Chief Salami Agbaje was one of Nigeria's leading businessmen during the nation's colonial era.
16 Facts About Salami Agbaje
1.
2.
Salami Agbaje was a successful indigenous entrepreneur who found a way to adapt and transform his ambitions into reality within an emerging and foreign Western milieu.
3.
Salami Agbaje was Ibadan's richest citizen during his time and used his wealth to open doors to new ventures never before established in the city.
4.
Salami Agbaje had four other siblings, two boys and two girls.
5.
Salami Agbaje later apprenticed under a tailor and learned the art of tailoring.
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Salami Agbaje's first commercial success occurred when he was a timber contractor.
7.
Salami Agbaje cashed in on the new economy by supplying most of the timber needed for the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan railway in 1871.
8.
Salami Agbaje collated the profit from timber contracting and set out to meet with farmers and to seek avenues for produce buying in the Yoruba hinterland.
9.
Salami Agbaje became a merchant who succeeded in linking and buying goods from the local farmers and selling them to expatriate firms for export.
10.
Salami Agbaje was notable for using advertising as a business strategy.
11.
Salami Agbaje imported Cotton, gin and rum, building materials, hats, umbrellas and sewing machines.
12.
Salami Agbaje was not only a success as an importer but was actually one of the few indigenous importers of his time.
13.
Salami Agbaje had risen to the top in Ibadan's social and political circles and pioneered new industries in the city.
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However, Salami Agbaje who made money in a colonial economic system was less interested in the largesse tradition of Ibadan and tried his best to avoid it.
15.
In 1949, Mogajis in Ibadan brought charges against Salami Agbaje to forestall him from becoming the Oba of Ibadan, a position which had little to do with blood lineage but rather relied on a person's position within the company of warrior and civil chiefs.
16.
Salami Agbaje was known to have spent a great deal in giving his children the best education money can buy.