Tunji Olowolafe: Of purpose and intentionality — by Simbo Olorunfemi
There is the assumption that one has to have had some sort of relationship, in the way of a personal encounter or intimacy with anyone to confidently cite him as a source of inspiration.
In a way, that is understandable as, often, what people project to the public is miles apart from what they truly are privately.
But it is also possible to look at people from a distance, especially over time, and be inspired by them and their works, even without having met them.
I have never met Dr Tunji Olowolafe, but he is one of the people I have followed from a distance, intrigued by the little I know of his story, especially his successful transition from Medicine to Business, while equally impressed and inspired by his philanthropic initiatives.
The first I heard about him was in the Babatunde Fashola days as Governor of Lagos state. Having written a book on Lagos myself and looking to scale that to a bigger promotional project about the city, I paid attention to what was going on in Lagos at the time.
Years later, I would connect with him on this platform, having seen one or two of his posts and some of his Yoga postures, but with time, I think he elected to pull back, hardly sharing updates here.
A few years ago, I happened on the news that he had been appointed the Chancellor of the Ekiti State University by the Governor of Ekiti State, Abiodun Oyebanji. Knowing how strategic BAO is, I paid attention, looking to see what the game plan was with the appointment of a man I didn’t even know is from Ekiti.
BAO, being an alumnus of the great institution, I could tell it was not a casual or flippant decision by the Governor, and I eagerly looked forward to the great turnaround I knew would come of it.
I didn’t have to wait for too long before things started happening. Soon, I began to see Dr Olowolafe’s hands and Governor Oyebanji’s mind clearly. That will culminate in a public declaration by Dr Olowolafe about a year after his appointment.
It was the 29th Convocation ceremony of the University. This event took place less than 3 weeks after the sad passing of Dr Olowolafe’s wife. It was with mixed emotions that I watched as his son, Olunfunbi, stood tall delivering the Chancellor’s speech on behalf of his father, who was out of the country and understandably absent.
Olufunbi announced the launch of
the Gbemisola Olowolafe Foundation, awarding a total of ₦60.5 million in grants.
He inaugurated the ‘First-Class Seed Fund’, awarding a cash prize of Five Hundred Thousand Naira to each of the graduates who finished with First Class Honours.
The Foundation followed up at this year’s ceremony with the precedent set last year, with Dr Olowolafe in attendance announcing the same cash grant to all First Class graduates, bringing the number of those who have benefited to 200 graduates in 2 years.
Beyond the First Class Seed Fund, also either inaugurated or already in operation were a series of targeted interventions, each designed to close the gap between academic knowledge and professional readiness.
These include the EKSU Trading Room & Financial Market Trading Programme, the establishment of a fully equipped Geoscience Earth Laboratory, Internship Placement Programmes.
What makes his intervention unique and commendable, to me, is the strategic and interconnected nature of it. He is not making isolated donations. Rather, there is a link between one and the other, extending beyond life
He also has the TOF Continuous Learning Ecosystem – a lifelong human capital development architecture anchored at Ekiti State University. The Foundation has also entered into a partnership with Springpod, a London-based careers platform that connects young people to prestigious professional opportunities around the world.
In May, On the 1st year anniversary of the passing of his wife, Gbemisola, Dr Olowolafe announced a ₦1 Billion commitment, over the next five years, to fully sponsor the undergraduate education of 1,000 students at Miva Open University.
In his words, this was to ensure that Gbemisola’s legacy of kindness, excellence, and service continues to live on in the success stories of others by removing the tuition barriers for 1,000 aspiring leaders.
That thoughtful gesture, I believe, is what has inspired others to look in the direction of extending support to Students at the University.
Opay has also now announced a ₦60 million scholarship initiative in a 10-Year partnership with Miva University committing to supporting 20 students every year with ₦300,000 per academic session, renewable on the basis of maintenance of good academic standing.
That is the power of example. That is what true leadership is all about.
Miva Open University has now appointed Dr Olowolafe as the institution’s first pro-Chancellor.
Two weeks ago, the Tunji Olowolafe Foundation officially commissioned the Gbemisola Olowolafe Centre for Ophthalmic Simulation (GOCOS), located at the Guinness Eye Centre inside the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos. It is said to be West Africa’s first ophthalmic surgical simulation facility.
That news, in fact, renewed my longstanding resolve to write.
I have tried to find out what the motivation is for Dr Olowolafe. I have found hints in his words here and there, founded around values he was raised with and dreams shared with his late wife.
Between his grandmother and wife, there lies his inspiration. Dr Olowolafe sees his grandmother as a foundational figure who instilled deep-rooted values of discipline, structural empathy, and community service in him. He often cites her as a moral anchor who shaped his understanding that true success is defined by uplifting others, directly influencing the principles of humility and service he later cherished in his late wife.
“I was raised by my grandmother. She could not read nor write a single word of English. Yet, she taught me more about life than any textbook I ever read. She would sing to me in Ekiti dialect, the same three things, over and over again, which are: hard work, humility, and honesty”, he says.
He has expanded and moulded these values from his grandmother into a governing philosophy for his life, sharing them with mentees and whoever else his path crosses. They have been codified into three Hs, as shared with the 2026 EKSU Graduating Students:
1.Hard work – because nothing worthwhile has ever been built without it.
- Humility, to keep learning long after today, because the moment you think you have arrived is the moment you begin to fall behind.
- Honesty, because in a world that will test your integrity at every turn, it is the one thing no one can take from you. Let it be a shield.
Speaking as Chancellor to the graduating students, he posed these questions to them –
Are you brave enough to cross into unfamiliar territory?
Are you willing to do what is necessary – when no one around you understands?
That is the story of Dr Tunji Olowolafe. He saw challenges that he believed he could help solve, and took a leap of faith, guided by the 3Hs philosophy he learnt from his grandmother, starting with the creation of his company, Deux Project Limited, and what has now become a lifelong commitment to infrastructure development across Nigeria.
He took the bold steps to leave medical practice for another field, responding to challenges he said the stethoscope could not fix.
Having fixed some of those challenges and made a good fortune doing that, he has now turned his attention in the direction of education. He says, “I am deeply convinced that if we are serious about transforming education in Nigeria, we must invest far more in the continuous development of our educators.”
He didn’t just do the talking, he has taken the bold steps of putting his money where his heart is – that of improving the quality of education and grooming the next generation to be able to take the baton further.
Dr Olowolafe’s story, to me, is a charge to everyone to refuse to be defined or constrained by the familiar, and venture into unfamiliar territories if led to do so. Fortune favours the brave. With hard work, honesty and humility, we can rewrite our stories.
