Kenneth Gbagi, the man who turns nothing to something .
ABOUT three decades ago, a former military governor of defunct Midwest Region, Major General David Ejoor (retd), residing on Deco Road, Warri, Delta State, was amazed when a young man, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, turned up with bulldozers and other earthmoving equipment and descended on a swampy terrain, which residents of the area had turned to a refuse dump.
The ex-military governor thought that only the Federal Government, as it were, would have the wherewithal to embark on a colossal project of reclaiming such a large expanse of marshy terrain and asked the young man standing before him who he was and his mission.
Though he told him that his company, GKO Properties had acquired the dumpsite, the former military governor did not believe that anybody could turn the “rejected land” to something. So he waited to see what the young man was up to.
On that inhospitable surroundings stands today Delta state’s version of Computer Village, Lagos, a 500 Shopping Plaza named after his father, Robinson, and by far, the biggest shopping mall in the state, providing a means of livelihood, directly and indirectly for 4,500 Deltans.
Gbagi, criminologist, industrialist and lawyer, recalled his encounter with the elder statesman with nostalgia, saying, “I was moved with the passion to do the impossible at the time. And also to fulfill the promise I made in the presence of my father to his friends, who complained that there were no shops to do business in Warri, that I would provide shops for people to do business when I grew up.”
Listening to the real estate mogul, Olorogun Gbagi, it was clear that his father, who died when he was 16 years old, greatly influenced his life, as he disclosed, “Everything I am today was shaped by my father”, adding “Ejoor’s wife is one of the proud owners of one of the shops at the Robinson Plaza on Deco Road today.”
Blessings from Ibru patriarch
It was not only Major General Ejoor that saw the business wizardry of Gbagi, the late Olorogun Micheal Ibru of the Ibru dynasty was another Urhobo man that noticed it early. Gbagi disclosed that on one of the days he visited the former patriarch of the Ibru family, he asked him to kneel down and pulled his own cap, which he put on his (Gbagi) head to bless him.
“He was praying that where he (Michael) did not get to in business, that I, Gbagi, another Urhobo man should surpass it. In fact, the prayer was from his heart and my respect for him never ceased,” he added.
Uncountable investments
Today, Gbagi, has investments in real estate with over 700 properties to his name. His Robinson Plaza, Warri branch, is a magnificent work of art; several times bigger than the popular Computer Village in Lagos state. It has over 500 shops that generate billions of naira yearly.
His properties alone are worth billions of naira. He singularly built two churches, his hotels, cinemas and other businesses too numerous to mention.
According to him, “my properties are so many to the extent I do not even remember some of them. Just the other day, I asked my manager to bring out a file of my properties, I couldn’t recognize some of them!.”
Kenneth Gbagi is the owner of WoodRidge hotel in Warri, Delta state as well as Geekay Hotel, Warri. Recently, he became the first man in Warri to invest in a 5-star hotel when he became the owner of Golden Tulip Hotel franchise in Warri. He also has a franchise that established the Silverbird Cinemas at Warri.
He has many business plazas that he rents out which rake in billions of naira yearly. Kenneth Gbagi has invested a lot in tourism. He has so many hotels in the 3-7 star classes. The Woodridge Hotel, Warri is worth N50-N60 billion, There is also WoodRidge hotel, Lagos, The Woodridge Cottage, Abuja. The Golden Tulip, Effurun, Warri is not less than N6 billion in construction alone. The Diamond Tulip, Abuja at Aviation Village still under construction is expected to cost about N72 billion.
One of the highest investors in Delta – Uduaghan
Seeing Gbagi’s investment, former governor of Delta state, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, once described the former Minister of Education, as a committed Deltan and great industrialist, who was deploying his resources to build industries in the state.
The governor, who spoke when Gbagi visited him at Government House, Asaba, in 2013, asserted, “Kenneth Gbagi is one of the highest investors, if not the highest indigenous investor, in Delta State.”
He thanked Gbagi for his faith and continuous investments in the state and urged other well placed Deltans to emulate him.
Maintaining that he loves creating wealth and providing employment for people, Olorogun Gbagi has just converted the Woodridge Hotel at Petroleum Training Institute Junction, Effurun on the Effurun-Ughelli expressway to another 600-shopping plaza named after his father and added a petrol station at the sideline on the busy road.
Okowa to inaugurate fresh projects
The state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, will be inaugurating the new shopping plaza and petrol station December 19.
Gbagi told Saturday Vanguard in Warri, “Being an industrialist is something that is visible to the eye, something that you have done to generate social uplifting, something that you have done that will outlive you, something that you have done that children yet unborn will come and experience.”
“Looking at it from that point of view and without mincing words, there are people who hitherto have stolen funds, those funds are locked up in banks or are in abroad, in homes, bunkers, soaka-away pits, those funds do not add to society uplifting people. Yes, I will like to see somebody else with such understanding, creation of wealth like entrepreneurship, but I do not know of any yet in the state.
“Yes, the governor of Delta state, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, will be commissioning one of our 52 mega petrol stations that Falconday Energy will be opening at PTI Junction, Effurun and a 600 -shopping mall named after my beloved father, who is my mentor. He was the one that actually shaped me to be what I am in life, named Robinson Gbagi Mall,” he said.
The entrepreneur and politician said, “You will recall that I played a pivotal role in the emergence of Okowa as governor of Delta state, especially in Delta Central senatorial district. He is the governor of the state and the chief security officer; the man looked upon as the father of the people.”
“We discussed and we agreed that he will come to commission the investments on December 19 the first of the 52 Falconday mega filling stations. However, we have one at Ugbolokposo, Oginibo, that is already operational and another one on the expressway, between Warri and Sapele on the way to Lagos.
“Now what is unique about our stations is that they will not do anything less than 10.00 pm, while some of them in areas where security will not be an issue will run for 24 hours. It is our way, irrespective of how little, in putting food on the table of our youths and generating employment because if you employ one person properly, it touches a lot of persons in several families,” he said.
Preoccupation now
While he is presently handling cases on pro bono basis for the less privileged, kenneth Gbagi is also putting up appropriate structures and recruiting competent managers to manage his businesses to ensure that they do not suffer if anything happens to him tomorrow.
