Tijani Babatunde Folawiyo was born on 12 April 1960 in Lagos, Nigeria, into a prominent business family, the son of Chief Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, founder of the Yinka Folawiyo Group, one of Nigeria's oldest diversified conglomerates.
Folawiyo studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, earning a Bachelor of Science in Economics in 1980, before qualifying in law at University College London and completing a Master of Laws there in 1985.
He returned to Nigeria to practise law before resigning from the profession in 1989 to found Energy Limited, moving the family business more directly into oil and gas exploration and midstream storage.
Following his father's death in 2008, Folawiyo became managing director and chairman of the Yinka Folawiyo Group, overseeing interests spanning energy, agriculture, shipping and real estate, including Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum's stake in the Aje field, the first producing oil field found outside Nigeria's Niger Delta.
Folawiyo has served on the boards of MTN Nigeria and Access Bank, chairs Coronation Merchant Bank, and was estimated by Forbes to be worth $650 million, ranking him among Nigeria's wealthiest businessmen, while remaining active in philanthropy across the continent.
- Chairman of the Yinka Folawiyo Group, one of Nigeria's oldest diversified conglomerates
- Oversaw Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum's stake in the Aje field, the first oil field found outside the Niger Delta
- Chairman of Coronation Merchant Bank
- Served on the boards of MTN Nigeria and Access Bank
- Ranked among Africa's 50 wealthiest people by Forbes
- Inherited leadership still requires reinvention. Folawiyo expanded the family conglomerate into new energy ventures rather than simply maintaining what his father built.
- Diversification builds resilience. Spreading the Group's interests across energy, agriculture, shipping and real estate has sustained it through Nigeria's volatile economic cycles.