How I Won DANGOTE Dealership Awards

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• Otunba KAZEEM ODEYEYIWA Explains

• How He Has Won The Award 3 Times In A Row

For Otunba Odeyeyiwa Kazeem Olayemi, success goes beyond building businesses. It is about creating value, developing people and leaving a positive impact on society.

As the Managing Director/CEO of Repton Group Nigeria Limited, Otunba Odeyeyiwa has steadily built a reputation as a strategic business leader, astute corporate executive and effective human manager. His impressive career reflects a rare combination of professional excellence, entrepreneurial drive and a genuine passion for human empowerment.

His academic journey is equally remarkable. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and an MBA in General Management from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, as well as an HND from The Polytechnic, Ibadan. He also holds an MBA from the Business School of the Netherlands and is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration at California Intercontinental University, USA.

A strong believer in continuous learning, Otunba Odeyeyiwa is an alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School and London Business School, where he attended the Advanced Management Programme in Innovation through Design Thinking in 2023. His professional credentials are extensive. He is a Certified Information Systems Auditor and a Fellow of several respected professional bodies, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Management, Nigerian Institute of Marketing and Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria. He is also a Full Member of the Chartered Institute of Directors, Nigeria.

At the heart of Otunba Odeyeyiwa’s entrepreneurial journey is Repton Group Nigeria Limited, a growing business group with interests across several sectors. The group’s subsidiaries include Kazab Heritage Limited, focused on distribution; Defrost Ventures Limited, specialising in haulage and logistics; Kazab Oil and Gas; Heritage Engineering Services Limited; and Kazab Homes and Properties.

Under his leadership, the group’s distribution arm, Kazab Heritage Limited, has recorded an impressive run of achievements. In 2024, the company was named the National Largest Distributor of Dangote Cement in Nigeria, following its success in the 2023 edition and three consecutive years of finishing as runner-up.

For Otunba Odeyeyiwa, such milestones are more than corporate honours. They represent the rewards of consistency, strategic thinking, teamwork and a commitment to excellence.

One of the most inspiring aspects of Otunba Odeyeyiwa’s story is his commitment to giving back. A passionate advocate for youth development and career advancement, he co-sponsored the 2024 Lagos Career Fair, held at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja. He also delivered the keynote address, “Building Resilience, Employability Skills and Positioning for Growth,” sharing practical insights with young people preparing to navigate the world of work.

Through the Repton Group Foundation, the philanthropic arm of his business group, he has supported communities through the provision of boreholes and other interventions aimed at improving people’s quality of life. He has also awarded scholarships to students, helping them pursue their educational aspirations.

These initiatives reflect his belief that business success should translate into opportunities and positive change for others.

Before dedicating himself fully to his businesses, Otunba Odeyeyiwa built valuable experience in the corporate world. He received his accounting and consultancy professional training at SIAO Partners and subsequently worked at leading organisations including Leventis Group and Lafarge Cement Plc, where he rose to managerial positions.

Those years of corporate exposure provided him with a strong foundation in leadership, finance, strategy and organisational management—experience he has since brought to bear in growing Repton Group.

Ultimately, Otunba Odeyeyiwa Kazeem Olayemi represents a new generation of Nigerian business leaders who understand that enduring success is not measured solely by profit, but also by impact.

Through Repton Group, professional leadership, mentorship and philanthropy, he continues to build businesses, empower people and contribute meaningfully to the wider society. His journey remains one of enterprise, continuous learning and purposeful leadership.

A few days ago, City People Head of TV, SUNDAY ADIGUN was at his Headoffice in Omole Lagos where Otunba revealed how he won Dangote biggest Dealership Awards 3 times in a row. Enjoy the conversation.

How do you feel, winning Dangote Dealership awards back to back for 3 years?

I feel extremely happy. Sincerely, we are just trying our best and God keeps crowning our efforts. By the grace of God this is the third time we are winning the first position. We emerged as a winner in 2023, 2024, and 2025. It has been a very positive journey. it may also be interesting to inform you that we are not just the biggest dealer of cement of Dangote in Nigeria. We are the biggest in pan-Africa. So it’s a very big astounding performance and I believe it is something that we can sustain over a period of years.

What did you do differently?

Well, we don’t really do anything differently. It is only about persistence.

It is only about believing that we have the capacity to do it. And we have a structure that is really working for us. And we spend a lot of money also to make sure that we develop our staff. That is just it. And you know, we take gratitude to Almighty God for all what he has done for us.

Sir, who is Kazeem Odeyeyiwa?

Kazeem Olayemi Odeyeyiwa is a young man from Osun State, to be specific, I’m from Modakeke. And in the course of going on, I had my  University program out of Obafemi Awolowo University and also I am a Chartered Accountant and I’ve worked in many multinationals at a very small level before I decided that okay, let me go my way let’s set up kazab heritage which is our distribution arm and that is me, I’m a devoted family man. And also I’m a devoted person to the cause of Almighty God.

What made you go into the selling of cements?

It’s a coincidence.

Will I use the word coincidence? Well, lets say its destiny?

I’ve worked at a very senior level in the course of my career. I’ve worked at a very, very senior level with Lafarge Cement, now called HPM. So that it really exposed me over time to the processes. When I walked and I decided, okay, I want to step aside, my first point of call is that belief that, okay, what do I need to start doing? And selling of Cement just crossed my mind and here we are for many years we’ve performed credibly well. Also we are the biggest distributor with Lafarge, but when we need a big volume which I believe Lafarge may not be able to really give us, that prompted us to cross over to Dangote. And over time, it has been a very jolly journey between us and Dangote. They have been so supportive.

And we have every reason why we should be very, very committed to them.

Looking at your journey in life, moving from one company before you started yours, what has life taught you as a person?

Number one, life taught me that you must be humble. Humility doesn’t take anything out. It’s just to be yourself. Life also taught me that you must believe in Almighty God. And believing Almighty God is not just in your believing.

You also need to show that gratitude to Almighty God to know that you deserve a special space. So that outside the gratitude, outside humility, and outside the fact that we are so grateful to Almighty God. Part of what life has also taught me is that one must be persistent. One must never allow failure to defeat him or her. And it also taught me that success does’t happen overnight, It is a process and you must be persistent, you must be determined that you want to excel. That is basically what life has been able to teach me over a period of time.

Odeyeyiwa’s family is one of the prominent families in Modakeke, are you considering going into politics?

Even what we are doing today is politics. When we are defining politics, you don’t need to stand up. You don’t need to say that you want to contest with positions, you know, before you can begin to talk about Politics. Politics has to be part and parcel. It is a process, you know, and for emancipation, for development, most especially for where I come from, for the level of development that we are yearning for, we realize that politics, we need to play it. So that it doesn’t really necessarily mean that I need to put myself out, that I want to contest for the position Or I want to contest for the position of a House of Rep. I have many of my friends today that are Governors.

I have many of my friends today that are topshots, friends that are ministers. One way or the other, when some of these are my friends, I need to rally around them. We can’t rule it out. We continue to play politics. But like I said, you don’t need to, it’s not until when you say that you want to contest a position that matter.

We are doing it already. Like the APC gubernatorial candidate for Osun State, he’s my brother, he’s my friend. We need to support him in the little way we can support him, you know, so that he can achieve his ambition for the state of Osun.

What’s next for KAZAB Heritage?

Yeah, we are diversifying aggressively, because like I said, KAZAB is just a division under the group. Our group of companies is Repton Group. We have different subsidiaries. Kazab is in charge of anything related to distributions, you know, cement distributions, reinforcement distributions. We have Kazab for that. We have our defrost. Defrost is in charge of our logistics. And also we have Kazab Oil and Gas. We are playing very well.