Chief Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu, the founder and current Chief Executing Officer of Premier Lotto Limited (PLL), also known as “Baba Ijebu,” a Gaming Company that was founded in 2001 to run the Lotto business in Nigeria, recently talked about his journey as an entrepreneur.
A typical Nigerian might not know the name Premier Lotto right away, but the nickname “Baba Ijebu” does.
Between 1942 and 1948, Adebutu went to Wesley Primary School in Iperu Remo. But he couldn’t finish, so he went to ljero Baptist School in Ebute-Metta, Lagos, and finished his primary education there in 1950. Adebutu was a very smart child. He came in first in his class on the Primary School Leaving Certificate Examination, and Iwo Baptist College gave him the scholarship to train as a teacher there.
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But, strangely, he turned down the scholarship offer because he didn’t want to leave Lagos and because he wanted to keep wearing a blazer and tie like all the other students. He said in an interview, “I turned down the scholarship because I wanted to study close to home and wear a school blazer and tie like other students.”
After making it through high school, Kessington worked for a short time at Cable and Wireless Limited, which later became NITEL, and Classic Chemical Limited, which makes Andrew’s Liver Salt and Cafenol. He went from being a Salesman to being the Sales Manager.
He quit the company in 1963 to start his own business. He became an agent for a pool. Today, that same company is a multi-national business with billions of dollars in equity. His plan to study law won’t work out, but that hasn’t stopped him from taking several leadership and management courses, both locally and abroad.
Customers gave him the name Baba Ijebu as a nickname, and the fact that he is from Ijebu helps to explain it.
The business path for the head of Premier Lotto was clear from the start. Aside from the fact that his parents were business people, he found a book called “How to Be Your Own Boss” that changed the course of his life for good.
Sir Kessington Adebutu is, in fact, a self-made man who reached the top of his field by working hard, being honest, self-disciplined, and taking responsibility. The success of his business proves this.
One thing that younger people can learn from this is not to be jealous of a very successful man, but to study his personality and ideas instead. Rising to the top of the business world in Africa and becoming a well-known name couldn’t have happened by chance. It took hard work and determination.
