“Vision is progressive. It is revealed to you from stage to stage. If God had shown it to me then, I probably would have fainted. It’s just progressing as i move along. I’m fortunate in life; God has been very kind to me and His mercy and grace is what has carried me thus far. I don’t ever want to forget that. Thank God for ideas as it has helped transform society, build businesses, raise future generations of Nigerians who will have a passion for excellence. Whatever we do must sing excellence. If it’s not excellent, it will never get out, and if it’s not excellent, it’s not us.”
Leke Alder, known as a man of many talents, is an only child of his parents. He is a resourceful, innovative and renowned personality who is credited to introducing “Branding” as a discipline in Nigeria. He is a brand and business strategist and consultant, writer, lawyer, painter, computer programmer, designer, Founder and Principal of Alder Consulting, a creative intelligence firm known for strategy and branding for businesses and nations both in Nigeria and beyond. He has been consulting for businesses and governments for years.
His childhood dream was to become a lawyer. He attended Igbobi College, Lagos and later moved to Kings College, Lagos. He proceeded to study Law at the then University of Ife, now known as Obafemi Awolowo University (O.A.U), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. While he studied Law as an undergraduate, his love for writing, painting, photography and art grew which led him to host an art exhibition which was successful with more than 2000 attendees. The exhibition was reported by the Guardian Newspaper at the time. His entrepreneurial spirit had surfaced right from his University days where he ran a chamber and argued cases for students. Before he left the University, he had a registered Greeting Cards Company which printed cards for people and businesses in Nigeria and United Kingdom. He graduated from the University in 1985 and was called to bar in 1986. Upon graduation from Law School, he went for his National Youth Service serving as a Lawyer and worked for two years at Wole Olufon and Company, a legal firm which specialises in Commercial Law, Property Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Litigation and Intellectual Property. He resigned from the law firm having discovered himself, his talents and abilities. He started a company called “Peculiar Cards” which designed religious cards and turned out to be very successful. He felt limited and wanted to do more, then he came up with the idea of Applied Arts; creating a piece and reproducing it. People began to meet him for business advice as his was becoming more successful. He would give advice to business owners which turned their small businesses into large profitable businesses within few months. Along the way, he started receiving commensurate from the profit made from those businesses. He got several referrals and began making huge sum of money. This progression became the precursor for him starting Alder Consulting, in 1996.
Sometime around the year 2000, Leke gathered a group of people and they came up with a blueprint to solving Nigeria’s image problem. This led to the “Heart of Africa project”, a Nigerian Image Management programme which was incorporated in the NEEDS document under Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala. He was the Chief Consultant to the Federal Government on the project. The project changed the image of how Nigeria was seen and perceived by the world and Nigeria became an investment proposition in the eyes of the Western World.
He and his team also started Brand Research in Nigeria by conducting an extensive research which rated banks according to their brand standards. They published the “Alder Brand Reporting”, which became a model incorporated by firms.
He has consulted on policy formulation for the Federal Government of Nigeria, Federal Ministries of Information and Communication, Education, Foreign Affairs, Solid Minerals Development and others. He has also consulted on political strategy and communication campaigns at national and sub-national levels.
He was appointed by the Federal Government to the Board of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and was Chairman of the Board Tenders Committee as well as Chairman of the Communications Committee. He served on the Board for 4 years.
He was a member of the Steering Committee for the World Economic Forum on Africa, held in Nigeria and the Chairman, Sub-Committee on Media, Host Broadcasting & Advertising.
Leke Alder has been a member of the organising committee of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) and a Member of the Board of Trustees of Day Waterman College.
He has served as a panelist at the Annual Africa Business Conferences of Harvard Business School, Wharton Business School and Kellogg School of Management. He was a speaker at the Financial ADFocus Conference, South Africa as well as Leadership Forum, Ghana.
He was a guest lecturer at the School of Media & Communications (SMC), Pan African University (now Pan Atlantic University) and guest speaker at the university’s Entrepreneurial Development School(EDS). He was also guest speaker at conferences held by the Nigerian Bar Association and Women in Management & Business (WimBiz). He has spoken at The Platform conference several times.
He liased with brand experts to establish a Non-Governmental Organisation to promote the country’s image amongst professionals in London and organized a seminar known as “Mind the Gap” which trained Company Executives, General Managers and Chief Executive Officers by professionals from Western Universities and liased with the Federal Government to train civil servants for free in Nigeria, for those who could not afford to go abroad. He instituted “Alder Prize Project” in collaboration with the Federal Government to give half a million naira to students who had ideas on how to move the country forward.
He is also an author of several books on business, religion, relationship and marriage, finances, etc. Examples include “The Genesis Project”, “Brandit”, “NOVUS”, “On Tithing”, “Conversation with an Atheist”, “The Great Alchemy”, “On Purpose”, “The Garinja Files”, “The Four Principles”, “Parable of the Box”, “On Man”, “Conversations of a 21st Century Saint”, “Minding your Business”, etc.
Currently, Leke Alder has a separate company known as the Alder Brand which he operates as a separate entity from Alder Consulting. It consists of a, notebook line, a greeting card line and other products. Beside consulting and writing, he runs a relationship advice forum known as “Jack and Jill”, His photographs and furniture designs have raised millions of Naira for orphanages supported by his foundation; Leke Alder Foundation. The Foundation has impacted many lives.
A Christian, Patriot and Nigerian, he is married to Morenike and has two children.
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