
![]() |
Chief (Mrs.) Alake Adejonwo Rotimi Oshun, CEO, Jonshland Royal Castle & Suites |
Rotimi Oshun is quite, nu-assuming and focused.
She is equally rich and connected but you will hardly hear anything about this
Lagos born socialite and business woman of repute in the mainstream media. Endeared with a rare grace that is peculiar to
royalty, Alake is born of a wealthy
parentage from the famous Bamgbose
family of Lagos Island.
textile business which is the business of her mother during her life time and real estate which is
the sole business of her late father, Chief Akinwunmi Adejonwo. As Alake grew she began to show traits of
a business conscious child even while she worked as a staff of the Federal
Ministry of Works in Lagos in the early 1980s, she balanced her official duties with the importation of
head tie clothings from Switzerland and before long, Alake resigned from civil service and
inherited her mother’s textile business which she did for two decades before
she delved into her father’s line of business which is real estate. In recent times this sexy ebony colored lady
of substance has gone into hospitality business with her hospitality facility
Jonshland Castle Hotel and Suites in Gbagada area of Lagos taking the lead in
hospitality business in that cosmopolitan area of Lagos.
edifices she relive in anytime she is away to New York, Alake’s hotel is in a
class of its own.
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Lady and Chief Alake & Rotimi Oshun |
Africa’s number 1 Celebrity encounter blog Asabeafrika,
the mother of 5 successful children told us the secret of her success in
business and why she feels that every rich woman should submit herself to the
command of her husband irrespective of her limitless success. You will find her
interesting.
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Lady Alake Adejonwo Oshun to Asabeafrika….’I started my career at the Federal Ministry of Works’ |
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spoken lady started by intoducing herself to Asabeafrika “My name is Adejonwo Alake Rotimi Oshun. I
hail from Lagos state. I am a very conscientious person when it comes to my
work. I try to be as modest as possible
and I don’t play with my business. I don’t want to say I am a workaholic but I
like to concentrate on whatever I put my mind to. I am a very conscientious
person when it comes to work and I am never afraid to give my best”
woman told this blog the story of her humble beginning in business “Firstly I was into the textile business
before I diverted into the hospitality business. I am also into real estate, I
am an estate developer. These are the businesses I do for living and like I
said earlier, I am a conscientious person when it comes to what I do for a
living. I did the textile business for so many years; I was in it for 20 years
before the need to diversify came. I think God’s grace equally played a big
role in my decision to take my business to the next level. I am happy I did. I
return all glory to God”.
environment…
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Lady Alake Adejonwo Oshun to Asabeafrika….’At times, you have to be flexible with your business philosophy’ |
business woman went further by telling this blog her own definition of how to
succeed in a hostile environment, particularly women “To survive in any act of entrepreneurship you need focus. With focus
comes hard work; hard work is the sacrifice you give for success to follow your
business. You must be very; very hard working and you must also be flexible at
some point in your business. What I mean by flexibility here is that you must
not be stagnant; don’t be like the biblical servant with one talent who went
and buried his talent as a result of his nonchalant attitude to issues of life;
instead be like the servant with two talents or the one with five talents. That
is my favorite verse in the Holy Bible because they illustrate better our
attitude to issues of life and living”. “You must use what you have to get to
other things that will give you maximum benefit in life. In business, I look
out for new openings and I don’t just sit in one place ruminating over nothing.
You must learn to turn things around for
good. So, for me, you can always grow in business if you learn the act of
diversification and multiplication of wealth” Alake submitted after
drawing her breath.
hospitality
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Alake Oshun to Asabeafrika…’I am not a stagnant person when it comes to business’ |
changed business direction from playing big in the fabric business industry to
playing lead in the real estate sector “I
did the textile business for 20 solid years and decided to give a trial to
other businesses. I am 7 years old now in the real estate and hospitality business
to the glory of God. I had to take a second look at life and I asked myself
‘Alake, would you like to be doing the same thing at all times?’ and that gave
me the indication of what next to do. I am thankful to God for giving me a
better direction”
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Alake Oshun to Asabeafrika….’I took my business acumen from my mother’ |
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where she got her business acumen Alake said “In terms of business, I can say I emulate my mum, she was a very, very
hard working person in her life time. She hail from the popular Bamgbose family of Lagos Island; she
was one woman who never joked with her job during her life time, very dynamic,
hard working and focused. So I took her gene and that is what has reflected in
my view and way of life. On what dad
gave her, Alake revealed to Asabeafrika “For the property business, I emulated my dad in that regard; my dad was
a very great property business developer in his life time, his name is Adewunmi and they all hail from
Lagos. They were both relevant in their
various businesses and I can say that has reflected a lot in me to a good
extent”
developed her business acumen, the Lagos born business woman gave the narrative
of how her parent played a role “My
parents were strict and sincere. Both of them didn’t take nonsense but I can
tell you that they gave us a dose of good upbringing. For instance, you
couldn’t grow in my mother’s ambiance without you being tidy and business
conscious. Mum was a very strict person and she raised all of us with that
stern discipline.
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Alake Oshun in a tete-a-tete with a friend |
Of course I wouldn’t have been like this if my root didn’t
encourage such a level of business aggressiveness”. Alake spoke on humility
and level headedness “Above all, you must
be respectful and humble at all times. Then kindness was another virtue
that was instilled in us. I thank God for the kind of parent He gave me because
their sense of parenthood really defined my character”. “We are four children on my mother’s side
and I am the last born. I thank God for his grace; my other siblings are also
doing well in their respective endeavors”
woman revealed to Asabeafrika how she started her business career “I started at a very younger age, it had to
do with the kind of parents we had then. They were parents who instilled
rigorous business custom in us; it goes side-by-side our home training. I
started with the head tie aspect of fabric business; that is tying of gele. I
was into the gele business for a very long time before I went into fashion
business proper. I was importing gele from Switzerland
and selling to selected customers because by that time, I was young and still
working with a government establishment; I was working at Federal Ministry of Works, so by the time I leave the office during
break time and rush down to Apapa where I got an office for my head-tie
business, get some head-ties and cross back to my office in Lagos by boat to
meet up with my break off time. Then after office hours, by 3:30Pm, I will rush
to the popular place they call gutter
in Lagos Island to sell my wares before returning home. That was my routine for
so many years before I finally left government work to face my textile
business”
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Alake Oshun to Asabeafrika….’Both Dad and Mum were very hardworking and i took their gene’ |
business
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Alake Oshun to Asabeafrika…’I was raised in a home where business was a second skin’ |
further on why she dropped government work for private business, Oshun
traced her decision to passion “It is in
the blood, I told you earlier that I came from a home where business is like a
second skin”. Alake reacted giving this
blogger a charming smile while she hits her laps apart “My mum was a very wealthy
business woman in her life time and she dotted us with that discipline to think
out of the box and be extra-ordinary in our thoughts. The same thing with my
dad, he was very busy with his property business. So, you can see that it is a
family of business people. We were very good at doing it and that really helped
us to a large extent. My mum was into Aso-Oke
business and till her death, she never rest on her oars for a day. She was a
rare gem; so if you find yourself in that kind of a family you can’t be
anything less than a success”.
wealth, Alake Oshun gave the secret out “Humility”. She echoed with a soft voice and continued “Humility is a gift from God; for some, it
is difficult to be humble but I guess, it also has to do with the kind of
training we got from our parent that no matter your level of achievement in
life, you should never let it get into your head. Success is not a license for
arrogance and that is what I imbibed. Yes, it could be pretty difficult for
many to be humble but I think it is a great favor from God for one to be
humble. For me, it is like a second nature because in life, you need both the
have-nots and have-all to succeed in your endeavor. I thank God for the grace
to be humble”.
being who have dealt with men and circumstances, Alake Oshun must have her own
sour pages of life. She told Asabeafrika one of such “As a Christian I am grateful to God for
both the bad and good times because in every situation you find yourself in
life, God is only trying to tell you something and the moment you get the
message clear, you will learn a lesson and be a better person. The only time I
can remember was when I lost my son; that is four year ago”.
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Alake Ashun with her military escort during her son’s wedding |
as if trying to recollect something, she raised her face to this blogger but
with a strained emotion “I believe it was
an act of God because He giveth, he taketh and for me I just gave Him more
praises because He made me learn more about people. Initially I got so
distraught and nearly broke down but one day like that, my husband was with me,
consoling and I think my pastor came and seek for an audience with me. There
were lots of people in my living room, wailing and saying all sorts of things in
the name of paying condolence. But when the man of God was given the opportunity
to see me, he said ‘You this woman, why are you not grateful to God for every
other good things he has done for you since birth. He has protected you from
all other calamities and is it this one that will now make you forsake and deny
Him?’ He drew my consciousness to all the good things God did for me and
scolded me for allowing my spirit to go down. Immediately he did that, it was
like something jolted me into reality.
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A lovely and jolly Alake Adejonwo Oshun |
I cleaned my face and became strong and
that allowed me to see what God was trying to let me see. And because of the
rate at which people were coming to wail all in the name of consoling me, I had
to travel out to Accra to take a
month rest. I just left the whole environment and that action also gave me the
opportunity to reflect on so many other things that took place prior to that
incidence. I thank God I won at last”.
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Chief Rotimi Oshun blessing his Alake with new wads of Naira during Alake’s son’s wedding |
beautiful mother of 5 shared lessons from her sad experience with Asabeafrika
“You know when things like that happens
to you, at first you won’t get yourself but later with a benefit of hindsight,
you discover that you have learnt something either from the way you normally do
things in the past or from the way you handle spiritual issues and if you are a
great reader of Ecclesiastes or Song of Solomon, you will draw wisdom from a
lot of things God said about a contrite heart. Such experience will make your
heart to heal to the realities of life and make you see through many other
things about people and you will equally see God as the ultimate decider. My
husband was beside me all through the crisis. He was one person who did much in
the day, noon and mid-night, consoling me. He was there for me. I have taken it
as destiny. I thank God for His goodness in my life; He gave a room for
appreciation”
the chat we asked the Lagos Celeb to tell us her favorite tourist destination
in the world and she named it “The United
States of America, New York precisely. I find that city interesting. It is
equally a business city. I have equally traveled to London, Italy, Canada,
Germany, Thailand, South Korea, China and India to mention a few but New York
is my best tourist city” confessed Mrs. Alake Oshun who just returned
from a trip to Rome weeks before the
encounter.
but fail in Nigeria
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Alake Oshun with a royal father during her son’s wedding recently |
her to tell us her experience about things that works in other countries but
fail in Nigeria, Alake turned up with a frowned face “The roads; our road net-work is a nightmare. I don’t know how we can
get out of the ignorance of good road network. Secondly, over there, you have
light twenty-four seven and they will never make the mistake of insulting your
sensibility by taking the light for just a second. Never; it is a natural thing
to have good road, water and power. How we have not succeeded here remains a
mystery”.
politicians should behave to the electorate
“Our political class needs to be focused on delivery of purposeful governance
and shun profligacy because people are crying; the leadership is too fastened
to their closet without knowing what goes down below. They seem to forget the
problems of the ordinary people immediately they get into power; they just don’t
care and that is not the reason for leadership. Leadership is all about solving
problems not compounding problems. We need to wake up to reality on issues of
society like good road network, power, water, quality and affordable education,
quality and affordable health service and every other necessities of life”.
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Alake Oshun (R) with friends, Chief (Mrs.) Basirat Olayinka Ojugbele (M) |
years mark in age but she is still pretty, sexy, charming and trendy. Her
secrets? “I go to gym every morning after
my prayers. I have been doing that for the past three years. The second secret
of my beauty is fruit; I eat lots of it”.
businesswoman added a new fun to the food talk
“You must eat lots of sea foods and fruits. Then, you must take your breakfast,
lunch and forfeit your dinner. Yes, I don’t eat night food. No night food for
me, I don’t eat dinner. Honestly it has helped my health system a lot. I don’t
take dinner; I only do breakfast and lunch. For my breakfast, I take little and
I take my major meal in the afternoon”.
meal is Rice and fish stew, I can eat it even while fasting” Alake added with a
roaring but gentle laughter.
who sold classic gele for twenty
years, fashion must come to her as a natural subject and for what fashion means
to Alake,
she retorted “Expression; fashion
expresses you and in most cases you can equally express fashion but it is
better to express yourself with your fashion instead of letting the fashion to
express you. Fashion to me is expression”.
how she dresses for her various outings “I
love English dress a lot but I do traditional for socials. You know we have
parties every weekend and we try to reciprocate gestures from friends who
patronizes us (laughter) So, that is why you always catch me in Iro and Buba, I
am an English person. I love my Lady French suit, my Lady English suit and
other apparels of the English fashion. But that does not say I don’t appreciate
local fashion. As a former ministry person, you will not catch us in
traditional dresses but much more in English dress. On the party scene I am a
traditional dress person”.
asked Alake Oshun to name her role model, she took a deep breath and
came forth with a light smile on her face “That
is the richest black woman Mrs.
Folorunsho Alakija; she is very hard working and at the same time, you will
see her all the time with her husband; it is very rare to see successful black
women in business who have regards for their husbands but that is not the case
with Folorunsho Alakija; you see her
with her husband all the time, she is very respectful to the man and so humble.
She is not carried away with her humongous wealth. She is a great lesson to all
women of success that whenever success comes, you should not be carried away
with success. You must respect your husband and I think that is why God jerked
up Folorunsho’s profile from an
ordinary business woman in Nigeria to Africa’s richest black woman. I am very
proud of her just because she gives her husband his due respect. She is an
epitome of great womanhood”.
reasons why a lot of rich women find it difficult to respect their husbands
after money or wealth sets in. This is her candid response “Simple, if you kick your crown like a ball then, be ready to leave
your head empty to the whims and caprices of rain, sun and bad weather”. She spoke further “We read their stories everyday in the paper, what happens to such
women. I don’t think it is proper to turn your husband into an errand boy, tea
boy or driver. The more you get richer, the more you should become humble to
your husband and that is one single act I respect in Folorunsho Alakija. Every woman can be successful but the measure
of real success is when you are able to tame your idiosyncrasies and value the
Biblical fact that the husband is the head of the home. Because if something is
driving you from somewhere when you get home, you must be at peace; your
husband must be your father, your friend, your counselor and everything. That
is what the Bible says. So, for those who
divorced their husbands at the beck and call of wealth, they will ever remain
empty because that is just the way God designed our fate”