Who is Adebayo Ogunlesi?

He’s not Tolu Ogunlesi’s father. That we know for sure…

If you mentioned Adebayo Ogunlesi to an average Nigerian who has fair knowledge in economic and political matters months ago, he’d retort with questions like, “Who is that?” “What does he do?”

Adebayo O. Ogunlesi’s name made it to headlines on Nigeria’s traditional and social media space and since then, we have not stopped wondering who the Nigerian man is, that has won the heart of US president-elect, Donald Trump so much that he was appointed to the president’s economic advisory team, as opposed to the also circulated information that he is going to be a member of President Trump’s cabinet.

The Nigerian businessman is the Co-founder, Chairman and Managing Partner of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an infrastructure investment firm based in New York but with branches in London and Sydney. In 2010, Adebayo Ogunlesi achieved a momentous feat when he helped GIP secure the deal that led to the $2.4 billion acquisition of London’s Gatwick Airport. This major deal earned Ogunlesi the title, The Man who bought Gatwick Airport. This Gatwick deal must have been the most widely reported as Ogunlesi had made a similar deal in 2006 which brought about the acquisition of London City Airport. As the master in this sort of game, he did it again with Edinburgh Airport, Scotland in 2012.

Nigeria may not be on the world map for exciting reasons politically and economically but Nigerians are sure not synonymous with mediocrity. Adebayo Ogunlesi’s formative years were spent in Nigeria and in fact, is an alumnus of the prestigious King’s College, Lagos Island, an academic institution whose mission is to nurture youth into men of profound character and academic distinction. And that is what Adebayo Ogunlesi turned out to be. From KC he made the move to the United Kingdom where he earned a Bachelors degree with a First Class Honours in Philosophy, Politics and Economy. From one top institution to another, Ogunlesi bagged his Law degree and a MBA from Harvard University.

As is standard practice for Ivy League law school graduates, Ogunlesi clerked for the U.S Supreme Court Justice making him the first non-American clerk at the High Court. He then moved on to private practice with the firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore in New York where he worked as an attorney for almost two years.

From court rooms to Wall Street, Bayo Ogunlesi made the switch to the world of international finance when he joined Credit Suisse First Boston in 1983. In his 23 years at the investment bank, Ogunlesi rose to the top of the ladder. He made memorable leaps from the position of Managing Director to the head of global energy group to head of global investment banking in 2002, a position that came with a seat on the board of directors.

Adebayo ‘Bayo’ Ogunlesi’s rumoured inclusiont as a member of Trump’s economic advisory team may have come as a major surprise to most Nigerians but in the American business sphere, the name Ogunlesi as they say, is a force to reckon with. So much so that in 2002, Fortune magazine ranked him the seventh most powerful black executive in the United States. This was the same year that TIME Magazine named him on the “People to watch in International Business” list.

It has been reported that Ogunlesi is “one of Wall Street’s most influential new names and as one of its most impressive cost-cutters in recent memory”.

Adebayo Ogunlesi will be 63 on the 20th December and is married to Dr Amelia Quilst-Ogunlesi, an optometrist in New York.

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