*This photo captures An Early Titan - Young Sir Louis Phillip Odumegwu-Ojukwu (Right) sitting next to young Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe in the early 1950s
The name Ojukwu is sort of synonymous with the civil war leader of Biafra today but that wasn’t the case in the beginning.
Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was the son of Sir Louis Phillip Odumegwu Ojukwu, a visionary and entrepreneur who was unarguably the richest man in Nigeria in the years preceding independence.
Sir Louis arrived in Lagos in 1929 with nothing to his name but in just ten years he was already managing Ojukwu stores, Ojukwu textiles and Ojukwu Transport Company. He had a knack for spotting opportunities and this guided him in his business decisions. Realizing the need for vehicles to ferry passengers between the eastern part of the country and Lagos, Sir Phillip saved and bought trucks which served the growing number of travelers in the developing nation.
Sir Phillip was:
First Nigerian to own a private Limozine (Which he allowed to be used by Queen Elizabeth in 1960)
- The founding President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
- President, African Continental Bank.
- Chairman, Nigeria Cement Company (NIGERCEM).
- Chairman, Ojukwu Transport Company.
- Chairman, Nigerian National Shipping Line.
- Chairman, Lion of Africa Insurance Company.
- Chairman, Nigerian Industrial Development Bank.
- Vice Chairman, Lagos Chamber of Commerce.
- Chairman, Costain West Africa.
- Director, Shell D’Arcy Petroleum.
- Director, Thomas Wyatt and Sons.
- Director, Guinness Nigeria Limited.
- Director, Daily Times of Nigeria.
- Chairman, Nigerian Produce Marketing Board.
- Director, Nigerian Coal Corporation.
- Director, Palmline Shipping Company.
This giant of corporate Nigeria passed away in 1966, a year before the country plunged into civil war..
*Source historylovers
