On Monday 16th May 2022, Mr. Durodola Omolewa Kuteyi, the MD, Spectra Industries Ltd. in Lagos celebrated 30 years of his company, 40th years of his entrepreneur journey and his 70th birthday.
Below are tributes from Stakeholders in the public & private sectors commending him.
“It is with a deep sense of honour and gratitude to God that I write to congratulate you on this remarkable occasion as you mark such a wonderful milestone of 30 years of Spectra Industries Limited. Celebrating the successes of your passion ushers in an opportunity to reflect on God’s goodness and mercies which has surrounded you and your entire family towards putting out positive energy in the journey of your organisation, and for this, I am ecstatic by your achievements.
Since I met you when I was Minister of State, Science and Technology in 2020, your dedication over the years is remarkable and this zeal which you have put into the grown of your company which started out like every other SME in Nigeria is outstanding. As we all celebrate your 70th birthday and these 30 years long journey of hardwork, I wish you all of God’s blessings and provision.
– Dame Pauline K. Tallen, OFR, KSG
Congratulations on your new age long standing and saunter along the corridor of NIGERIA’s, Industrial food security block value chain system, both public and private.
Papa Kuteyi, as we always revered you, I’m delighted to be honored by you sir, as advisory and family of the management of such an esteemed organization, Spectra Industries.
I know you’ve worked hard to reach this point, and I’m so happy that you’ve been recognized for your accomplishment by government, international food organization, (both formal & informal) and local content MDAs. It is well-deserved celebration sir.
Dr Tony Wemton Owatemi
Wemton Global Group Nigeria Ltd.
Celebrating a Worthy Alumnus Chief Durodola Omolewe KUTEYI
It is with pleasure that these remarks are made as you celebrate 30 years of Spectra Industries Limited, 40 years of Entrepreneurial journey and your 70th birthday. Mr Kuteyi graduated from the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Ife long before me. I didn’t meet him there.
We have reached out to him several times as a department. One notable and memorable event was his generosity to single handedly renovate and equip the laboratory where he did his B.Sc. research work. It is on record that our students almost on an annual basis organize industrial tour to his companies and they will always come back inspired and excited. Every year, the students organize THE FOOD WEEK and they get financial and material support from Mr. Kuteyi. He gives them several products that they sell to generate funds for their activities. In 2021, the department celebrated her 50th anniversary and Mr. Kuteyi played a major role. Not only did he contribute generously and timely, he reached out to many of his contemporaries to support our noble efforts. He was one of our speakers for the Anniversary Symposium and he gave the presentation while on a business trip to South Africa. He could have given an excuse but his love for the department underscored his actions. In recognition and appreciation of his contributions to the development of the department, he was given an award by the Faculty of Technology early this year.
Mr. Kuteyi is the colossus in entrepreneurship drive in the profession of Food Science and Technology; the drive that has made him to be second to none nationally. We are indeed very grateful to have Mr. Kuteyi – an astute business man, an indefatigable and quintessential and a forward looking visionary as our proud alumnus who has distinguished himself as a titan. He has opened our eyes to alternate sources of fund generation.
Prof Kehinde Taiwo
(on behalf of Staff & Students, Department of
Food Science and Technology, OAU, Ile-Ife).
While at UNIFE together Mr Kuteyi and I were friends. He was studious and easy going as he had no rime for distractions. I read Law while he read Food Tech. It is not surprising that he has also been successful with his company SPECTRA as he has been giving the company more than 98 percent attention next to his family. When he started his company with plantain chips we used to call him DURO ONIDODO.
Barr. Adeyemi Ajayi, Ikeja
I met Baba some years back at an event where he was consulting for GAIN. We talked about my business, and he invited me to a program, he was involved in at the Presidential Villa. He didn’t have to, this is indicative of how willing he is ready to help everyone he comes across, even on first meeting. Baba has helped me and so many I know, grow their businesses to dimensions I can’t mention. I have an innovation, that is going places now with what Baba thought me at no cost to me.
He is a man that believes in knowledge transfer in his field of expertise. Thank you sir for everything you have done for me, the impact is generational my brand is in existence today because God used you to help me and you were willing. Happy birthday sir
– Ene
MY EGBON HIT PLATINUM
Glory be to God for his divine faithfulness as Egbon Duro Omolewa Kutevi gacefully joins the Platinum Club.
As we all know 70 is the Biblical age for the circle oflife from cradle to the grave. Psalms 90:10 God has said in His word that the grace to be 80 is also given unto man who has strength but with a proviso that the greater part of that existence shall be filled with labour and trouble.
I was amazed when Egbon told me one day that his father died at age 63. It sounded strange to me because I had known baba since when I was 3 years old and I thought he was close to 100 years when he died. Let me reveal that baba was the only one who was calling me Prince in the whole of Oye Eklti as every other person calls me Omoowa.
– Pastor Wale Aribatise.
May the good Lord bless you as you attain the septuagenarian age. May He grant you good health, happiness, success and prosperity in the years ahead. I equally felicitate with you having achieved landmark in the entrepreneurial world especially in the area of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria and beyond. More grease to your elbow. Congratulations and happy birthday.
Chief Oladimeji Durodola.
Asaoye of Ido Ekiti.
I had the opportunity of knowing Chief Duro Kuteyi at a close range when we both attended an International fellowship program abroad some years ago. He’s a rare breed of some sort, that I brand as “ageless” considering the ease at which he relates to everyone regardless of age. On top of it is this effortless humorous ability to creatively crack you up, and have a good laugh at the least expected time, thereby implicitly adding value and boosting productivity.
Besides, I’m particularly intrigued by his entrepreneurial abilities, and focus even at 70 as new products keep rolling out from Spectra Industries Ltd. Many of us are indeed proud of your numerous achievements.
His energy is remarkable, and one begins to wonder if the man is carrying an engine, and internal health profile of a 40 year old.
In addition, his leadership qualities are quite visible and enormously appreciated. More significantly are his invaluable contribution to the development of SME’s and the Organized Private Sector in Nigeria. He stands out everywhere as a result of this rare combination of qualities. He’s a trail blazer, and pioneer in many respects.
Prince ‘Tunji Falade
CEO, Kingsway Quality Foods (lnt’l) Ltd.
Past Chairman: LCCI (Agric. & Agro –
Allied Sector).
Today I join thousands of well meaning Nigerians to congratulate our own highly esteemed Mr Duro Kuteyi, the Chairman of Spectra Foods, on the occasion of the celebration of your 70th birthday anniversary, that also coincides with the commemoration of 40 years of eventful entrepreneurship activities and 30 years of the emergence of Spectra Foods.
It is a threefold celebration and it calls for joyous reflection on the landmark achievements you have made as an individual and that which Spectra Foods has made. Indeed you are a fore runner and the flagship of entrepreneurship development in Nigeria, a very vital component of the Micro Small and Medium scale industry. You are a strong advocate of the Nigeria project and on many occasions you have fought against the undue advantage that imported products have over the locally produced ones in Nigeria, a fight you took to the chambers of Aso Rock in Abuja.
As the Acting Director General & CEO of FIIRO, I have over the years watched and participated in your relationship with FIIRO. You believe in FIIRO’s research products as veritable tools to empower the ordinary Nigerian, by so doing you have single handedly strategised, and financed fora that has helped in building cottage industries in Nigeria.
The choice products of Spectra Foods are not only profit yielding but also of great nutritional benefits to mankind.
Dr Yemisi Asagbra
CELEBRATING OUR “NUMERO UNO” @ 70
Oh! What a priviledge to celebrate the goodness and mercy of God on the man of the moment, Dutiful Husband, Doting Dad, Duro Kuteyi as he joins the Septuagenarian club. It is indeed grace from above as his enterprising mum never reached 50 and his well respected dad, well acknowledged in his community did not attain 70. In spite of all odds he rose above his circumstances as God placed people around him who filled the gap his parents’ early death left.
It is to the glory of God that his venture into entrepreneurship 40 years ago blossomed to become what it now is. His doggedness, determination and an incurable optimism with immense faith in the Nigerian project is evident as a person who wants people around him to succeed. This informed the establishment of the consultancy arm of his company Betamark Production Company Ltd, training would-be entrepreneurs.
Over the years, he had displayed attributes of someone who wants the best for his children, while never at any time made them feel that, “life is a bed of roses”. They all know that they have to be resourceful. All of them had at one time or the other worked in the companies he presides over. His work habit in the early days spanned from dawn to dusk and this required that I also had to be a total woman, combining my career as an Administrative Officer in the Civil Service of Lagos State, the most disciplined Civil Service in Nigeria, with home making and my service to God who has been our mainstay. All glory to God.
We celebrate you, we congratulate you.
– Remi and the children
AN UNREPENTANT BUSINESS LEADER
I knew his product before I knew him. And when I eventually did, I met an unrepentant industrialist.
Chief Duro Kuteyi is an unrepentant Industrialist and a great leader. I described him so because of his tenacity to succeed despite the hostile business environment in our country.
Chief began with a single product-fried plantain (Ipekere) on the streets of Lagos and later became known for challenging big companies like Nestle Foods and a Cadbury with his powdered Beverages, SUCO if you remember.
Today, Spectra Industries under his watch is a multi-product, multi-billion enterprise.
Uncle, I salute your courage as a great leader who drove our great association, Nigerian Association of Small Scale Scale Industrialists (NASSI), from nothing to something. And for providing the necessary support to take it to the enviable position it is today in the comity of Business Mambership Organisations (BMOs) in the country.
– Segun Kuti-George
Former Chairman Lagos NASSI
HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS
The Council and the entire staff of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Ikeja Branch, felicitate with you on your 70th birthday, 40 years of entrepreneurial journey and 30th anniversary of Spectra Industries Limited.
The Ikeja Branch of the Association is proud to relate with you especially with your Nigerian brands and for the ingenuity you have shown towards upholding local content in Nigeria. Your entrepreneurial coaching spirit is very encouraging.
We wish you many more fruit
Yours sincerely
– Elder Robert Ugbaja
Chairman
MAN, Ikeja
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