•On Her Life, Career & Marriage Of 29yrs
Bamidele Abiodun is the beautiful wife of new Ogun Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun. The Ogun first lady is a woman loved by many because of her simplicity and calm nature. She is a brainy, beautiful, highly reserved and quintessential woman. Even before her major appearance at her husband’s campaign rallies before the elections, Ogun First Lady, Bamidele Abiodun has always been prominent within her corporate space and by extension of her influential background. She is from the prominent Oduwoye family from Ilisan in Ijebu, Ogun State.
She calls the shot within her space and has no airs around her, despite being a wife of an Oil magnate. She is always seen to be on the reserved side. She came to lime light when she was constantly accompanying her husband to major rallies during the election campaign period. She was known to have been shuttling between UK and Nigeria with their children for many years. She studied at highbrow schools both in Nigeria and abroad and her style is just as simple as she is exquisite. She is not loud in dressing and what she wears, you should know are strictly designers.
She has eyes for lovely accessories and most times you will see her on pants and English wears until she took on the responsibility of Ogun State First Lady. She fits the status of her husband and both of them are over stylish if there is any word like that. It will surprise you to know that this beautiful woman is a staunch businesswoman and not any woman just doing business. She has made her mark in the male dominating business which is petroleum industry. She has been in the business for 21 years and as also been keeping her home front by making sure her husband and children were her priorities. She is a woman who loves to inspire others. There is no gain saying that since she became the first lady of Ogun State, she has been entrusted with the responsibility of women upliftment and empowerment in Ogun State. One of such was the last celebrated 2019 International Widows Day where she supported the widows at an event tagged ” Renewed Hope For Widows’’ and said her utmost goal of the day was to develop resources and policy to empower widows and allow them have access to education, work, health care and life free of violence and abuse. About 1000 widows were empowered.
Not until her husband became the Governor, she was someone who was never in the public space. She doesn’t grant interviews or do public speaking. But a few days back she spoke about her life at the Handmaidens Women in Leadership Conference organized by its founder, a gender advocate, Dr Siju Iluyomade. She spoke on how she has been able to combine being a business woman with being a wife and a mother. She says for the first time ‘’
‘’I am a woman, wife, mother. I want to share 3 things which are my experiences as a wife, a mother and a business woman. I have had 5 children. The eldest is 29. Whenever I have my children then, nobody comes to be with me, when I was in the hospital or when I was in the hospital even. My favorite book at that time was Doctor Spocs, and I remember people will tell me, you will do it like this. You will do it like that, but I tell them I will do it as my doctor says in the book and then I will do it as my spirit leads me to do it. And I am happy that there are really no hard and fast rules about the whole thing because they come and tell you when you have your baby, you must tie your stomach, you must sit down on a hot bowl of water, I never did any of it. And I thank God I still look the way I am today. I was also a very hands on mother with my babies, I breastfed all of them till the age of one, none of them was on formula, I carried them everywhere I went, I will bath them myself, I will wash their clothes myself with my hands, I did not allow anybody to do anything for me until they were about 2. So I established that bond with my children and I still have that relationship with them till now. A lot of times, my husband says you are always on the phone, your phone is always in your hands, and I say to him, the reason why my phone is in my hands is because my children can try to reach me at any time, i have 5 of them, it will break my heart for my child to try to reach me from God knows where in the world for 30 Mins frantically or an hour and I am not available and so because of that, my phone is always on silent but my eyes are always on my phone because of my children. My business which I still run is what may be considered a man’s business, I am in the petroleum industry, my husband who is now the governor of Ogun State is also in the petroleum business but I started it a decade before he started. However, I maintained my business on a level where it will afford me the opportunity to still look after my home and children.
My home, my children and my husband were priority. I had opportunities to grow my business as big as it will become but I exercised restraints because I made up my mind I don’t care what other people are doing. I have introduced a lot of people into the business, they will come and say how do you do this your diesel delivery business and I introduced them to it because I believe that there is a market for everybody. People that I have introduced have done way better than me, but i don’t feel bad about that because everybody’s objectives are different. Now I want to encourage women that we should not be afraid to go into the male dominated businesses. My business is considered a man’s business. I started my business from the scratch, I provide a delivery service, I supply diesel to homes, hospitals, schools, establishments, companies, all over Lagos and outside. When I started, I used to do Ibadan as well. It requires a lot of monitoring and a lot of attention. It can also be very profitable but the key thing for me is don’t ever do what you can’t manage because if you start what you cannot manage, you will run into trouble. I have to manage people and because it is a petroleum product, there is a tendency for your staff to steal from you but if you are able to do what you can manage, you will be able to control that. Don’t go and borrow money that you know you are not going to return. Don’t let the money attract you so much that you get into trouble. I tried my best to make sure I stay within the certain limits of the business and I am still running it till today and I am very happy with it. I have a relationship with a lot of my customers, infact I will say 85% of all my customers, I have not seen them before but I have had them for years.
Why because? I provide a service for them that they like and enjoy. I made sure that I am reachable, I am approachable, I tell them if my truck drivers come to deliver diesel and you are happy, just call me. So I give people what keeps them comfortable, I don’t give them adulterated diesel I don’t give overpriced diesel, I make sure that I am competitive and that makes my customers come to me. Most of my clients I have not seen but I have been doing this business for about 21 years now. And I thank God I am doing very good. So women don’t quit, if you keep it real, you will succeed. Don’t give up, you may run into trouble or difficulty especially in businesses that are male dominated but hold on tenaciously to what you believe in.
Treat your staff, customers well. Have a good brotherly ethics. People will know you are different, everyone can be a leader, just do things well and you will inspire people. Do things from your heart, look out for the underdog, look out for the under privileged. You don’t need to give them money or material things, but ask after their welfare, Call your security man and ask him how he is doing, Ask about his family. Make a difference in someone’s life and in this world. We are all born to be leaders.
TAYO FAJORIN OYEDIJI
