Fela Durotoye – Life And Success Story Of The Man Known As Mr. Nigeria

Fela Durotoye (Adetokunbo Olufela Durotoye) popularly known as Mr Nigeria, is the president of GEMSTONE Nation Builders Foundation. He is a business strategist, leadership expert, politician and motivational speaker. He was the presidential candidate under the Alliance for New Nigeria party (ANN) for the 2019 presidential elections.

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Fela Durotoye Family Background.

Fela Durotoye was born on the 12th of May 1971 in Ibadan, Oyo State to Layiwola and Adeline Durotoye. His parents were both lecturers of the University of Ibadan before moving to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife He is married to the CEO of House of Tara International–Tara Fela-Durotoye, and they are blessed with 3 children.

Fela Durotoye Educational Background.

Fela attended Obafemi Awolowo University Staff School from 1974–1981 for his primary education. He then moved to Moremi High School in 1981 and finished in 1986. He has a BSc in Computer Science with Economics and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Durotoye is an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive of Harvard University and the Leadership Institute, Arlington, Virginia.

Fela Durotoye also attended the High Impact Leadership program for a better society at Yale University. He is an accredited leadership coach of the John Maxwell team. Fela concluded the executive program on strategy, innovation and governance at the Lagos Business school in 2015. He then went for the supernumerary police training program at the Nigerian Police training college where he graduated with a distinction.

Fela Durotoye Career.

He started out as a financial analyst at Ventures & Trusts Limited in 1992. On leaving Ventures and Trusts Limited, he went to work with Phillips Consulting Limited as their head of customer service department in 1998. In 2000, Fela started his own company, V.I.P Consulting Limited. The company was known to handle customer and human resource management effectively in Nigeria. Currently, the firm has been restructured to a social enterprise called Visible Impact Limited.

Boards Where Fela Durotoye Serve

• Fela Durotoye is on the board of O NAPHTALI, a scratch card and printing company in Nigeria.
• He is a board member of Bubez Food Group.
• Durotoye is the Chairman of the Board of Directors, House of Tara International, a successful beauty company in Nigeria with over 4,000 beauty representatives, 22 beauty studios and 12 make-up schools.
• Homebase Mortgage Bank Limited, made him the chairman of its Board of Directors.
• Chairman, Board of Directors of I-aspire media, Nigeria’s inspiration and leadership radio station.
• Fela Durotoye is the chairman, board of directors of Orbra, the manufacturers of smartphones, tablets, smart devices and accessories in Nigeria.
• He is a member of the advisory board of the Nigeria Canada Forum (NCF) in Regina, Canada.

GEMSTONE Nation Builders Foundation.

GEMSTONE is an acronym for a Generation that is Empowered, Motivated, and Stirred to Operate with Natural Excellence. The organization was established in 2012 to inspire, empower, motivate and raise leaders of excellence. Leaders that would make a resolve to develop Nigeria to become the most desired place in the world to live by 31st December 2025. The foundation’s mission is to develop adequate human resources that would be readily available to develop the country.

Fela Durotoye and Politics.

Fela Durotoye announced his intention to run for presidency in the 2019 Nigerian general election on the 22nd of February, 2018 under the Alliance for New Nigeria political party. He was selected as the consensus candidate of the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT). Fela emerged as the presidential candidate of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) on the 29th of September 2018.

While contesting, Fela attested to the fact that running for a political office is not easy, nevertheless, the best way one can serve a nation’s interest is from the nation’s highest office which is the office of the President. He decided Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya would be his vice president several months after he was announced as the presidential candidate of ANN. Khadijah is a successful social entrepreneur.

Mushin Makeover

Fela Durotoye organized and led an urban renewal project called “Mushin Makeover” in 2009. Celebrities like Banky W, Alibaba, Kate Henshaw, Omoni Oboli, Teju Babyface, Sound Sultan, TY Bello, Dj Jimmy Jatt, Omawunmi, Denrele, Dele Momodu, Tosin Bucknor, Stella Damascus, Tee A, Segun Dangote, Ebuka Obi amongst others were involved in the project. They painted and also asked people to donate paints for the project. They got support from young professionals who not only donated paints, but also made themselves available to assist with the painting.

Fela was able to bring together over 2000 volunteers that painted 296 houses in 7 streets of Mushin, Lagos without collecting any money from the house owners and residents of the buildings. During the Mushin Makeover project, Berger Paints PLC trained over 100 unemployed youths in ‘The Art and Technique of Painting’. These youths that participated in the training became professional painters and currently make their living from painting.

Fela Durotoye’s Philanthropical Activities

Speakers Corner

• Fela mentored thousands of young people to develop their communication skills and National Values from 2004-2007.

• Fela Durotoye got over 800 volunteer teachers that trained 4122 secondary school students of public schools across Lagos state. He also donated math sets and four-figure tables to the students in 2010.

Project RAISE

Fela Durotoye got volunteers that trained and fed 51,150 students including over 5000 teachers for 2weeks. This action moved Oyo state from number 28 to number 3 in Math and English nationwide in 2010.

GEMSTONE Global Reading Festival

Fela Durotaye organized the GEMSTONE global reading festival with over 12,000 students from Nigeria, 9 other African countries, Europe and the USA. All participants read sections of Fela’s book aloud in their various locations at the same time (with different time zones). They read simultaneously, taking into account, the different time zones of each reading Centre. The event took place on the 24^th of November, 2012.

Value Infusion Project

This project is said to be Fela’s most significant contribution to Nation Building. The value system he proposed has been endorsed and is actively promoted by over 30,000 Nigerians. These values have become some people’s personal creed. Organizations and professional associations like the Association of Private Educators of Nigeria, the Nigerian Institute of Mechanical Engineers, the Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria and recently government agencies and parastatals have started adopting these value systems. The project is the largest non-governmental effort at reorienting and instilling a positive value system into the citizens of Nigeria.

Fela Durotoye’s Awards and Recognitions.

• Nigerian Achievers Award Institute (NAAI).
• Fly Network Africa Integrity Award.
• City People Award.
• Role Model Award by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).
• “Excellence in Human Resource Consulting Award” by NIPRO, a body of Nigerian Professionals based in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. He got this award in recognition of his contributions to Human Resource Consulting at their global convention in Miami, Florida in December 2004.
• Most prestigious Award of Excellence, by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN), in recognition of his excellence and professionalism in sharing his knowledge of Human Resource Management in July 2005.
• Heart of Africa Award by the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication in recognition of his efforts towards building a new Nigeria in 2006.
• Prestigious Nigerian Achievers Award in 2009.
• Fela Durotoye was recognized by the Universal Peace Federation and the Youth Federation for World Peace as a United Nations Young Ambassador for Peace in 2011.
• The US-based Black Enterprise magazine named Fela Durotoye as one of the 10 Power Men in Africa on Twitter in 2013.
• The African Young Entrepreneurs network gave him an honorary award for his efforts in advancing youth enterprise and nation building in Africa, precisely Nigeria in 2017.

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