Fola Adeola whose full name is Tajudeen Afolabi Adeola is a Nigerian accountant, entrepreneur and politician.
Education
Fola Adeola attended Methodist Boys High School in Lagos and then went on to Yaba College of Technology from where he obtained a Diploma in Accounting. He became a Chartered Accountant in 1980 after his training at Deloitte Haskins and Sells and D.O. Dafinone & Company which are both also chattered accountants.
Being one who has always loved accumulating knowledge he went on to get training from other notable institutions. Some of which include Harvard Business School, INSEAD and also the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland. He also completed a one year sabbatical at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Jos, Nigeria.
Fola Adeola is married to Hajara and together they have six children.
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Rise to Prominence
One of his Fola’s notable achievements was the establishment is Guaranty Trust Bank which he founded in 1990 together with his long time friend Tayo Aderinokun. He assumed the role of managing director right after its inception and held the post for 12 years until July 2002 when he voluntarily retired and handed over to his deputy Tayo Aderinokun. GT Bank has grown to be a force of its own in the banking sector of Nigeria, it has even enlarged it’s coast to other countries including The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and even the UK.
After retiring from his post as the managing director of GT Bank, Fola went on to serve in different prominent influential boards. He was chairman of Lotus Capital, Eterna Oil, CardinalStone Partners Limited, UTC, ARM and also a board member of Tasfan Breweries. He is also the chairman of Main One Cable Company Limited.
Fola Adeola was also part of the National Honours and Awards Committer and in November 2004 he was made a member of the Governing Council of Lagos State University.
He went on to serve as a member of the Solid Minerals Committee and also served as the Chairman of Ogun State Development Trust Fund Committee. He was part of the council of Lagos State University up until January 2017.
Fola Adeola also delved in Nigerian Politics. He served as Chairman of the National Pension Commission and also as the Chairman of the Lagos State Disaster Relief Committer which was formed after the Lagos armoury explosion in January, 2002. He is a onetime Vice-Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria and was the running mate to Nuhu Ribadu(former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairman) in the 2011 presidential elections.
Fola Adeola is also the founder of FATE Foundation, a non-governmental organization which is aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship in young Nigerians.
Accolades
- He was decorated as officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in December 2002 by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
- He holds an honorary doctorate from Nkumba University Ntebbe Uganda.
- He was made Banker of the Decade by Vanguard Newspaper group in 2009.
