Henry Fajemirokun

As the founder, Chairman and largest shareholder of the Henry Stephens Group of companies, under his direction the company grew rapidly and diversified into several spheres such as cement and building materials, engineering, banking, insurance, shipping, ship broking and oil prospecting. He was a leading voice in industry and championed greater participation by Nigerians in the economy which was still dominated by foreign concerns primarily in industry. Following a decision to in 1972, an indigenization decree was promulgated by the Federal government to effect greater indigenous participation in different sectors of the economy. Although a strong proponent of greater indigenous participation, Fajemirokun was also cognizant of the need for continued foreign investment in the country and was vocal on maintaining a balance of both. Barring his failed bid to purchase a significant stake in the Daily Times. Fajemirokun did not participate in taking over any foreign concerns as a result of the indigenization decrees in 1972 and 1977. Before 1972, he had already pioneered industries and expanded his business interests and was able to form partnerships and joint ventures with foreign firms. Fajemirokun's hard work and masterful timing served him well and enabled him to expand organically into other industries. For more than a decade the Henry Stephens Group had managed to successfully build up a solid network trading with firms in foreign countries such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, Poland, Japan, Belgium, Egypt, Germany and Brazil; and had built up strong relationships and business partnerships, representing or acquiring stakes in foreign owned firms in Nigeria prior to the euphoria of the contemporary nationalism at the time in form of the indigenization decrees by the government.

The Group was well positioned to expand into other industries and by 1977 was in the process of establishing hotels, truck assembly plants, breweries and other manufacturing concerns including the acquisition and development of mining quarries for cement.

Groups such as his served to counter the competition from the Federal Military Government and foreign firms. The crowding out of the organized private sector by the FMG was vocally criticized because the belief was that the organized private sector was better suited to both manage the relationships with the foreign firms ensuring a longer term commitment to the country rather than triggering an exodus and to negotiate a fair price for the value of the equity being sold down rather than capitulating to the demands of the FMG the time.

He led the negotiations to establish the first private merchant bank in the country Nigerian-American Merchant Bank Limited (NAMBL)[7] bringing in First Bank of Boston (later Bank of Boston) alongside other indigenous investors. The bank was setup after his sudden death with the technical assistance and shareholding of Bank of Boston and Boston Overseas Financial Corporation (subsequently merged with Bank of America).

He was a pioneer in the Nigerian maritime industry and was the first indigenous company to own an interest in a shipping line. He established Henry Stephens Shipping Company and the Nigeria Shipping Company with two lines: Nigeria-Far East Line and the Nigeria-South America Line and acquired three drybulk ships. The Nigeria- South America Line provided liner services between Brazil and the Nigerian Far East Line provided liner services to Japan and the Far East.

He also ventured into commodity brokerage and in 1969 he bought and held a seat on the London Stock Exchange.

His company Henry Stephens was a pioneer in Nigerian Oil industry as the first indigenous private oil company to get an offshore exploration license in the country's first ever offshore licensing round of oil prospecting licenses (OPL) in 1970. Bidding was opened between 26 February and 18 March on about 7000 square miles of the continental shelf. Twenty seven blocks were offered composed of areas relinquished according to leasing regulations 30 November 1968 plus additional deeper water acreage up to the 200 fathom line on the outer shelf. A total of 106 bids from over 30 oil companies or groups were made for these continental shelf OPLs. In July, Newcomers to Nigeria were offered blocks. Only 15 blocks were offered covering only half of the open area. The remaining blocks said to be the most prospective, were reserved for the proposed national oil company Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) which was established officially in 1972 .Other winners of the licensing round were Deminex a German Consortium, Occidental Petroleum, Japan Petroleum Company and Monsanto.[8][9]

The Group acquired the sole distributorship for Rank Xerox (now Xerox), forming a joint venture with the Anglo-American company Rank Xerox (itself a joint venture between Rank Organisation of the United Kingdom and the Xerox Corporation of the United States of America).

He was a co-founder and played a key role in developing and promoting ECOWAS Bank[10] what was to become Ecobank Transnational (ETI),[11] however he passed away before its launch was finalized.[12][13][14]

As an active investor he became a major shareholder in leading companies in Nigeria and abroad. He was denied the opportunity to acquire the Daily Times of Nigeria from the British International Publishing Corporation, (IPC) known as the "Daily Mirror Group" who owned the title by the Obasanjo junta. Henry Stephens also was a core investor in Johnson Wax and acquired stakes Fan Milk and two notable construction companies.

He was also a director of First Bank Nigeria Limited, director Nigeria Krafts Bags Limited, non-executive director Nigerian Diversified Investments, director Nigeria Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company Limited. He was Chairman of the Lagos State Tourism Advisory Committee.