Episode 9 - Segun Olujobi on Stewarding God-Given Resources
Segun Olujobi’s vision for his company came first as a vision from the Lord. He saw an image of an oil company thriving in the Niger Delta, and he worked hard to achieve that goal. Today, he runs Vertex Energy where he seeks to steward the natural resources of his home country of Nigeria. He joins the show to talk about how his faith drives him towards stewardship in all he does and why he decided to change his name after coming to the Lord.
Episode Transcript
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Jacktone: Welcome back to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Africa podcast. We are committed to spotlighting the voices of entrepreneurs and innovators shaping the marketplace in our countries across this vast continent. This week we are featuring Segun Olujobi. Segun's vision for his country came from a vision from the Lord. He saw an image of an oil company thriving in the Niger Delta, and he worked hard to achieve that goal. Today he runs Vertex Energy, where he seeks to steward the natural resources of his home country of Nigeria. But Segun stewardship extends beyond his workplace. He is the founder of a Post Tools in the Marketplace, a network that empowers and equips the next generation of African change agents. Today, he joins us to discuss how his faith drives him towards stewardship in all he does and why he decided to change his name after coming to the Lord.
Henry Kaestner: Welcome back to Faith Driven Entrepreneur, Africa. I'm here, as always, with Ndidi. Ndidi, good morning. I'm sorry. I know that you're a little under the weather. And as you're sequestered in a hotel room in Washington, DC.
Ndidi Nwuneli: I know, Henry, we thank God for life. Great to be here and excited about this wonderful episode with my dear friend Segun Olujobi.
Henry Kaestner: I'm really excited about it too. And I know just a little bit about Segun's background. We have a common interest in energy, and our listeners may not know and may not care that I have a background in energy entrepreneurship as well before my time in telecom and there's something really special about what's going on with energy. Obviously it's in the news a lot about how it impacts our foreign policy, but there's something much bigger here that has to do with stewarding the land and stewarding all that God has entrust us with. So I'm looking forward to hearing from Segun and allowing our audience to be inspired and encouraging the goal here. If you're wondering and this is what we pray for, you, the listener, before we get started in every edition, is that you might hear something from Segun's story that will help you to know God more fully and with that knowledge that you might be able to be thankful and grateful and in turn go ahead and feel like you're on mission, that God has you in a place for you to love, on your partners, your vendors, your customers, your employees, that you have an opportunity to have some aspect of your business that is redemptive about how you think about stewarding, how you think about making a redemptive product or service or just the way that you love on people. That's the hope from our time together today that you will be encouraged, equipped, and that you'll be challenged. So let us know how we're doing on that. Also, as you have other guests that you think are great exemplars of this, that you think a broader audience might be inspired, encouraged to hear from, let us know, please. Segun is so awesome to have you with us. Thank you for joining. As we like to do with all of our guests, we'd like to get an autobiographical flyover and we're going to spend some time, of course, talking about your time and energy. But give us a flyover. Where did you grow up? Tell us a little bit about yourself and your faith journey, please.
Segun Olujobi: Thank you very much. Pleasure again to be on this call, Henry. So I grew up in Nigeria on a university town called Ibadan and the university there, my parents were both teachers in the university, then went off to secondary school a couple of hours away and ended up in University of Lagos, where I started in mechanical engineering. I graduated and I joined what was called after arms and at the time the consultant division.
Henry Kaestner: Another thing that we share in common, Austin, Arthur Android as well, and you may be a little bit younger than me, but I started in 1991.
Segun Olujobi: Well, I think it's the other way around. I started in 1987, actually.
Henry Kaestner: Well, I might have mentioned this before, but you've aged remarkably well. And since there's not a video podcast, I won't challenge our audience to determine who looks younger, but I assure them it's you. But continue on, please.
Segun Olujobi: Thank you. So I joined Accenture and spent a couple of decades there, 21 years rose from being an analyst to becoming a partner and was responsible for two biggest clients in the energy space. And it was in that period that I, a couple of things happened to me. Of course, I gave my life to Christ in that journey. And then I had a very interesting experience. I had a vision. One day I walked into church and I had a vision. And in that vision I saw myself, you know the Lord showed me sort of the oil fields, you know, derricks and rigs and so on. And I parked it actually didn't know what it meant, but shortly after that I started going through an experience. I just got tired of what I was doing. I had two clients, I thought with these two clients are going nowhere. And I got to a stage where I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I went to God and at that point then I was really willing to do anything God wanted me to do. And it was not experience that God then reminded me about, the vision it showed me. And the vision was then what? Fast forward what I'm doing now which is an energy company, which was started called Vertex Energy. It was as if, as I prayed at that time, God was saying I should do that vision because I wanted you to start an energy company, oil and gas company. That was what he showed me. But, you know, as we prayed and we started trying to build a business, we started called it Vertex energy. We took the view that energy was a broader subject and it was oil and gas today. But who knows what it was going to be? This was 2006, 2007, thereabouts. So that's been the journey and the story around it. It's been remarkable. So that's a quick overview. We need to dig deeper. If you want me to in any particular area.
Henry Kaestner: Well, thank you. There's a bunch there. And I'm hoping that Ndid. will help us to unpack some more of this, this inspiration that you had from God. But I actually want to reverse just a little bit back to the thing that we share in common on this Arthur Andersen experience. Tell us a bit, if you don't mind, because it's a very powerful story about the founder, the partner from Arthur Andersen, that went over to Nigeria to start the business and the impact that person had in your life and then in the broader faith ecosystem in Nigeria.
Segun Olujobi: Yeah may his soul rest in peace. he passed away. So we're sort of remembering him. So Dick was a partner that came to Nigeria to found Arthur Andersen, Harvard MBA, and worked in Anderson's offices in the US. And then he'd gone to the Middle East and found his way to Nigeria and he really was the one that started Arthur Andersen in Nigeria. And a lot of what Arthur Andersen has become, it's actually one of the most successful firms now its change his name. Of course, a couple of times because of the problems of Arthur Andersen, is that he built a very strong, firm, very strong values. And one of my really important influences was Dick and the Family Bill. And Dick was very principled, built the firm on all the right values, the values of Arthur Andersen. And one of the biggest values that Dick left and also stewardship. And in my Christian journey, I think what I found is that actually those values that Dick taught and used to build the firm actually Christian values.
Henry Kaestner: Was he motivated by his faith?
Segun Olujobi: He was, but he wasn't very obvious. He chose to keep his faith to himself. And he grew up almost in the Bible Belt of the U.S. so that a big impact on him. But he wasn't very, you know, obviously he didn't. So his wife and himself so just kept their faith to themselves really [..]. So it didn't come out the way he lived his life day to day. But in terms of the values he built, the firm and honesty and integrity and stewardship, those were the big things. And choosing people, you know, based on competence and building for the long term. Dick was very big on those things and as I became a Christian, I realized that, you know, these are really Christian values and these are the keys to success, whatever you do. And if you look around the world, as I become a student of the strategy and realize that the key of the foundations of success of companies and nations and the keys of transformation are actually Christian values, you know.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Thank you, Segun. You know, as I reflect on Dick's life, this concept of stewardship, mentorship, but also legacy are so important. You know, I reflect on his role in starting the Niger Economic Summits, Lagos Business School, and mentoring generations of leaders in Nigeria. And this was a white American from the Bible Belt coming and spending the best of his years in Nigeria. He went to Harvard Business School, I think it was class of 57 and, you know, ended up making such a huge difference in all of our lives. And Segun that concept of stewardship has also been part of your legacy, not just with the work you're doing in energy and gas. The work you did with Accenture, obviously a supporter of LEAP Africa as our first chairman, but also with the apostles of the marketplace. Can you talk a bit about how you have exemplified leadership and stewardship in your life?
Segun Olujobi: Well, thank you very much Ndidi. I think, like I said, you know, Dick's influence and the Arthur Andersen's values, that central values really played a big part. But I think somehow being the first child in my family also played a role. I remember for as long as I can, my mom in particular telling me, look, you're the eldest and therefore people are going to look at you. You are the one the families looking to, your brothers and sisters are going to. And you've got to behave in a way that shows the family, the good of our family. Are your brothers and sisters can look up to you. So stewardship has been with me, but I think it was really helped by Dick and the arthritis and family, you know, to build a foundation. And so I've always thought about my life in the sense of giving back and a sense of, you know, making things better than I mean it is always thinking about the next generation, whether it's business, whether it's in church, whether it's in family. It's about empowering the next generation. And you're right, Ndidi, every area in the are starting to I said, look, this is wonderful. I mean, this is such a needed thing and I would do everything I can, obviously not very wealthy or anything of the sort, but of my time and my energies I would give. And so the same thing in business as we've started other projects in Nigera and we would try to do a number of things once it was clear that this is what God wanted us to do, we wanted to show that it was possible to build an ethical company, probably one of the most difficult, most corrupt areas of society, the energy, space, the sporting world. We wanted to show that it was possible for the next generation of young people to build businesses based of ethics and to take a long term view. We wanted to be able to develop stock the way we were developing Accenture at Andersen, you know, taking the long term view, selecting the best people, not based on who, you know. I've been able to show them the path of build them up and being able to pass on knowledge where we made mistakes, we tell them and others to show them. So stewardship has been something that's been ingrained from when I was young, helped by the fact that I worked in Arthur Andersen. And we have such a great like Dick. And it's something I've tried to do in other things and I've worked on LEAP Africa now process the marketplace Vertex energy. We've been a very involved in many. Government advice them from the back, the economy. I wouldn't say they listen to us all the time. But we've tried to do our best.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Thanks. Segun. And you know, as I reflect on your life, I have always known you to be someone who had a strong sense of self, an identity. And I know this was not part of the script, but I'm going to ask it. So you decided to change your last name as you got closer to God? And I want you to talk a bit about that if you feel comfortable speaking to it.
Segun Olujobi: Thank you very much Ndidi. As you know, many of our names in this part of in Nigeria in general, maybe in the southwest, tend to reflect, you know, ancient and sometimes sure to gods and deities and, you know, my name. The first part of my name, egun another time was like a masquerade. And for me, I just I felt a very strong urge to disassociate with what I thought was not glorifying to God, because Bible talks about not respecting the idols, not worshiping idols and the names that have suggested that. So for me, it was important as I got very deep into faith and I spent time with God, I just felt a discomfort with the name. And yes, it took some convincing of my father in particular, but I made him realize it had nothing to do with my respect for him. This was just me and this was what I was comfortable with. And invariably it took me two and a half years to convince him, but he got convinced in the end. So Ndidi you're right that I don't look at other people's [..] I look at God. And when I'm convinced that this is what God wants me to do, I do it. And in a sense, that's the story of a Vertex energy, because a lot of people laughed at us and said, this is impossible to build a business in this space being ethical, including people who are Christians. So I can see the link between Christian and God and trusting God.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Exactly. So tell us what Olujobi means and then gradually transition into Vertex and what God has called you to do through that and what you've been doing.
Segun Olujobi: Right. Thank you very much. And I thought the name was Egunjobi, which is the masquerade. And I were born together and something like that literally. Olujobi just means God and I are on a journey together. So the Olu means God and Jobi means a bond with God and working with God. And the story of Vertex is, like I said, started with a vision which I actually didn't realize was God telling me to go down this path. I was praying for all the things I thought it was asking you to pray for the Niger Delta, which is where oil is producing Niger, which was in crisis. It was later on, as I pray that like, oh, God was asking me to start a business. So Vertex is an energy company started with oil and gas obviously because that's the vision [...] that we started off. And you know, we just about 10th year now, we got off to trying to acquire some oil blocks. Interest. And so why the blocks we did win, you know, the first three assets we went for, we actually won the two clearly on the third, we're very strong position of the first one, taken away from us because we're not political and actually interested in and you know, we do not play ball. We wanted us to do some corrupt things and we refused to do that. And so it was taken away from us. The second was similar to that. We won an asset grade system because actually the promoter of that particular company was all a Christian. But, you know, he took our bid to give it to the second bidder. And a third one it was similar to that. We put together a very strong consortium, but the minister at the time was interested in the asset and so our promoters were not given visas to come into the country. And so so we've had this long journey. Well, longish ten years. Well, we finally got a very good asset in the sixth year of operations there about. And as God to turn things out, you know God is just great. This asset we got at a time when the market was really down and we got at a very good price, literally a giveaway price. And so the years in the wilderness, God paid us back by giving us an asset that we paid a fraction of what we would have paid if we had gotten it at the time we thought we wanted it. But, you know, this is a five minute discussion, but this is a painful six years of really hard work and no returns money from investors. We raised a couple of hundreds of millions, which we return back to investors at the time. And we went weeks and months without any cash coming in. So that's the story about it, it's a very short form.
Henry Kaestner: So I'm interested. It's not often that we hear a story, it maybe we should and maybe it's just that we're asking the wrong questions. But I love hearing the fact that you felt called by God specifically to lean into this opportunity. And my curiosity is, is is you had heard that call. Are you continuing to hear God's speak to in your business? And can you give us some examples of what that looks like?
Segun Olujobi: Right. Thank you so much. So after about three or four years of this, you know, start stop win an asset get taken away from you, I began to ask myself, Did you really hear God speak to you? Did you misunderstand what he was saying? Before I went, I went to my took some time off you know a couple of weekends and God actually gave me two words. You know, the way word is implanted in your spirit, you wake up. So I woke up on two days and the first day was God saying to me, be still and know that I am God. The next day was something. I can't remember the exact scripture now, but the quotations of the Scripture, and it was like somebody woke me up and told me, you know, and the most clear one I'd had was on this journey as well, was once I, I lost a lot of money and I went to God and said, what should I do? And He said, give me the balance of it. And it was quite a lot of money. Well, at $800,000, I would say exactly how much. But but I had and I knew was God that particular one. As I sat in my car, I remember where exactly I was. I was waiting for my kids to come to my Christmas party and it was just somebody spoke to me from the back of the car. So I jumped on turn around.
Henry Kaestner: Oh wow
He wasn't there. Yeah. The second time this was like somebody woke me up in the middle of the night and said those words. And as soon as I said those words, I knew everything was fine. Oh, the third thing was, you know, that the last asset you lost, the gentleman who took it from us was as a Christian, the guy who son was. So I was very unhappy with this guy and I went to prayer and God told me, I mean, I realized through prayer that I'd forgotten the guy. And once I forgave him, after this two weekends of me alone with God, things turned. I just knew that we were going to be fine. And that's it. Other than that, what we've seen is God just uses circumstances and events. I give you an example. So, well, we're trying to get this and have funding for the arts. We finally got the private equity backers give us some very impossible conditions that we find out later on you know that at least one of the principles they did not really want to do the deal and one of the conditions was we're supposed to go back to a government establishment and get from them a letter saying that the money we owed them we could pay back all the, you know, an indiscriminate number of years. And this was like an impossible so I went to God, I went to prayer and God just said go. And I went and the stable received. I mean, it's unbelievable. The guy who signed off was a very senior government official said, What do you want? And this are things that, you know, people don't believe can happen. And to be honest, I think it was God. So we've seen his hand move. So, like I said, some of it has been almost audible. Some of it has been impressions of the Spirit. Some of it has just been God saying this is tough, but just follow my instructions so that multiple ways God has shown us favor. And you know, you just know when God is pushing a particular direction. Final example This company would not have existed because we had a bit of a discussion with our private equity backers and they kept on saying, Don't do this, don't do that, don't do that. And I had a dream. And in that dream I was about to miss a train. And it was obvious to me that God was saying, go and, register the company, go on. And so I came back and my business partner, let me tell you the same thing I said. I told you, forget this backers as a boss. Go on. And if you do not register the company and start the company at that particular time, we probably wouldn't be where we are today.
Henry Kaestner: That's very powerful. That's awesome. I love the lesson in there about forgiving, and I love the fact that you were intentional about going off for a couple of weekends and really listening to hear from God. Sometimes people say, Well, I'm just not hearing from God. Well, are you giving him an opportunity to speak to you? And all too often in my life as an entrepreneur, I haven't. And so that's a great encouragement for all of us. I want to ask you one other question. Before, Ndidi ask you about what you're hearing from God in his word? And that is, you've been involved in apostles in the marketplace. You've been a believer, you've changed your name to represent your faith, which is just incredibly motivating. And my question for you is, what are you seeing? What's the lesson or the encouragement you would give to people both in Nigeria and then outside of Nigeria about how God is working in the marketplace? Maybe it's something that you think is a challenge that needs to be removed, or maybe it's something to be celebrated. But because you've been so involved as an entrepreneur yourself and haven't been exposed to others. Help us to understand the price fall in Faith Driven Entrepreneur ecosystem in a way that we might not otherwise because we're not on the ground.
Segun Olujobi: Thank you very much. First of all, I think God is really interested in the marketplace. And the reason why is because most people spend the bulk of their lives in the marketplace. Chris Sundays are good, night vigils are good meetings, Christian meetings are good. But you're going to leave your life out of the marketplace. You're going to face the challenges of the life in marketplace. We are going to be able to minister and show God's glory more in the marketplace. People are going to listen to you and say, Oh, wow, it's possible to actually build a company where you don't be bribed in a very corrupt system. They're going to take it more serious than if you just sit down in your churches. So I think God is very, very interested in the marketplace. Secondly, I think faith is built two areas where faith is really built on many areas. But, you know, the faith is built when people have a serious crisis like a health crisis. And God answers them. But faith is also built on people have a marketplace challenge. There's a big problem that people who are opposed to you because of your faith, because of what you believe and because you stand for God, God moves for you. I think it's almost as important as the person who's been healed. When people in the marketplace who are non-Christians or nominal Christians hear that you've done something that was not easy and possible to do. I think the third thing to talk about to market is that we need to have a network of believers and that sort of sticks to what we're trying to do, not possible in the marketplace. We need to find people who we can share our challenges with, who we can pray with, who can encourage us, who can also help. Sometimes all you need is somebody who knows, somebody who can get you that approval without asking for a bribe. Good example. We tried to get an approval for asset after we won it, and some of the top government officials there was asking indirectly for sort of a bribe. And, you know, at the time, our brother, who was one of the co-founders of the marketplace, was a minister. And because he was a minister, he could basically ask the guy and say, my people, I've been trying to get this approved. Is there a problem? And of course, because he knows this gentleman's faith, he knows that he can't really be asking for something, you know. So I think the point I'm speaking today here is sort of fellowship and being able to lean on one another, but spiritually and just in terms of relationship and friendship, that's not just a few examples of why I think it's important that, you know, believers take the marketplace, Christianity very seriously.
Ndidi Nwuneli: Thank you, Segun, and thank you for all you've done with the apostles in the marketplace. As we round up, we always like to ask our guests one thing God is speaking to them about right now. Can you share either Scripture or something that you've been studying that you think will be valuable to the rest of our listeners today?
Segun Olujobi: Right. Thank you very much. I think this is a very difficult time in the world before now, because I'm also an entrepreneur in the energy space you know hydrocarbons in particular have gotten a very bad name. And you know what? I've been asking God, what's going to happen? Where are the openings? And I sense God, I'm obsessive for a while. I say, just focus on me, don't worry about the problems, focus on me and spend time with me. And the example I like to use that of minister to me is Joseph. Joseph was in great turbulence, but the Bible says what God was with him. God was with Him in His Master's arms, God was with him in the prison. And I think the key thing that we Christians need to do is to focus on God at this time and to do everything to make sure God is with us. So no matter what is happening out there, if you are focused on God and you're giving space to God, you will be fine. God will take care of you. The Bible tells us something for us. One, that the Earth belongs to God, you know. And so God is interested in the marketplace, He is interested in Christians in the marketplace, He is interested in what happened in the world and He is interest in our welfare. All we have to do is to give them space and walk with him and letting, you know, walking out. Like I said, with Joseph [..]. Joseph got promoted, you know, as you all know, became the prime minister and was able to help in the very difficult season in Egypt. And I think God is looking for many more Joseph at this time. We would trust him completely.
Henry Kaestner: Amen. Segun thank you very, very much for your time, for your encouragement. Big lessons, as I mentioned before, they're going to take away from this is spending time with God and getting away and looking to hear from him and then being faithful and what he responds. I love the fact that you, in addition to being a leader at Vertex, are leader in the marketplace to encourage other faith driven entrepreneurs, you know, to get a chance to hear more about apostles in the marketplace and upcoming podcasts. I'm grateful you've been generous with your time. Thank you very much.
Segun Olujobi: Henry. Thank you. Ndidi thank you so much. Thanks for the opportunity to share my story on my journey and I wish you all the very best. This is a very important work you guys do. And I do pray and pray that God blesses the work and encourages a lot more people to do his glory and to work for him in the marketplace. God bless you.
