Sir Demola Aladekomo
FOUNDER, CHAMS PLC

‘Demola established Chams immediately after his MBA program in 1985 with virtually no capital but a big dream. He went ahead to grow Chams from a private business to a multi-billion-naira public quoted company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Having successfully led the Chams dream to reality and built a lasting legacy, Demola retired as founding Managing Director of Chams in 2015 after 30 years.

Demola showed a great entrepreneurial spirit early in life, which started with his coconut candy production and marketing in 1966-1968; photography business 1968- 1972; sports promotion 1974 – 1976; Taxi-cab operation 1976-1984; and novel poultry egg distribution 1982-1985. He was a Prefect in primary school, House Captain in secondary school, College Challenge Winner for Western Region, 1976, NTA National Mastermind Champion 1977- 1978, Literary and Debating president at A-levels, and Club President at University.

A resilient innovator and pioneer of many laudable innovations that have become key drivers of the Nigerian Economy, Demola pioneered Electronic funds transfer which led to the emergence of the e-payment and smart card industry. He conceptualised and set up the Guinness World Record Certified ChamsCity in Lagos and Abuja. Before ChamsCity, he built the biggest capacity ID card personalisation plant in the world in Abuja, which delivered 70million Identity cards in 90 days for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He also led the Chams team to deliver the first successful One million National ID Cards where foreign companies had failed for decades. His last project before voluntarily retiring from a company he set up by the Grace of God was successfully implementing the Bank Verification Number (BVN) project for the banks and nation. A significant transformation platform for Nigeria’s economy and socio-political wellbeing.

More recently, Demola is championing the setup of Nigeria’s SmartCity Innovation Hub (Similar to America’s Silicon Valley) in partnership with Lagos state and the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.

Sir Demola Aladekomo, a Knight of John Wesley born on December 31, 1957, is married to Titilola and they are blessed with four children and a granddaughter.