“When I started my business, the entire first fees I had, I gave it to the Church Building Fund. I believed in committing my business to God. Putting God first, changes everything. I was challenging Him to show up for me and He has blessed me tremendously. You need to discover your purpose very early in life and you need to define where you are heading. Excellence is key! It is essential that people recognise that integrity matters in whatever you do because you are being watched, not just by God but by men. Hand over the keys of your business to God. He will bless it.”
OlaJumoke Olufunmilola Adenowo is a Renowned Architect, Speaker, Philanthropist, Author, Entrepreneur and Minister. She was born on the 16th of October, 1951 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. She grew up in Obafemi Awolowo University, where her parents were professors. Her father was a history professor while her mother was a professor of Criminology. She attended University of Ibadan Staff Primary School and Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Oyo. Jumoke was a focused and bright young girl. At age 14, she proceeded to Obafemi Awolowo University where she had her Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture and went further to enrol for a Master’s Degree in Architecture at age 19. As an undergraduate, she won the prize for Best Student Design and was awarded with the first distinction in the University’s Master of Science in Architecture Program (setting an academic record which held for several years later). In 1993, she became a Chartered Architect.
Jumoke is proof that the environment where you grow up and spend time can influence your love for certain things and shape your future. Growing up in Obafemi Awolowo University where the architectural pieces and structures are beautifully designed and visiting Paris at age 3 on an European tour with her parents, played a role in contributing to her interest in structures and architecture. She was often fascinated by structures, which helped forged her career path. After graduation, Olajumoke Adenowo worked at Towry Coker and Associates, starting out as Assistant Architect before moving to Femi Majekodunmi Associates architectural firm where she had won her boss over, who was the President of the International Union of Architects, with her hardwork and passion. Because of this, her boss decided to give her a chance. That chance gave birth to her designing her first building, Ministry of Finance in Abuja at the age of 23. This was a big achievement and opened doors to several opportunities for her. It was not long before she was asked to create the Federal Ministry of Lands, Abuja.
In 1994, at the age of 25, she founded AD Consulting, her own boutique architecture, and interior design firm which is known today, as one of Africa‘s leading and award winning architecture & design
consultancies. AD Consulting, has executed the design and overseen the construction of more than 70 outstanding projects for the Nigerian Federal and State Governments, Multinational Corporate Organizations and Private Individuals. She revealed that owning her own company was a big risk for her but she was ready to step into the unknown, determined to succeed. In her words, “When I started my business, the entire first fees I had, I gave it to the Church Building Fund. I believed in committing my business to God. Putting God first, changes everything. I was challenging Him to show up for me and He has blessed me tremendously.”
In parallel to founding AD Consulting, she also founded and ran Advantage Energy; an Oil and Gas services firm. In a male dominated field such as Architecture, she believes that women and anyone else should know their purpose in life as it is the starting point of every life’s journey, career, leadership or business. She believes that purpose births passion and that individuals must choose a path that they enjoy or a cause they believe in and are willing to invest their all in. In her words, “I was made a Director on a project for which I was appointed as Lead Technical Partner because the savvy business owners said, “we have never seen such follow through before. It’s meant to be our business but you are more passionate than we are about it”.
If I can’t commit to your project 100%, I don’t take it on. I have heard feedback from Local and International circles that I conduct business with integrity. My refusal to bribe and receive bribes means we are effectively cut off from a whole sector of the market and harassed terribly by some corrupt government officials for refusing to ‘settle’. I have had to resign from projects because I refuse to compromise. Distinction matters. Differentiate yourself from the crowd by being creative.”
As an Architect, Adenowo’s portfolio includes a host of Multi-national and Nigerian clients including some of the world’s strongest brands like Coca Cola, L’Oreal, The Nigerian Stock Exchange, Access Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank.
Jumoke is also known as a great Philanthropist and Mentor. In 1999, she founded Awesome Treasures Foundation, an intercontinental philanthropic foundation recognised by the United Nations and part of the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation Family Philanthropy platform aimed at raising transformational leaders, empowering young talents and women with a mission to raise 1000 leaders by 2030, working especially with women and young people.
The Vision of the Foundation was borne from listening to people complaining about the Nigerian Government. She decided it was better to light a candle than curse the darkness. In her words, “I remember how hopeless I felt as a youth in the Babangida days. I had to do something about the young people who were in the same position I found myself as a young woman. Someone had to let them know there is hope and their dreams can become reality. I also couldn’t imagine the youth growing into the leaders we had. I knew everyone had the seed of greatness in them, if they had someone to mentor them and believe in their potential. I decided to try and be that person who nurtures the seed of greatness in others. Everyone kept saying ‘somebody should do something about this or that’. I decided I was that ‘somebody’ and I could at least attempt to do something even if it failed.” Her Foundation has been helping women take ownership of their businesses. To date, nearly 90,000 people have attended their annual summit, more than 850 children have been educated through their summer camps, over 900 girls have benefitted from free health screening and counselling services and over 11,000 women thus far have been empowered through skills acquisition programs. The Foundation also runs Camp Dawn, an educational camp, to address the education gap for inner-city kids and Awesome Princesses, which helps to care for young girls from the slums of Lagos at risk of sexual abuse and HIV/AIDS by supplying educational intervention and medical screenings.
She is an alumnus of a number of prestigious Institutions including the Lagos Business School Chief Executive Program (2002), IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona (2005), School of Management (2016), and Harvard Kennedy School (2019).
She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and a member of the African Leadership Network.
Adenowo is a Public Speaker and also finds time to mentor people through her radio show, Voice of Change, which reaches over 15 million people per broadcast.
She is the winner of a number of awards for her work including the Rare Gems Award in conjunction with the United Nations Information Centre and the Women’s Optimum Development Foundation (WODEF), New African Business Woman of the Year Award, Africa’s Most Inspiring Business Woman by the Francophone La Batisseur d’economie, the International Property Awards (Best Public Service Architecture, 2012), African Property Awards (Best Mixed-Use Architecture), two IDEA Awards (Best Commercial Designer 2012), (Best Interior Architect 2013), and a further IDEA Award (Best Institutional Architect 2014), Cambridge African Society Award and Forbes Women Africa Entrepreneur Award for 2020. In 2018 she was listed by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as one of the most inspirational women in architecture today.
In 2019, she was appointed as Visiting Professor at the Technische Universitat Muchen (TUM) in Germany. She was honoured as a Laureate and a Guest Scientist at the Chair of Theory, History of Architecture and Art & Design arm of the University’s Department of Architecture. She is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects and was a jury member of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. She was featured in the Hall of Fame, Black History Month by the University of West England, Bristol. She is also the recipient of the Cambridge African Society Award and has been honored as an Ambassador of Excellence for outstanding achievements in Architecture and women development by her alma mater. She was recognized as one of 100 most Influential Nigerians and was also named as one of the Most Inspiring Women in Nigeria.
She is widely featured across National and International Media, including The Guardian which described her as “the face of Architecture in Nigeria”,
Architectural Record; the world’s leading architectural journal, CNN where she was labelled “Nigeria’s Starchitect”, British Broadcasting Corporation, Fortune Magazine, Forbes TV, Forbes Woman, Suddeutsche Zeitung, etc, and has spoken at summits and conferences including the Global Women’s Forum and Harvard Business School (African Business Club).
She is an author of several books which include Lifespring: The Mother’s Prayer manual, The Mysterious Seed: Powerful Secrets of Financial Increase, Designed for Marriage, Covenant Forces and Child of Destiny.
She is also a Minister of the Gospel and member of The International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders. Her teachings have blessed live tremendously.
She is married to Olukorede Adenowo and they have two sons.
Jumoke is an inspiration to us all. She has shown that no matter how dominated a field is, you can succeed. You don’t need to cut corners. You only need to put God first, discover your purpose and work hard at it. She is a reminder that we are the light in this world and we need to shine so that darkness can fade out.
SOURCES
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