Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu (KBE) was a Nigerian businessman and the founding president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as well as the first Chairman of the Board of Directors, the African Continental Bank Ltd. He was the wealthiest black man in Africa by 1966.

Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu (KBE) was a Nigerian businessman and the founding president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as well as the first Chairman of the Board of Directors, the African Continental Bank Ltd. He was the wealthiest black man in Africa by 1966.

EARLY LIFE
Ojukwu was born in 1909 into the Ojukwu family of Nwakanwa quarters of Obiuno Umudim Nnewi in present-day Anambra State. He attended a primary school in Asaba, Delta State and the Hope Waddell Institute in Calabar, Cross River State.

Ojukwu started his professional career as an agriculturalist before leaving to join John Holt as a tyre sales clerk. He also incorporated a textile company in Onitsha, Anambra State to supplement his income during this period. While at John Holt, he noticed a lack of adequate transport for Eastern Nigerian textile traders. He later left John Holt to create his own firm - Ojukwu’s Transport Company (OTL) – in order to improve the trading environment for Nigerian traders. As a transporter, he was a tireless worker and meticulous with regards to detail: he was usually the first to inspect his transport vehicles for oil leakages. His transport company was the first major one to move people to Lagos from the Asaba end of the Niger River.
Aside from his work ethic, his success was also supported by the economic boom which followed the Second World War. Working with the West African Railway Company and the newly inaugurated produce boards, he provided his fleet for commodity transportation and for other traders’ use.
During the 1950s, he diversified his interests, bought heavily in the real estate sector and became a director in numerous major corporations, including the state-owned Nigerian National Shipping Line.

ACHIEVEMENTS
Ojukwu was able to carve a niche for himself by investing in blue chip companies where he was either Chairman or Director. Amongst such companies were Guinness, John Holt, Nigercem and the Costain Group. He was the chairman of the Nigerian Marketing Board, the Nigerian Shipping Supply Company, and the Nigerian Coal Corporation. He was also on the board of directors of companies such as Shell Oil Nigeria Limited and African Continental Bank Ltd. Richard Rylands Costain (grandson of the founder of the Costain Group) was the guardian of Ojukwu’s son, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, during his days as a student at the University of Oxford. Ojukwu also held a parliamentary seat during the nation's first republic and made a Knight of the British Empire by King George VI in 1951.
The Nigerian National Archives recorded that Ojukwu singlehandedly sponsored Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Nigeria in 1956. She was chauffeured by Ojukwu’s personal driver who drove her in his Rolls Royce. Due to his fame, he was able to visit Britain without official papers.
Ojukwu was a visionary: at a time when a lot of people did not reckon with the real estate sector, he moved in from the capital market and owned several houses in Ikoyi, Lagos and other highbrow areas of Nigeria. He also encouraged his friends to invest in the markets in which he had excelled. He encouraged his friends financially without counting the cost or asking for anything in return but good governance. Nnamdi Azikiwe and MI Opara were beneficiaries of his benevolence.

DEATH
Ojukwu died in 1966, a year before start of the Nigerian Civil War. His son Chukwuemeka led the secessionist state of Biafra during the Civil War.