Henry Djaba Jnr.
By Our Reporter
One man who has consistently remained relevant in Africa’s business sector is Ghanaian billionaire businessman, Henry Djaba Jnr.
Not only that, Henry Djaba Jnr has been operating big in the Nigeria business sector for decades, quietly and discreetly.
His family, the Djaba family are famous in Ghana, counting among the richest families in Ghana.
Henry was born into wealth, as his late father, Mr Henry Djaba Snr was a renowned Ghanaian industrialist and heavily into property investment.
No doubt, he was one of Ghana’s richest men as far back as the 1960s, owning several high value properties in the U.K., Germany and the USA.
It wasn’t a surprise that his son, Henry Djaba Jnr followed his father’s footsteps in business, and soon expanded his business portfolio to include Oil and Gas, besides his involvement in Construction.
Just like in his home country, Henry Djaba Jnr has been a familiar face in the highest Nigerian business circles with friends among the movers and shakers across the country, one of who is Prince Adetokunbo Sijuwade, the son of the late Ooni of Ife.
Henry’s involvement in the business sector in Nigeria saw him registering a business in the country, that has Prince Adetokunbo Sijuwade as its Chairman.
Henry is the founder, owner and current CEO of Lakeland International Commodities Nigeria Ltd, a special purpose vehicle company for Lakeland Oil and Gas International Trading and Supply Company Ltd, and is one of the companies within the Lakeland Group of Companies with each entity incorporated in different countries in sub Sahara including Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Libya, and Nigeria.
The company commenced operation in Nigeria in 2008, though it had already extended its operations beyond, into the sub Sahara African region.
Lakeland has been actively involved in the upstream and downstream sectors of oil and gas industry, as well as having experience in mining, oil and gas exploration and oil trading.
With over two decades of experience in the oil and gas business, Henry Djaba Jnr has represented the largest independent oil trading companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) such as FAL Oil in Sharjah and collaborated with the State owned Oil Company of Fujairah, Link Energy.
His company is also a Counter-party to PetroChina and to Litasco for crude oil and petroleum products trading.
His company is the local partner of CRCC International, whose parent company CRCC is one of the largest integrated construction groups both in China and in the world with turnover of over USD 110 Billion.
The company was ranked 59th amongst the Fortune Global 500 with presence in more than 79 countries all over the world, covering engineering procurement and construction, energy and resources, investment and financing, logistics, trade etc.
Henry’s vast experience in the international business world has also seen him engaged in taking the Libyan Sovereign Fund to invest in hospitality businesses in sub- Saharan Africa in the purchase of five star hotels, secured contracts in the Republic of Chad to build an independent power plant selling electricity to the country’s national grid and collaborated in the supply and installation of emergency independent power plant for the Ghanaian government, just to mention a few of the projects that he has been involved in.
This silent but well exposed businessman equally boasts of extensive experience in Corporate Finance, Engineering Procurement and Contracts (EPC),as well as International Banking.
He was definitely well groomed for this world of business by his late father, who equipped him with the best of education and exposure by sending him to one of the best and most expensive schools in the world, Millfield in the U.K.
Henry Djaba Jnr. attended Millfield, where people such as the King of Thailand, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, the Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, the Sultan of Hadhramaut, to name but a few, and most of the families of Sheiks, Emirs, Sultans, rulers, and heads of states in the Middle East and Africa have attended.
Till date, Millfield still remains one of the most expensive and exclusive schools in the world where royalty from Qatar and other Middle East countries still attend.
So from an early age, Henry Djaba Jnr had been exposed to the who is who across the globe, having attended schools with many of their children. So without any solicitation, Henry has close friends, business partners and associates all over the world who are the rulers of, and pillars of society in and on each and every continent on this planet, who are the actual owners, of Banks, Oil companies, Mining companies, Telecoms companies, Shipping companies, Airlines, as well as the top A-list International Celebrities in Movies, Music, Fashion, and Sports worldwide, who attended Millfield.
This exposure to those who hold sway on the world economy is a major advantage for Henry’s success in business, though he deliberately chose to keep a low profile, while quietly making breakthroughs in his business ventures.
Unassuming as he may look, he is a fierce businessman who is focused on achieving his goals without drawing undue attention to himself.
That discreet side of his personality has remained his most powerful tool to attaining success in his world of business.
Though separated, the 58 year-old billionaire has however made his daughter a priority by giving her the best as his father did with him, giving her the best education to equip her with knowledge to enable her achieve even more than he has done.
While his business acumen takes a major part of his time, Henry still squeezes out time to relax, travelling the world, and has a keen interest in the music industry and the performing arts, besides reading contract documents.
Henry’s younger brother, Magnus Djaba who is based in London is the Global President and CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s largest PR and Advertising Companies.
His sister Otiko Djaba is the immediate former Minister for Women, Gender and Children in Ghana and is currently running The Henry Djaba Foundation making a change in the lives of the needy in Ghana.
Henry’s brother Hans Djaba is the immediate former COO of Tullow Oil and was former Financial Controller at Shell Oil.
Henry’s siblings are all very successful corporate executives all over the world at the highest pinnacle in various Fortune Global 500 Multinational corporations.
