Charles Nwodo: How Student Unionism Redirected My Dream of Becoming a Priest
The story of the Founder and Executive Chairman of XL Africa Group, Charles Nwodo Jr., who leads a diversified services group with operations in Nigeria and West Africa, is one of reinvention, conviction, and purpose. A business leader, philanthropist, and public policy advocate, Nwodo has navigated a life path marked by deep faith, political activism, and a relentless desire to make a difference. Born into a devout Catholic family, he was once an altar boy whose life revolved around the church. In those early years, he dreamt only of becoming a priest. But student unionism and the ideological fires of the 1980s ignited in him a new passion, which was the pursuit of justice, equity, and national transformation. That youthful exposure to activism eventually redirected his path from the pulpit to the public square, and then into the boardroom. Today, Nwodo leads one of Nigeria’s thriving conglomerates, but insists that his deepest fulfilment came not from profits or market dominance, but from impact, especially in the lives of young people. Through the Knowledge Exchange Centre, the CSR arm of his business, he has helped thousands of Nigerian graduates become employable or start their ventures. His guiding philosophy is simple yet profound – business is only meaningful when it transforms lives. Nwodo reflects on the turning points of his life: From his formative years in the church to his fiery days as a student activist, from navigating Nigeria’s harsh economic realities to discovering his true calling in nation-building. He also talks about the plan by his company to list its shares on the Nigerian stock market. Obinna Chima brings the excerpts:
How do you balance your roles as a business leader, philanthropist, and family man?
My approach to life is simple and uncomplicated. I am also blessed with a wife and children who are pure gifts from God. And then I love my work as CEO of our Group, and believe me when I say I can do the job for free. So every day at work is like an entrepreneurial adventure, and it has been like this since we started in 2003. Because I enjoy my work tremendously, the long hours at work do not feel tedious and back-breaking at all. My strong Christian faith informs my attitude to Charity to the extent that I identify with the scriptural principle that our lives are a gift from God and we should acknowledge this truth by offering as much of ourselves, our time, talent, and resources in service of God’s purpose on earth. The combination of these factors enable me to balance the demands of a hectic work schedule, a dutiful and committed family head, and a devoted, faithful tool in God’s hands, doing my best for His kingdom purposes, which you call philanthropy.
What core values guide your decisions in business and life?
Absolute integrity and belief in God are the foundations upon which all my life decisions are anchored, including business decisions, and non-business choices and preferences. Some people I know often ask what will happen if it turns out that there is no God and no Heaven, and no hell? A particular Swiss friend of mine who is an atheist never tires of telling me this each time I try to evangelise him. But my answer is always: What if it is true? God is real and Heaven is real, and hell is real. Where would you rather spend eternity? So for me, it’s an absolute no-brainer to live a life of purpose guided by God’s words and purpose.
Who or what inspires you during challenging times?
God’s words and His faithfulness inspire me during challenging times, but also encourage me to be constantly grateful for such blessings that we often take for granted, like waking up to a new day, having food to eat, and being able to eat the food, etc. God demands and delights in a heart full of gratitude.
Looking back, what’s one defining moment that shaped your worldview?
I would say there are chapters in my life that influenced my worldview and attitude to life. The first was my early life as an altar boy and mass server whose life revolved around morning masses and all the masses on Sundays, starting with the 6 am mass and ending with the 11 am mass. And spending my holidays with Priests while my mates were up to the usual pranks and antics associated with young boys. At this point, all I wanted was just to be a Priest and do God’s work. The second chapter was as a student activist influenced by reading communist literature, listening to propaganda radio broadcasts, and witnessing the struggles for liberation in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and the elements of the Cold War years. I ended up becoming the Students’ Union President of my University and the Zonal Coordinator for NANS in the South-east. I was so consumed by the struggle for a better society that I applied to join the armed wing of the ANC as a foreign volunteer and was detained in various police stations across Nigeria as part of the Nigerian students’ defiance of the then Government of Gen Buhari and Idiagbon in the eighties. The next chapter was the SAP era when I finished my National Youth Service Corps and discovered that instead of pursuing my dream of traveling to the Middle East to participate in the engineering marvels that were transforming Dubai, Qatar, Riyadh, Bahrain from desert enclaves to modern cities, the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) meant that I had to switch course and study for an MBA and train as a Stockbroker to enable me pursue an investment banking and stockbroking career in response to the realities of the time. So this transition informed my career interests and pursuits subsequently. The fourth chapter is what I call the discovery. After a sizzling and interesting career in banking and resigning to start my own business, I realised that the drive for profit and market share dominance didn’t motivate me as they used to. In my search for answers, I took time off to study Development Policies and Practices at the University of Geneva. Part of the field work for the program involved interacting with UN organs and UN-affiliated Development Agencies in the city and non-profit entities. I saw ex-CEOs of Global corporations who operate NGOs and confessed that they finally found their life calling and personal fulfillment in the life-changing activities of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which were involved in activities like the Rescue of babies from illegal migrants, resettlement of ex-convicts, and drug addicts, teenage pregnancy victims etc etc. When I finished the program, I set up the Knowledge Exchange Centre (KEC), the CSR vehicle of our Group. Through this vehicle, we are in the forefront of addressing graduate unemployment and unemployability in Nigeria through various targeted interventions. The testimonials from the thousands of graduates of our programs who have secured employment or set up thriving businesses after our programs, give me the type of joy and fulfillment which I never experienced in my years of employment and entrepreneurship. And this is the experience that I represent at this stage of my life. My greatest motivation is to use my time, talents, and resources to impact lives and make the world better, one program and one young person at a time. I feel like I have come full circle to my early years but isn’t that what the Scripture says in the book of Ecclesiastics about things seeming to change but actually remaining the same in reality.
What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learnt as chairman of XL Africa Group?
One lesson I can share is that the success of a business rises or falls on the team. So while exceptional individual talents are good, the determinant for sustainable success is the quality of the team. That is, the shared vision, common passion, and accepted values. This fact may be surprising to many, but my experience at Executive Management and entrepreneurship reinforces this view, which, by the way, is supported by lots of organisational research data. We have internalised this lesson in our Group and reflect this principle in our hiring and performance management decisions.
How do you identify and groom leaders within your businesses?
In our Group, we succeed or fail together. So, every member of the XL Africa Group family is hired and inducted based on this principle. We hire for fit and not for extraordinary abilities, and this system is designed to organically throw up leaders who then progress to executive management positions. I cannot recall the last time we filled an executive management position from outside, and this is deliberate and is the logical extension of our organisational culture.
What excites you most about the future of entrepreneurship in Africa?
I don’t know about excitement to be honest but I am incredibly optimistic about the opportunities that Nigeria and Africa present for young people who are prepared to seize the moment. With a large youthful population, abundance of natural resources and a huge unmet technological and infrastructure gap, Africa presents a paradox of under development side by side with unrivaled opportunities in multiple sectors ways above any other continent. I invite young people to beam their sights not on the half-empty glasses in our continent’s development trajectory but on the half-full glasses of abundant opportunities to develop innovative solutions targeting different populations, age, and occupational demographics. Improved and affordable internet, the force of globalization and advances in Artificial Intelligence offer unprecedented opportunities to this generation.
What are your thoughts on the current state of the Nigerian economy?
As I revealed earlier, I am optimistic about the potential of the Nigerian economy because I think the worst days are behind us, and some of the most debilitating structural impediments to economic growth have been dismantled. Obviously the short-term effects of fundamental reforms like the current administration is implementing in oil and gas revenue management, forex administration, and tax reforms are typically painful, and that should be understandable. The only problem I see is that the government has done a poor job of explaining the reforms and seeking the buy-in and support of the public through a sustained and professionally delivered communication plan, like what Gen Babangida did with MAMSER under Prof Gana when he launched the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in the eighties.
The Senate recently had a public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution. What are those aspects of the Constitution you will want to see reviewed?
My first observation on the current Constitution is that it was written by a group of coup plotters and imposed on the Nigerian people. So the starting point should be for the people of Nigeria to give themselves a constitution, and this can be done by approving a new constitution or simply subjecting the current one with necessary amendments to a referendum. The other changes I like to see would be to decentralise our political administration by devolving most of the powers to the six zones while retaining a few common services like Defense, Economic Management, Foreign Affairs, Immigration at the centre. I also recommend that the Presidency be a collegiate Council with representatives from the six zones taking turns to act as President. Every other activity should be ceded to the six zones, including full control of resources while paying specific taxes to the federal government. A truly federal system of administration will unleash the full potential of the Nigerian Federation, and the internal competition among the zones will transform Nigeria into a position of global leadership in a short period. If you look at countries like Switzerland, Australia and the USA that practice the same system of federalism like Nigeria, they all have most of the elements of economic development and political administration at the states ( in the case of USA and Australia) or Cantons or Regions ( in the case of Switzerland). The present structure of the Nigerian federation constrains socio-economic development and alienates the citizens from the political administration of the country save as voters in the cycle of general elections.
If you could advise Nigeria’s leaders on one priority today, what would it be?
I am not qualified to advise the leaders of Nigeria ooh. Myself I am even looking for someone to advise me. But seriously, I think President Tinubu and his team are trying their best to recalibrate the foundations of our country, one Executive Order and one Legislation at a time. They inherited a very challenging situation across nearly all sectors of Nigeria, and it is a very tough job they are doing, and my verdict is that they are doing a very good job. I don’t think there is any of the other politicians or political parties that is capable of doing a better job than President Tinubu and his team. This is a statement of fact devoid of emotion or sentiment.
What is your take on the future of cash management and logistics business in Nigeria?
The cash management sub-sector is still evolving in Nigeria, and after the initial regulatory impetus that birthed the sub-sector in 2007/2008, so many factors have combined to undermine the growth and orderly development of the sub-sector as a critical component of the financial services ecosystem. Without boring you with the technicalities that define the cash value chain, permit me to just say that Nigeria is a cash-dominant economy and will likely remain so for the lifetime of our generation. There is the Cashless policy of successive CBN administrations and the rapid exponential growth of digital payments and Internet banking, but many factors support the resilience of cash as a means of exchange and increasing value as a store of value in Nigeria, as depicted in official CBN reports. I hope that the current CBN administration will allow their own data (and not their wish or mere speculation) to inform their actions and policy formulations in regulating the Cash Management sub-sector.
What’s your strategy for staying ahead in a constantly changing global economy?
We are not afraid to question our strategies and challenge our decisions, and this allows us to innovate effortlessly and regularly. In the rapidly changing world, the sure alternative to innovation is atrophy, and in the case of any business organisation that means certain failure!!! I don’t know if this a strategy in that sense or just a survival instinct because the world failure doesn’t exist in our organisation!
What should stakeholders expect from XL Africa in the short to medium term?
In the next two to three years, we plan to transition to the next chapter in our evolution, where we will offer our shares to the public through an Initial Public Offer. So watch this space.
