Seyi Makinde – Biography, Net Worth and Career Of The 28th Governor Of Oyo State

Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde is the 28th executive Governor of Oyo State, Nigeria. Apart from being a respected politician, he is a businessman and a trained engineer on fluid and gas metering. Also, Seyi Makinde was the former Group Managing Director of Makon Group Limited.

See Also: Examples of hospitality business ideas you can start and how to start it

Seyi Makinde Background

Seyi was born on the 25th of December, 1967 to Late Pa Olatunbosun Makinde and Madam Abigail Makinde in Oja’ba, Ibadan. His father was a popular teacher who later became an accountant. Seyi Makinde is the third child of the family.

Seyi had his primary education at St Paul Primary School and at St Michael Primary School, Yemetu, Ibadan. After, he proceeded to Bishop Phillips Academy Monatan, Ibadan for his secondary school education. Seyi Makinde gained admission to the University of Lagos (Unilag) in 1985. There, he obtained a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering.

Oluwaseyi Makinde is a member of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Oil and Gas Design Engineers of Nigeria (OGDEN), Council for Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), International Society of Automation (ISA), Institute of Measurement and Control UK; and American Measurement Institute (AMI).

Oluwaseyi Makinde is married to Dr. Esther and they have three children together.

See Also: Top 20 business blogs in Nigeria every business owner must follow.

Seyi Makinde Trainings

As a young man in quest for knowledge, Seyi Makinde enrolled for a training on Safety Shutdown System at Industrial Control Services in Houston, Texas. Not only that, in 1999, he also trained on Development of Analytical Competence for Managing Operations at Pan-Atlantic University (formerly Lagos Business School).

Furthermore, Seyi Makinde trained on Automation in 2000. Thereafter, in 2002, he studied Fundamentals of Crude Sampling at Jiskoot Auto Control Training Centre, Kent, England. He also studied Understanding and Solving Complex Business Problems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA in 2005.

See Also: Business ideas to start with 100K in Nigeria and make money

Seyi Makinde Business And Professional Career

In 1990, Seyi Makinde served as a corp member with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria. He began as a pupil engineer and later served in other capacities as well. He was there till 1992.

Thereafter, Seyi Makinde moved to Rebold International Limited, where he worked as a field Engineer (Eket Operations). He was later made the Field Manager of the company.

News has it that Seyi created over 5000 jobs for Oyo indigenes through his youth empowerment program.

See Also: 10 Ways to improve your leadership skills as an entrepreneur.

Makon Engineering and Technical Services Limited (METS)

After working with international companies for five years, Seyi Makinde founded Makon Engineering and Technical Services; an instrumentation, Automation and Control Systems Company at age 29. He was the Group Managing Director of the company until August 2018.

Today, the company which is now known as Makon Group, has four subsidiaries in Nigeria, and branch offices in South Africa and USA.

See Also: How to acquire new customers for your business and make them stay.

Seyi Makinde Political Career

In 2007, Seyi contested for Oyo South Senatorial seat under All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) but, lost to Kamoru Adedibu, the People’s Democratic Party candidate. In 2010, he also lost the Oyo South Senatorial seat, this time under the People’s Democratic Party. As a determined man, Seyi was not discouraged by the failure. Rather, he took it as a challenge and came back bigger and better.

In 2015, Seyi Makinde took the bold step by aiming for the Oyo State 2015 governorship ticket under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). However, he was denied the nomination ticket after the party’s primary election.

Seyi Makinde, however, followed the saying that goes thus: failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. So, he decided to leave PDP to contest for the 2015 gubernatorial office under Social Democratic Party (SDP). But, lost eventually.

In September, 2017, Senator Ahmed Makarfi; the Caretaker National Chairman of PDP visited Seyi Makinde. To cut the long story short, with several interventions, Seyi returned to People’s Democratic Party
(PDP).

A year after, Makinde became the gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 Oyo State general elections after winning the primary election with 2772 votes.

Seyi Makinde’s dream of becoming the Governor of Oyo State finally came through in 2019. Eventually, He was elected into the office of the governor of Oyo State at the 2019 gubernatorial elections for Oyo State in March 9, 2019. He defeated Mr. Adebayo Adelabu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 157,639 votes.

He was sworn in on 29th May 2019 taking over from Senator Abiola Ajimobi after his eight years in office.

See Also: How to start a successful logistics business in Nigeria

Seyi Makinde’s Net Worth

Seyi Makinde publicly declared his asset which was worth over 48 Billion Naira. Therefore, it is safe to say that Governor Seyi Makinde is worth billions of naira.

See Also: How to start a travel agency business in Nigeria.

Awards And Recognitions

• Fiditi Grammar Schhol, Oyo State – Old Student Merit Award for commitment, dedication and service to the association and humanity.
• Junior Chamber Internation (JCI) University of Calabar Chapter – Entrepreneur Excellence Award
• Nigerian Union of Journalists (Oyo State Council) – Laudable Contribution to Humanity Merit Award
• National Association of Oke-Ogun Students (Ibadan) – Merit Award
• Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (Oyo State Chapter) – Gold Merit Award for immense and invaluable contribution to sports development
• Nigerian Association of Social Workers Merit Awards (Oyo State Chapter) – Philanthropic gestures and contribution to sports development
• CCII National Merit Award
• Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (Ibadan) Merit Award – Astute Politician of the Year, 2018

See Also: Business funding opportunities for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

Seyi Makinde Philanthropy

• He gave scholarships to outstanding students from different secondary schools across Oyo State, particularly Bishop Philip Academy, Ibadan.
• Sponsorship of medical team from United States of America to Nigeria to carry out free medical procedures.
• Annual sponsorship of pilgrims to the Holy Land of Mecca, Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem, Israel.
• Distribution of teaching and writing materials to the pupils of primary and secondary schools in Oyo State.
• Construction of Science Laboratory for the PEN Junior School Iyaganku, Ibadan.
• Installation of Street Light at Bayo Oyeleke Street, Ikolaba Ibadan with 10 KVA Generator.
• 1,500 students drawn from across the tertiary institutions in the country have also benefited from Seyi Makinde’s scholarship awards.
• Seyi Makinde donated of N1 million to UCH Indigent Patients Fund.
• In 2017, he donated N5 million to support LAUTECH fund raising effort.
• Donation of N50 Million for 2017/2018 Seyi Makinde Bursary Scheme Award to 2,500 tertiary institution students.
• Donation of multi-million Naira project for an e-library ‎to his alma mater- Bishop Phillips Academy, Iwo Road, Ibadan.
• Sponsorship of Omituntun Foundation Mega Praise Event for Christians.
• Sponsorship of Omituntun Annual Ramadan Lecture for Muslims.
• Donation of golf kits to Tiger Golf Club Odogbo Cantoment, Ibadan
• Sponsorship of Seyi Makinde’s ‘Women’s Support Golf Tournament.’
• Adoption of seven children with full scholarship up to tertiary education level.

See Also: Biography of successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria mining the gold of the land.

Seyi Makinde Quotes

“To show my commitment to our teachers’ welfare, I donated my salary for my entire four year tenure to the Teachers’ Pension Fund”.

“We can build a peaceful and prosperous future, but only if we do it together.”

“The youths are important, they are our main focus”.

“Meaningful development can’t take place without adequate security.”

“As servants, our responsibility is to act in our people’s best interest.”

“Our administration will continue to prioritise education as the foundation upon which sustainable development is built”.

See Also: Most in-demand freelance skills to start and make money.

Business Lessons From Seyi Makinde

1. Never Give Up

Although Seyi Makinde lost the elections twice, he never gave up. He kept trying until he finally became the Governor of Oyo State.

In business, you may fail sometimes, but if you don’t give up, you will come out successful.

2. Consistency

Seyi Makinde started his career in an oil and gas firm. Having learnt a lot there, he established a business in the same Industry. And today, the company is still racking in billions for him.

As a business owner, you should invest more where your strength lies. That way, you will be able to scale fast.

See Also: 100 Profitable business ideas for aspiring entrepreneurs and investors to start now.

3. Feedback

Impressively, Seyi Makinde’s government is a very open one. He feeds back the society on every step he takes in office. He tweets his actions on his twitter handle, so the society can be carried along.

An entrepreneur must always give feedback to his customers for smooth communication both online and offline.

4. Dedication

Obviously, Seyi Makinde is dedicated to his duties as the governor since he was appointed. He is passionate to the point of releasing his four years salary for teacher’s welfare.

The amount of dedication you put into your business will determine the result you will get.

Are you doing something amazing in the entrepreneurial space and you want the world to hear about it? We will love tell your story.

Follow us on Instagram to keep track of our activities.