HENRY ODUAH chronicles the journey to the heights of one of Nigeria’s most successful businessmen, Chief Sonny Odogwu, the man to beat in the insurance circle who clocked 84 on Friday, March 20, 2015.
An unbelievably large number of people venture into business, but only a handful scale barriers and emerge giants in the business world.
The spotlight is on Chief Sonny Iwedike Odogwu, who is recognised today as a business tycoon after many years of hardwork and perseverance. His administrative skills have unarguably earned him this level of success.
Born on March 20, 1931 in Calabar, Cross River State, though an indigene of Anioma in Delta State, young Sonny attended St. Peters School, Broad Street, Lagos, in 1939. He moved to the famous C.M.S. Grammar School, Bariga, also in Lagos, for junior secondary education from 1940 to 1943. He rounded off with senior secondary education at Ilesha Grammar School, Osun State, from 1943 to 1946. The United Kingdom (UK) was where he soon found himself taking an insurance course at the London Insurance Institute in 1954. The following year, he switched to the City College, London, for further studies on management.
Sonny Odogwu started out as a trainee pilot with the defunct Nigeria Airways in 1947. The following year, his career changed direction when he joined Norwich Union in Lagos as a trainee insurance inspector and manager. That switch in career would later lead him to serve in various capacities in several insurance companies. After his romance with Norwich Union ended in 1952, Odogwu put his specialist cum managerial skills to work in establishing an insurance broking firm, Robert Dyson & Diet Limited, in 1953. His undisputed expertise drove him beyond Nigeria’s borders to London, England, where he was an Insurance Inspector with Pearl Assurance Company Ltd in 1954.
Still in the insurance business, Odogwu had a four-year stint, which lasted from 1954 to 1958, as manager of Swiss General Insurance Co., in Zurich, Switzerland. He returned to Lagos in 1958 as the first indigenous African Director of C.T. Bowring and Company Limited. He then resigned to form African Underwriters Limited, which later became African Insurance Brokers, the first indigenous Insurance Brokerage Company in Nigeria.
Ide Ahaba of Asaba, as he’s recognised by the Asaba people, later became proprietor and managing director of African Underwriters Ltd. In 1966, he was managing director of The African Prudential Insurance Co Ltd. A decade after, he became chairman of the firm.
At this time in his life, he had gained the necessary experience he needed in setting up chains of large-scale businesses without noticeable hiccups. Odogwu was director of the Robert Bradford group of companies and chairman of Odogwu Group of Companies and of SID Properties from 1976. From 1984 to 1985, he reigned as Director of Sanyo (Nigeria) and National Fertiliser Company of Nigeria Ltd. He founded the Argro-Allied Sack Factory, Asaba, in 1988. Odogwu is currently chairman of board of directors, United African Insurance Brokers Limited (UAIB).
As expected of one who has forced a breakthrough in his profession, Odogwu is a member of various professional bodies, including the Association of the Chartered Insurance Institute, London; Association of the Corporation of Insurance Brokers, London; Fellow of the Corporate Insurance Brokers (F.C.I.B); Underwriting member at Lloyd’s London and Fellow of the Corporation of Insurance Practitioners (F.C.I.P).
The Ide Ahaba boasts of ownership of several companies currently in formidable shape. He is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Odogwu Group of Companies Limited, consisting of African Insurance Brokers, The United African Insurance Brokers (Brokers at Lloyd’s), SIO Property Ltd, Afric-Oil and Marketing Company, SIO Motors Nigeria Ltd, and Post Publishing Company Ltd. Odogwu also found a new love for hotel investment and on the list of his assets is his Grand Hotel in Asaba, Delta State, and St. Regis Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Unsurprisingly, the saying that “A great man is sought after by many” fits Odogwu’s personality. The 84-year-old has long been “baptised” with numerous honours such as Award of Achievement and Entrepreneurship, by the Institute of Nigeria Journalists, Enugu, in 1990; Entrepreneur of the Year, by the Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mine and Culture in 1992. In 1997, he was honoured with the Zik Leadership Award in Business. The World Bank Group-IMF African Club Prize in Business Leadership in 1998 followed, as he was recognised as Africa’s best businessman.
Besides professional awards, the renowned industrialist has enjoyed great attention from local communities both in his hometown, region and beyond. He holds several chieftaincy titles from different states in Nigeria, including the Ide Ahaba of Asaba; Eze Udo I of Ogwashi-Uku; Ononaeyi of Amandugba; Igbologboobi of Ubulu; Nkume I of Ezi-Ama, Aba; Ekwedike I of Aba zone; Sobaloju of Ogbere, Ijebuland; and Tobalase of Ojoland, Lagos.
National awards also have not eluded the industrialist. In 2004, the federal government under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s watch honoured him with the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR).
The industrial magnate is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (A.C.I.I). Also, he is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Brokers (F.C.I.B) and the Corporate Insurance Practitioners (F.C.I.P), both based in London. He has provided the rare vision and exemplary leadership which have taken the Nigerian insurance industry to the apex of insurance business internationally. Odogwu has deployed his expertise in top-level management to nurture many successful economic and socio-economic initiatives within the private and public sectors.
He is the founder of the Nigerian-Southern African Economic Development Consortium, a group whose goal is the improvement of economic conditions in Africa. He is a renowned philanthropist.
A quick observation would reveal that Chief Odogwu is practically into all kinds of lucrative businesses one can think of: from insurance to hospitality, straight down to real estate. All these exemplify his knack for discovering wealth in the most possible places.
In 1961, he married Theresa Adaobi, a union which has been blessed with children and grandchildren.
