Rants Corner 
Widely considered as the first and founding President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as well as President of the African Continental Bank, Sir Louis Odumegwu-Ojukwu who hails from Nnewi in Anambra state was an industrious entrepreneur with his business interests spanning across the transport, agriculture, textile, food, cement, and a host of other industries across the country.
Sir Louis is also known to have sat on the board of numerous companies including; Nigerian Coal Corporation, Shell Oil, Guinness, D’Archy, Costain West Africa, and a lot of other blue-chip companies.
Apart from being the father of Nigeria’s greatest secessionist Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Sir Louis will forever be known for his enormous wealth.
At the prime of his career, Sir Louis Odumegwu-Ojukwu was the first ever billionaire in Nigeria, and perhaps even, across Africa with his wealth estimated at $4 billion in today’s value.
His many wins however were all as a result of his very strong work ethic.
Sir Louis had his education at Hope Waddell Training Institution in Calabar before moving on to work as a low-level employee in the Agricultural department. After leaving the Agricultural department, Sir Louis joined John Holt as a tyre sales clerk.
It was while at John Holt that he ventured into the textile company in Onitsha in order to further supplement his income.
While Sir Louis was at John Holt, he discovered the bewildering gap in the transport sector that no one was occupying, and then he left John Holt to start his own transport company, Ojukwu transport.
Ojukwu transport was the first major transport company to bring Easterners down to Lagos.
Sir Louis also ventured into politics, sponsoring the NCNC as well as some other Eastern political leaders during his lifetime, and was a one-time member of the House of Representatives.
He was a stalwart in Eastern Nigeria, helping to co-author a report on an economic mission that was presented to Europe and North America alongside Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Even though his son’s accomplishments currently overshadow his own, Sir Louis Odumegwu-Ojukwu shall not be remembered simply as just the father of Nigeria’s greatest secessionist, but rather as an entrepreneurial master who sought to move his Country forward through his great economic sagacity and capitalistic policies.
