* How a large heart, humility distinguishes him from his peers
*Why he shuns the spotlight
Billionaire businessman, Sholaye Jeremi, is a year older today. Typically, he would not roll out the drums in celebration as he is widely known as patently self-effacing. But guess what, today would avail his family and friends, mentees, employees, associates, and admirers worldwide, a rare opportunity to extol, recall, and recount the virtues of the man fondly called ‘Prince Charming’. It would also be a day for the oil magnate to look back at his life and realise that every day deserves celebrations because of his trajectory and impact on humanity illustrated by boundless and borderless philanthropic endeavours.
At 43, he gives generously to medical research, the arts, education, think tanks and science without courting the media’s attention. He cares deeply about the values that make success in Nigeria and the African continent possible — free markets, freedom, limited censure and healthy competition.
Yes, it took humility and grace to seek beyond entrepreneurial exploits, and improve lives via selfless, and fortune-changing philanthropy. Jeremi reminds us that we can all resist the excuses that guard us from giving love. Whatever power we have, whatever our wealth and attainments, we attain humaneness and immortality, perhaps, by lifting others up. Especially those who are less privileged than we are. Today, Jeremi is reaching out to some of the Orphanage and Old People’s homes in the State with gifts and food items.
Interestingly, however, like all great men with substance and self-worth, Sholaye Jeremi has evolved into a very savvy entrepreneur and acclaimed visionary but none of that influences his estimation of his competence and self-worth as he affects a humble poise. His unique lack of vanity inspires a lot of his contemporaries and underlings to consider that they could also conduct themselves humbly and unpretentiously. This rare attribute also excites cosy presumptions that he is the type of dude you can sit next to on a plane and start a conversation with on any issue, even if you are just meeting. This is not only impressive, but it’s also important.
Jeremi’s favorite chess piece is probably not the mighty queen but the humble pawn. Perhaps because he knows that when the pawn crosses to the other side, it can become anything, except the king. Little wonder he treats his staff, rivals and associates, friends and random acquaintances with the utmost regard.
In-person, he’s endearing; he carries himself with an assuredness that could be mistaken for pride yet he is unmistakably humble.
He’s one of the very few magnates who look as sturdy and expansive in-depth in real life as they do in the news, on the screen and the pages of popular literature. He fills whatever room he happens to be in with infectious warmth and engaging, measured banter.
Jeremi parades a persona that is shorn of conceit. In fact, very few of the members of Nigeria’s affluent club can achieve every great feat in their youth, as he did, and remain quiet and self-effacing, like an avatar of the Himalayan thrust.
He attains great feats with unusual finesse and yet carries on with no false air of modesty. While his peer is busy pushing status and their immense bulk in a desperate dash for socioeconomic and political acclaim, Jeremi affects tact and humility, without ostentation or pretence. Hence his very loud silence in the public arena despite his very intimidating stature.
The dark and dazzling dude understands that regardless of your background, if you stick to your goals and vie, undaunted, against the odds, eventually you will attain success and ultimately become a better version of yourself.
Unlike most of his peers who are too busy poking their noses in the murky politics and intrigues of their respective states and even neighbouring territories, he simply focuses on his enterprise and applies himself to it conscientiously and with a towering sense of personal and professional business ethics.
Sources close to him revealed that he abhors the smudge and perils of cutthroat politics. This is why his businesses are never mired in dirt or fraudulence of any kind.
Interestingly, his story, therefore, pulsates with pleasurable lore of labour, perseverance, reinvention and accomplishment. It projects the fate of a man immune to the proverbial fatal weakness of character oft-derided by conservatives as carefree folk’s Achilles heel. Effortlessly, he personifies a classic success story of the man who grew to be a titan under the heavyweight of daunting odds, along the torturous path to acclaim.
