• How he conquered the land, sea and air
Yes, Capt. Idahosa Wells Okunbo is a force of nature. A rare factor on the African continent. Some would liken the amiable Chairman of Ocean Marine Solutions, to ‘The Factor’ on the African continent, a towering force of hope and entrepreneurial depth. Findings revealed that he is currently one of the very few economic giants and magnates enjoying the respect of the Nigerian government courtesy his infectious modesty and enviable business culture in the oil and gas sector.
Capt. Okunbo is something of a visionary. But at the core of his vision is a deep sense of scale; a profound passion for industry and respect for the universe, in their separate immensities. Okunbo is the best thing going for corporate Nigeria – in the oil and gas sector to be precise. Call him what you want, but recognize him for what he is: a futuristic magnate cum problem solver. An effective one at that! He’s soft-spoken, but driven by a fierce determination to bring progress to his beloved Nigeria and the African continent.
A passionate devotee to oil business, Okunbo is a patriot whose commitment to national and economic stability are beyond doubt. By grit, persistence and hard work, he built a great empire that employs thousands of Nigerians and Africans in highly profitable and futuristic endeavour. 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.
This is why he is a force of nature. Yet he is modest and without scorn. This is definitely one trait that stands him out from his peers. Every hour he flips through stamina rings, adroitly and without fear. A strong and dedicated leader, he brings clarity of thought and purpose to his exploits and his subordinates’ work. He is also a good listener who comes to the table not with some preset notion of distrust but rather an open mind; he asks tough questions and tries to find solutions.
The respectable businessman nurtures abiding love and respect for fellow humans, particularly those whose minds can somehow span the depth of his industry and citizenship of humanity. His story offers great lesson for all because it defangs too many of the prejudices and stereotypes that unfairly holds ambitious youth back. In fact, he achieved success the old-fashioned way: he earned it. He worked hard and stayed humble. Dr. Okunbo is in many ways a special man.
Yes, there are nations and individuals that appreciate his worth too. Thus the recent conferment of Vanguard Newspaper Businessman of The Year, is however, one of the many gestures society would make to celebrate one of Nigeria and Africa’s finest. According to Vanguard Newspaper, “It thus becomes a nerve-wracking exercise when there is a call to choose that single individual that qualifies to be named Vanguard’s BusinessMan of the Year. Occasionally it is not difficult; sometimes the nominee just presents himself/herself, while at other times, a galaxy of superlative performers in the business arena presents itself and it then becomes tasking to choose which star among others in the galaxy to be so named.
This year, among countless stars in the galaxy, it also wasn’t easy choosing one, but given the spectre of rising unemployment as a result of divestments, factory closures, forex crisis and other economic woes, it was extremely heart-warming to note that a few businessmen, rather than recoil into their safe havens while the storm raged, chose to brave the headwinds by investing more in the country. One such personality is Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo”.
Okunbo is also a notable philanthropist thus his establishment of his Foundation to positively impact the lives of the needy in Nigeria. The foundation puts smiles on people’s faces by creating or supporting initiatives that deliver knowledge, skills, resources and infrastructure that will stimulate innovation, facilitate commerce, drive enterprise and improve living conditions. Its core programme interests are entrepreneurship, education, health, and rural development.
Thus Hosa, like the proverbial bee, silently does his work in the hive, knowing that without humility all will be lost. But nothing is lost in the hive of the oil magnate. Year after year, the world plays host to his accomplishments, as it does to the cold draft that accompanies the drizzle in the harvest season.
It is hard to be more specific about the true worth of Hosa’s humanity because unlike most of civilization’s great, contemporary statesmen and philanthropists, he has something quite different to offer to his several dependants and beneficiaries of his generosity. Hosa is several things at the same time to everyone and anyone: he is a humanitarian who depicts raw compassion expressed with the greatest refinement and discipline; he is an aesthete with stormy sublimity, unimaginable genius and that famed vision of ingenuity that separates the practiced from the mediocre; Hosa to most and all of his acquaintances radiates an entirely different reality amid the world’s brutal capacity for ill and insensitivity; his humility and graciousness in his dealing with friends and established foes alike manifests as a sharp, shrill yet pleasant contradiction to the ugly and vulgar reality that daily becomes the plague of the mortal world.
But it’s crucial to note that he made his own destiny. He effortlessly melds into the roles of a diligent worker and responsible family man. This is why his business thrives and his family blossoms with amazing speed, sophistication and simplicity.
As a top businessman, he understands that changing the way Africans see themselves can also change the world. Thus he with extraordinary strength, he seeks to shape his immediate communities for the better every day. His commitment to the plight of the needy inspires all and sundry that nothing looks better on a human than the clarity, courage and conviction of vision.
He invested in the oil and gas sector, where he has since broken the glass ceiling with his many accomplishments in the area of marine security and marine logistics through his company, Ocean Marine Solution (OMS) Limited.
OMS has been involved in the recovery, remediation and maintenance as well as security surveillance of the Escravos-Warri and Bonny-Port Harcourt pipeline segments. This has resulted in the significant turnaround of the pipeline system from its once weak and old state in the past eight years to the current efficient and highly utilised level. Captain ‘Hosa is chairman of CMES OMS JV Limited, an integrated energy-related company with the capacity to provide financing and technical solutions to the upstream oil and gas sector, ranging from explorations to first oil for public and private indigenous oil companies.
He is also chairman of PPP Fluid Mechanics Limited, Secured Anchorage Area (SAA) Offshore Lagos, Gyro Air Limited, Ocean Marine Tankers Limited, Wells Farms Limited, Hoslyn Habitat Limited (a design, construction, and landscaping company), Wells Entertainments Limited, Wells Carlton Hotel and Luxury Apartments, and several other businesses.
Captain ‘Hosa is a non-Executive Director of a number of companies, including: NATCOM NTEL (formerly NITEL), Funds Electronics Transfer Solutions (provider of electronic payment solutions), and Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Company Limited (core investor in Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company Limited).
Interestingly, in a move considered to be in alignment with the federal government’s bid to diversify the nation’s economy, he recently packaged a N150 billion ($750 million) agro-enterprise, named Wells Sam Carlos Farm, a 9,000-hectare concern, in Edo, his home state. The farm will provide 25,000 direct jobs and 60,000 indirect jobs to the youth. This is besides a 20-hectare greenhouse, (by the Benin by-pass) also in Edo, which is calibrated to produce 600 tonnes of vegetables monthly. Between the agro-enterprises and the companies he owns, Captain Hosa, as he is fondly called, is responsible directly for the employment of no less than 30,000 Nigerians. If his interests in other companies are factored-in, his businesses have created no less than 100,000 jobs in the last 30 years.
“This is what I call my vision, what I call my legacy, something that has been in my dreams for some time. I have been nurturing it, working on it for over five years now. We have just started. This is very important to me because at my very young age, as a pilot, I conquered my profession at the age of 30 and I left. I went into business and by the grace of god, I have done well. With over 60 vessels in the seas, I think I have conquered the sea. And coming to land, I said that before the land takes me, I want to conquer the land. I have started already with a 20-hectare green house at the bypass,” said Idahosa.
A man of humble beginnings, Idahosa was born in Benin to the family of late reverend Robert Amos Okunbo, a clergyman and teacher. He attended Government Primary School in Benin city, after which he proceeded to Federal Government College, Warri. As a youngster he had always wanted to be a pilot thus he followed up this desire when he went to study at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre, in Zaria. Subsequently, he became a professional and commercial pilot at the age of 21 after graduation. He later attended Acme School Of Aeronautics, Fort Worth, Texas, in 1983, where he obtained his airline transport pilot license. He is married to a beautiful woman, Nosa Okunbo.
