By Lukman Omikunle
Seni Adetu, the former Guinness managing director and chief executive officer, has no doubt had an illustrious career with chains of unblemished strings of feats having worked in multi-nationals all his professional years.
Here are 5 things about one of the biggest achieving Nigerians in the private sector you may not know about.
1. Having cumulatively spent more than 30 years in the private, he was appointed as an Independent Director at Fidelity Bank following his selection from the bank’s Board of Directors and approval from the Central Bank in 2016. The announcement came scarcely 2 years after his last stint as Managing Director at Guinness Nigeria.
2. Seni Adetu spent about 2 decades at the global beverage giant, Diageo where he served at different capacities including serving as the chief manager of the brand in 4 different countries with the Guinness Nigeria brand being the last one before he left the company.
3. Let us look closer. Adetu was at various times Managing Director of Coca-Cola English West Africa which was based in Ghana (2001); the first African MD/CEO and Executive Vice Chairman of Guinness Ghana Plc (2006), Group MD/CEO Diageo East Africa based in Kenya (2009) and until Dec 2014, MD/CEO of Guinness Nigeria Plc and Executive Chairman Diageo Brands Nigeria.
4. If you’re thinking he schooled abroad, you’re wrong. Seni Adetu attended all his education here in Nigeria. His first and degree was from the University of Lagos. Even with an MBA from UNILAG, Seni still attended the Lagos Business School and is well-grounded in global best business practices. He has also attended a lot of other leadership and business trainings in the USA.
5. Traditional chieftaincy titles in Nigeria are mostly hereditary, but guess what, Seni Adetu was installed as one owing to his exceptional exploits in the corporate world. He is currently the 1st Otunba Dadaffini of Remo Land, while his wife, Janet, was also installed as the Yeye Otunba Dadaffini of Remo land some years back by the paramount ruler of Remo Kingdom, Oba Adeniyi Sonariwo.
Here’s a bonus. Mr. Adetu founded First Primus West Africa Limited, an upscale integrated marketing communications company. Seni is also a Leadership Coach and facilitates on the Chief Executive Program of the Lagos Business School (LBS).
