Foremost industrialist and Ibadan high chief Bode Akindele has died at the age of 88.
The Parakoyi of Ibadan is the founder of the Bode Akindele Foundation. Akindele was renowned for his philanthropy which spanned several decades.
The business mogul was said to have donated several millions of naira to governments both at the federal and state levels towards the fight against COVID-19.
The deceased had, for some decades, awarded scholarships to indigent students at various educational levels.
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The Bode Akindele Youths Initiative also collaborated with the University of Ibadan in giving vocational training to students in a bid to be self-reliant after graduating.
The Baba Ijo of Methodist Church Nigeria, Agbeni, Ibadan, owns a large business empire operating under the Modandola Group of Companies. The group of companies was named after his late mother.
The group, with headquarters in the United Kingdom, engages in maritime business, property and real estate, manufacturing, investments, finance, and flour milling.
The subsidiaries of the Madandola Group include Standard Breweries; Diamond Foods Limited; United Beverages Limited; and the Associated Match Industry.
His mother, Rabiatu Adedigba, was a wealthy Ibadan trader with political influence.
Akindele, who attended Olubi Memorial School, Ibadan and Lisabi Commercial College, Abeokuta, said at different fora that at the commercial school, he received the training that helped him to build a successful business life.
After completing his secondary school education, Akindele and some of his friends nursed the idea of travelling to the United Kingdom to study Law, but the growth of his business activities eventually took precedence.
He got his first paid employment in 1952, as secretary to an assistant district officer and later became a cadet manager with the United Africa Company where he was an assistant to the expatriate manager in Oyo. Akindele left UAC foods for the Western Nigerian Union of Importers and Exporters.
He registered his first company at the age of 20. He bought a land in Agege, a Lagos suburb and constructed a 80ft by 350ft warehouse where he stockpiled and grade cocoa. Importation of goods and the high volume of cocoa exports led to an interest in clearing and forwarding and road haulage, so he set up a company, Coastal Services Limited.
