Chairman, Berger Paints Plc, Dr. Oladimeji Alo, has reasons to be thankful to God for a fruitful life and career. HENRY ODUAH was there when he dazzled his audience with the story of his life at Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, GRA Ikeja, on Sunday, February 8.
You would agree with me that the man whom God has blessed cannot be hurt by any curse, whether from a visible or invisible force. Dr. Oladimeji Alo is indeed one who fits in the above description.
He was born on August 8, 1955 in Ilesha, Osun State, to the late Josiah Alo and Wura Alo. His father, who traded in textile materials, was married to over 10 wives. His mother, on the other hand, was also involved in the same textile business. While his father was strict and a disciplinarian, his mother was her husband’s direct opposite: simple and easy-going. The Berger Paints boss lost his father in 1989, but still has his 86-year-old mother around.
Education
He completed his primary education in 1966 and in two years’ time, his secondary education set in. To the amusement of his audience at the ‘God in My Life’ lecture organised by Torchbearers Society last Sunday, Alo’s penchant for jaw-breaking words led him to study Sociology and Anthropology at the then University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.
He further noted the most significant things about himself in his secondary school days: he neither had a counsellor nor mentor; he liked playing the popular Yoruba talking drum; and was rascally.
Alo was admitted into the university to Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and Anthropology in June 1978 after several failed attempts to switch over to economics department. Without sparing time to work and earn some money before hitting his master’s degree, like most people do, Alo returned to his alma mater where he started and completed his master’s degree in 1980. Equipped with his second degree, Alo started out as a graduate assistant at his alma mater that same year.
As an evidence of God in his life, it took Alo only four years to join the doctorate degree cadre. In clear terms, he holds a doctorate degree, with specialisation in Industrial Sociology, from the University of Ife, in 1984.
Career pursuit
When career is mentioned, what comes to people’s minds is a singular thing which an individual develops himself in. Alo’s career actually took several paths. He was a lecturer, a banker, a management consultant, an administrator, a writer, name it! Call him a musician, you would not be wrong.
According to records, the egghead worked at his alma mater for seven years. Then he opened a new phase in management consulting at PriceWaterhouse Associates in 1985. Perhaps, for better remuneration and work environment, he ended his romance with PriceWaterhouse Associates and committed to Coopers & Lybrand Associates in 1987 where he garnered a total of nine years’ experience serving in various capacities.
Unsurprisingly, in 1992, Alo revisited his academic career, and this time he went beyond the shores of Nigeria and served as a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States of America. His diligence drove him to the position of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), from January 1996 until August 2009, which is approximately 13 years.
A former president of the West African Bankers Association (WABA), Alo currently serves as the chairman of Berger Paints Plc.
In fact, he resigned as MD/CEO of FITC, principally to establish his own firm which he called Excel Professional Services Limited, a management consulting firm specialising in strategy, leadership and governance.
The first six months of operation was not rosy, as the firm was affected by crisis in the banking sector at the time the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, relieved several banks’ managing directors of their jobs. You would recall that the incident resulted in the crash of the capital market.
However, the firm broke even 18 months after establishment. Today the profits are rolling in. primarily because of what you may as well regard as God in Alo’s life.
Among his numerous commitments, Alo currently serves as a trustee of the Risk Management Association of Nigeria, a member of the Business Advisory Group of Vision 2020, and an honorary fellow of the Osun State College of Education, Ilesha. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) and served as the president/chairman of council of the institute from March 2007 to April 2010.
In addition, he served as the chairman of the Investigation Panel of the Ethics and Professionalism Sub-Committee of the Nigeria Bankers’ Committee from 2003 to 2009. He served on the Board of the Nigeria Capital Market Institute for two years and on the executive council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers’ of Nigeria (CIBN) for three years.
Alo has written and published several articles and contributed chapters in management books. He is the author of the book, Human Resource Management in Nigeria published in 1999, and the editor of the book, Issues in Corporate Governance published in 2003.
Family and hobbies
It will not be fair to this achiever to write his story without a mention of his family. Alo first met the woman that would become his wife, in 1967. Paint a romantic picture of the duo in your head, and down the aisle they went on August 27, 1981. The union is blessed with three children: a girl and two boys, all of which came within the first three years of marriage. Alo and his wife are now grandparents.
A committed christian, Alo likes to read newspapers, books, magazines, just about anything readable. According to him, he only has time for movies and television when he is on vacation outside the country. He likes clubbing too. A Christian clubber, he sometime joked about himself.