokerage at Standard Bank.
• Despite the metamorphosis and business combinations that IBTC went through it is worthy of note they keep turning out beneficial to the young stockbroker as he continues to rise within the group.
• He became a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA) in 2008 at 31, and in addition to that he is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers of Nigeria (FCS). He also holds membership certificate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN). His insatiable quest for knowledge  also drove him to Manchester Business School in UK, where he did his MBA.

SECRETS OF SUCCESS

• Akeem is one of the most self-effacing persons Jarushub ever comes across. So humble that when ones sees him one would not believe he is the man we have written all these about.
• He just doesn’t like the publicity and that is why he has never been featured in any formal or informal media, and his career rise is perhaps underreported. He is one that is concerned probably only about his job and family.  But like a Gold Fish, Jarushub believes he has no hiding place. That is why we are the first media outfit to to bring his career under spotlight, aside the Thisday profiling in 2007.
• He is so hardworking that as the beginning of his banking career, his family members hardly saw him, as he was always leaving for work so early and returning late in the evening, sometimes going to office on weekends too. Seeth thou a man diligent in his work…….
• He is also known to be very religious and a firm believer in God and prayer in addition to hardwork. He used to recite Qur’an everyday before he leaves home for work. He also doesn’t joke with prayers for any endeavor he wants to undertake. He doesn’t drink either.
• Those that work him also testify to his uncompromising nature when it comes to integrity. To him, the right cut is the only cut.
• Perhaps driven by his humility, Akeem is not the flamboyant type.  Someone once asked one of his siblings couple of years back: how can Akeem be driving Camry when people that are even lower than him in the industry drive Jeeps? No, Akeem isn’t doing Ijebu to himself; he just  doesn’t believe auto ownership is where to make a statement.