Adedeji Adeleke is a Nigerian billionaire businessman and philanthropist with a net worth estimated at $700 million. The president of Adeleke University and CEO of Pacific Holdings Limited has investments in Real Estate, Banking and Finance, and the Energy sectors of the Nigerian economy. He is one of the wealthiest Nigerians.
Adedeji Adeleke Has a Solid Educational Background in Business
His journey as a would-be businessman started in 1976 when he left the shores of Nigeria to pursue higher education. He bagged a degree in finance at the University of Western Kentucky, Kentucky, USA, in 1979, after which he enrolled for an MBA and graduated in 1981. He went further to bag a Ph.D. in International Business from the Pacific Columbiana University, California. In 2010, he bagged another Ph.D. degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in Arizona.
His solid educational background in finance and international business sets the tone for him to venture into businesses following his return to Nigeria. He deployed the vast knowledge he acquired via his various degrees in building a magnificent business empire in the country, and this led to the creation of a chain of businesses in his name. Below is the list of his chains of companies.
The Main Source of Adedeji Adeleke’s Wealth Is His Diversified Conglomerate
Adedeji Adeleke is currently the CEO/chairman of Pacific Holdings Limited, a conglomerate that comprises six companies. This company was birthed in December 1983. It was founded through Pacific Drilling Company Limited, which specializes in geographical surveys, water treatment and drilling of boreholes, and many other activities. The company was later merged and became a Limited Liability Company on the 28th of December 1990.
Today, Pacific Holdings has spread its wings and expanded its areas of operation to cover both Agriculture, Energy and Power generation, and even Freight services. The six companies under Pacific holding include
- Pacific Farm Ltd,
- Pacific Freightliners Ltd.
- Intertrade Warehousing Ltd.
- Pacific Gas Company Ltd.
- Junior Venture Ltd. and
- Pacific Drilling Company Ltd.
He Is Also The Brain Behind Springtime Development Foundation (SDF) And Adeleke University
In 1996, the billionaire businessman founded a non-profit making and Non-Governmental Organization named SPRINGTIME DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (SDF), with the sole aim of improving and making lives better for Nigerians through education.
On the other hand, citing himself as one who is a lover of education, this desire for better and improved education saw him get an official license from the National Universities Commission and the Federal Government of Nigeria to establish Adeleke University, Ede Osun State in March 2011. The University, which was established based on the Seventh-day Adventist philosophy of education, offers both undergraduate and postgraduate programs also adds a quota to the billionaire’s net worth.
His Lavish LifeStyle Reflects His Wealth
For a man who is named as one of the richest men in Osun state and, in fact, the richest man in Nigeria, Adedeji Adeleke’s lifestyle is clear evidence that everything about him screams money.
His Cars
Coming from a background of wealth, Adedeji Adeleke owns a lot of expensive cars in his fleet, and of course, his children are rich enough to gift him some as well. prominent among is the 2017 Bentley Mulsanne, a marvel of a luxury car to behold, cost a whopping $350,000 to acquire it brand new. And that’s not all; there is also a Roys Rolls Phantom with a landing cost of $450,000 for a new one in his car collection.
Jets
His high taste for luxury didn’t end in acquiring expensive beastly cars alone. The billionaire businessman has a private jet, Bombardier Global Express 6000, which cost a staggering $62 million to acquire. This is not his first jet though. Dr. Adedeji Adeleke’s first jet, a Bombardier Challenger 605 business jet, is said to be worth $35 million.
Houses
It is a known fact that one of the ways the net worth of wealthy people is ascertained is through their investments in real estate, and the billionaire has invested so much in real estate. He has houses scattered all over his home state Osun, Lekki, Banana Island, Ikoyi, VI, as well as other neighboring states and even abroad. To mark his 60th birthday, Dr. Adedeji Adeleke acquired a mansion in Atlanta, USA; this is in addition to other properties he has abroad.
zAdedeji Adeleke poses with children and grandchildren at his Atlanta home in the U.S Image SourceIn December 2019, the billionaire, his children, and grandchildren posed for a family picture at his Atlanta home in the U.S. One of his houses in Lekki Phase 1 reportedly caught fire in July 2019. Thanks to the quick response of firefighters, the building wasn’t razed down.
He Is A Father Who Has Paved Ways For His Children
It is no news that Mr. Adeleke has four grown-up children (Adewale, Davido, Sharon, and Ashley) who love him so much. It is hard not to notice their love for him which they have never failed to talk about at any given opportunity; be it during his birthday, achievement, or any special occasion, they have not failed to let him know how much of a wonderful father he is; not only because of how his wealth has paved ways for them in life but also for showing them so much love ever since they lost their mother at an early age.
Every wealthy parent always wants their children in the family business, as well as to succeed them when they are retired or long gone, and we all know how this scenario usually turns out most times; the children want to pursue their own dreams which might be totally different from what their rich parents want, and then there is a clash. This is Mr. Adeleke’s story with his billionaire son, Davido. Mr. Adeleke sent Davido to the U.S to bag a degree in business, come home and join the family business, but the young man had a different plan entirely. He got into and dropped out of school.
Davido recalls in an interview how his father used to get him arrested for doing music in the early days of his career. “Then the song started getting big, so it was getting harder for my dad to send the police after me. Then at some point, my dad called me and said, ‘let’s have a meeting,’ so we met up,” he said. The outcome of the meeting was that his father wanted him to go back to school. Thus, they reached a compromise for him to study in Nigeria while he continued his music career and make life easy for him. Mr. Adeleke allowed him to study music in the department of music at Babcock University. A department created and funded by Mr. Adeleke in 2013. In 2015, Davido graduated as the only graduating student from the department.
Mr. Adeleke has since continued to give his son all the support he needs to thrive as a musician as well as to his other children. In January 2021, the millionaire named his son Davido as one of the directors of the family business.
His older brother Adewale and two sisters (both married) are all Board of Directors in the family business. While Sharon is an executive director in the company, Ashley combines hers with a position she has in the management department. Adewale also juggles his position in the company with his CEO position at HKN.
Adedeji Adeleke Is Definitely Not The Only Rich Man In The Adeleke Clan
Making money is in the DNA of Adeleke’s family. Mr. Adedeji may currently be the richest in the family but definitely not the only one, so it is not surprising that his son David Adewale Adeleke is also making waves in the country due to his booming music career, and it has been reflected in his net worth. According to Forbes, Davido has an estimated net worth of $25 million, thus making him the richest musician in Nigeria. This net worth is a result of his endorsement deals, performances/shows, and musical tours.
However, his father, Dr. Adedeji Adeleke, has an estimated $700 million. It means that Adedeji Adeleke is $675 million richer than his superstar son, Davido. Little wonder, Davido refers to himself as OBO (Omo baba olowo), a phrase in Yoruba that means son of a rich man.
Although the billionaire is yet to make it on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaire like the likes of Otedola and Dangote, there is no doubt that his hard work will soon earn him a space on the list.