The Unassuming Billionaire at 60: Scion of Folawiyo Dynasty Joins the Diamond League

The Unassuming Billionaire at 60: Scion of Folawiyo Dynasty Joins the Diamond League

Life is like a pot of soup that can be made bitter or sweet by seasoning. To this end, good health and true love and a lot of money can sweeten life until one aches of happiness. On the other hand, illnesses and loneliness and penury are despised for the bitterness they bring to human life.

Penury, truth be told, is the main culprit. So, as Alhaji Babatunde Tijani Folawiyo climbs into his Diamond years with health and love and money alongside him, life is sweet and getting sweeter.

Alhaji Babatunde Tijani Folawiyo officially turned 60 in April. This period happened to coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic and the strict measures of isolation and lockdown taken against it. As a result, Folawiyo’s birthday was a quiet affair. In fact, the billionaire reportedly only entertained his wife, Reni, and two kids, Faridah and Fuaad. However, two months after the ultra-quiet celebrations, goodwill messages are still streaming into his residence and in his honour.

Those who do not know the breadth of Folawiyo’s influence know him only as one of the most affluent men in Nigeria. This affluence is the result of his accomplishments as lawyer, businessman, scholar and philanthropist. These aspects of Folawiyo are more or less the powering factors behind his being the CEO and Managing Director of Yinka Folawiyo Group of Companies.

The efforts of Folawiyo in business and philanthropy have been internationally recognised. His work in education, especially, won him enough repute, that he is today a Goodwill Ambassador and Honorary citizen of the city of Houston and Honorary Consul of Barbados.

Folawiyo’s domestic habitat is also a celebrated facet of his life. He got married in 1989 to Reni Adegbite, daughter of the late Chief Lateef Adegbite—who was former Attorney General of the Western Region of Nigeria, and former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. Over 30 years now, their union is still one of the most divine and well-founded among the high society of Nigeria.

At 60, Tunde Folawiyo is one of the wealthiest folks in the country, but possibly the most unassuming. His life and work and home are all success stories. Nonetheless, the man has found more fulfilment in his wife and kids, philanthropy and quietness, than anywhere else. At 60, Tunde Folawiyo is a dream realised and model for a balanced life.

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