Draft:Obelawo Lawal

Prince Obelawo Lawal (born 20 May 1930) is a Nigerian businessman and industrialist. He is best known as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lawal Obelawo Plastic-Pipe Industry Nigeria (LOPIN), the largest plastic factory in Africa.

Early Life
Chief Amuda Lawal Obelawo was born in Ejigbo, into the wealthy royal Muslim family of Prince Lawal Olaosebikan Ogidi and Alhaja Muniratu Lawal. His father was from a royal lineage and had virtually everything at his beck and call judging by the kind of aura and affluence attached to the royal institution. However, Lawal Olaosebikan did not allow his noble parentage to get into his head, nay he traveled outside the shores of the country to work hard and become accomplished in life. Obelawo’s parents were merchants. His father was based in Dahomey (today’s Benin Republic). He was made the leader of Nigerians in Dahomey and Togo. His mother was a butcher. Alhaja Muniratu was the leader of the butchers in Ejigbo and she reared and killed cows for sale. She also dealt in the palm oil business. Early in Amuda Obelawo's life, his father passed away.

Business career
Chief Yusuf Amuda Lawal (a.k.a Obelawo) belonged to the second generation of Nigeria's richest men, after the likes of Candido Da Rocha, Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, and Alhassan Dantata. Obelawo became one of the richest men, if not the richest, in the old Western Region and the entire Ivory Coast.

Chief Obelawo Lawal had planned to relocate to Côte d'Ivoire in 1949 to begin business whilst equipped with a substantial amount of money only for it to be gambled away by a travel agent. Ever determined to thrive in Abidjan, Obelawo engaged in menial labor such as Alaburu, washing party food plates, etc. Eventually, he raised enough capital to travel to Abidjan in 1949. In Abidjan, he worked for his uncle hawking different materials to factory workers and at the cinema during the weekend. One of Obelawo’s customers took an interest in him and subsequently nominated him for a training trip to France sponsored by the French government in 1952. The training was on small-scale businesses. On successful completion of the course, the Ivorian government provided start-up loans.

With his characteristic zeal and determination, Prince Lawal Obelawo started a business in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, and rose to become the highest private sector employer of labor. He founded a taxi grew to become the pioneer of metered taxis in Abidjan with over 500 taxi cabs in the fleet. He also began a glue and tiles factory as well as petroleum filling stations. The Ejigbo-born businessman made his billions from the construction industry. He was based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he was the country's construction giant. His influence cut across the entire West Africa subregion, as he was the friend of many African leaders of their days.

In 1969, during Gen Gowon's historic visit to Côte d'Ivoire, Prince Lawal Obelawo was introduced by the Ivorian president as a Nigerian investor. Gen Gowon immediately asked why the prince was creating jobs within Côte d'Ivoire and Prince Lawal explained that in Nigeria one must be a politician to get things done and Prince Lawal was invited for a private meeting in Lagos. At the meeting, Gen Gowon implored Prince Obelawo to invest in Nigeria. Oluwole Rotimi in Ibadan, the Governor of the Western Region instructed the then Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Alakija to attend to him. At the time, many factories were proposed for the Western Region, and Prince Lawal, recognizing the privilege, took the golden opportunity to choose the one that he was interested in: the plastic industry, seeing that there were no plastic factories in Africa at that time. Osogbo/Osun was judged as the best place because of the infrastructure facilities available and coupled with its distance to his ancestral home, Prince Lawal Obelawo ventured into large-scale plastic pipe manufacturing. A world-class factory was developed and remains today as Lawal Obelawo Plastic-Pipe Industry Nigeria (LOPIN). He went from LOPIN to other factories spread across the country (Plastex Nig Limited and Rehau Plastics). The Lopin industry has supplied infrastructure pipes to the University of Abuja, Garki, Jabi, Asokoro, Wuse 2, and Gwagalada Districts, and most of the housing Estate in Abuja to mention a few. All the pipes used for the construction of Jakande Estate in Lagos, Marwa Estate, and numerous states across the country. He was the pioneer HDPE pipe manufacturer in Nigeria, the first Upvc pressure pipe manufacturer in Nigeria, the first indigenous importer of sawmill machines in Nigeria, and the first cement tiles factory in Nigeria, He established the first saw-mill industry in Oyo town, Ejigbo, and Ede and Iwo to mention but few.

Today, Chief Obelawo is the Proprietor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Obelawo Group of Companies. His business empire is a conglomerate of industrial outfits in Nigeria, Lome, Abidjan, Mali, France, and other Francophone countries in Africa, with subsidiaries in other countries of the world. He is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of LOPIN, the biggest plastic factory in Africa.

Royal Family
Prince Obelawo Lawal is apart of the Agbetusi Royal Family, the current royal family of Ara, an ancient town in Egbedore Local Government of the state of Osun.

Recognition
Prince Obelawo has been recognised by Yusufu Olatunji in Volume 14, which was dedicated to the billionaire in 1972, when Obelawo was 42 years old. He has also been recognised by the like of King Sunny Ade.

Awards

 * Prince Obelawo was awarded one of the two highest honors, Order of the Niger (OON) by the former president, President Ibrahim Babangida.
 * Prince Obelawo was awarded Annual Osun State Honours and Awards 2011.
 * He has also received the Award of Excellence, Nigeria Institute of Management; Outstanding Philanthropic Award, Federation of Muslim Women; Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN); Award of Merit, Christian Association of Nigeria; Award of Excellence, Peace Corps; Award for Outstanding Support, Rotary International, District 9130; Certificate of Membership, Franco-Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Grand Prix for Applied Technology from Spain, etc.

Residence
His magnificent and outlandish 12 Bedroom Estate located in Osogbo is his primary estate. It was built due to his wife, Princess Abake’s, death and the flux of dignitaries that began to visit him. It contains 3 other apartment buildings which formerly housed him and now houses staff. It also contains a church and mosque.