There are people who inherit and preserve a good name. Some carefully make a good name for themselves, and others earn it in the eyes of their watching world. And then there are a few who share their good name in ways that enable, equip and envision others to expand their thinking and extend their potential. We heard and read about Chief Akinkugbe, before we met him, and it was clear that he embodied all of these facets of a good name.
As we went about the business of setting up a Centre that would contribute to the development of tools for the navigation of Africa’s multiple legal cultures, it was fortuitous that we were introduced to a business giant, whose biography had highlighted, amidst resounding successes, the difficulty of doing business between Anglophone and Francophone Africa, with their respective common law and civil law traditions. His biography intrigued me and I longed to hear more directly from him. I am thankful to Doyin Bademosi for facilitating that first visit.
Upon our visit to him, he engaged us in deep, thoughtful conversation about our mission, and I seized the opportunity to seek out more stories of his childhood in a community embedded in the timber enterprise. It sounded magical to me and had me longing for more of this fascinating series which seemed all set to premiere. These stories, captured in Chief Akinkugbe’s biography, illuminate an Africa that has enjoyed a successful blend of the ancient and the modern. In this world, families merged and domestic and childcare responsibilities were pooled whenever the timber season came around, requiring long hours of forest work. The timber was felled and prepared for rafting through the river to the next point in the value chain. It was an anchored society, which has tremendous lessons for today’s many untethered and adrift worldviews.
It is no wonder that Chief became what he became – an anchor of stability to countless numbers of people. Naturally, his life both inspired and informed a compelling imperative to create a community of fellows to drive and anchor the understanding of Africa’s meandering business landscape, with its opportunities, challenges and potential. We were therefore elated and deeply honoured when he agreed to extend his name to this initiative, and in August 2013, the Olu Akinkugbe Business Law in Africa Fellowship (OABLAF) was generously endowed at the University of Cape Town.
In October 2014, Professors Olawale Ajai of the Lagos Business School and Etienne Nsie of Omar Bongo University, Gabon became the pioneer Fellows. Since then, 22 more fellows have been appointed, representing more than 10 African countries. Chief Akinkugbe’s foresight in making a permanent endowment ensures that the Fellowship continues over the long term, providing a core group of scholar-practitioners, who study and advise on existing legal frameworks, while ideating and innovating new, comprehensive and integrated pathways that are better fit-for-purpose.
The Fellowship is particularly timely, as the continent resolutely steers its course towards a continental free trade area. Fellows are connected to wider institutional ecosystems in academia, corporate sectors and government across the continent. There is no doubt that the Fellowship constructively captures a key dimension of Chief Akinkugbe’s life and work, and with an eye for enduring partnerships, he proactively went the extra mile to connect the Centre to the generous support that led to the endowment of the TY Danjuma Fund for Law and Policy Development, also at the University of Cape Town, in 2014.
It is therefore great cause for thanksgiving that Chief Akinkugbe witnessed the 5th anniversary of the fellowship at the Lagos Business School in 2018 in person, and the 10th anniversary at the University of Cape Town in 2023, both of which coincided with his 90th and 95th birthdays respectively. I’m glad we visited in September of 2023, during which time I asked for more stories, and as he did with the UCT Vice-Chancellor and his deputy in 2013, with the Dean of Law in 2018 and with the current Dean in 2023, he reached into his astonishing continental memory to speak of a variety of African affairs and leaders. On that occasion, we received the refreshments placed before us, presented our gifts and prayed with him.
Together with his wonderful wife and life companion of seven decades, Mrs Janet Akinkugbe, Chief Akinkugbe has modelled life for us all in its various ramifications, from a corporate maestro to a fellowship benefactor and so much in-between. He has given us much to celebrate and much to remember him by, including the impetus for and imperative of a renaissance of dedication to God and country. Chief and Mrs Akinkugbe have left giant footprints of how to live well and purposefully. May we all be encouraged, guided, inspired and comforted by this.
In joyful remembrance,
Prof Ada Ordor
OABLAF Convener
3rd October 2025