Yemi Idowu

By Usman Okhale Cletus

Business mogul Yemi Idowu has added a touch to the sports development in Ajegunle in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State with the refurbishment of the Maracana Stadium.

Undertaking by Nathaniel Idowu Foundation headed by Yemi Idowu, the stadium has an Olympic size football pitch and 18 training pitches for elite performance training where talents will be discovered for Nigeria and Africa

The Nathaniel Idowu Foundation is the largest funder and donor to the World Health Organisation’s recognised primary healthcare initiative.

There is so much to know and to learn about Yemi Idowu in Nigerian business and sports. Yemi Idowu is a known name in Nigerian business world with over 25 years’ experience in finance, real estate and property development industries.

In sports, he is a well known administrator per excellence. His father, Chief Nathaniel Olabiyi Idowu was one of the founders of the professional football league in the 70s, now called the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

He conceptualized and established the Nathaniel Boys Football Club where the likes of Leicester City F.C. midfield maestro, Wilfred Ndidi who played for Genk in the Belgian Pro League started his career. Nat Boys F.C., as the club was popularly called are the champions of Lagos Junior Football (Soccer) League Championship on a number of occasion. As Chairman of Nathaniel Boys, he was a pioneer director of the J League. He also sits on the Nigerian Football Federation Youth Committee and the influential NFF Reform Committee.

He was appointed Chairman of the Nigerian Academicals Sports Committee (NASCOM) in November 2012. In his capacity as Chairman of the board of NASCOM, Mr. Idowu was instrumental in initiating the Rhythm N’ Play campaign – a grassroot sports mobilization campaign targeted at bringing an additional 2 million Nigeria school children into sports within a two-year period. Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan launched the campaign in Abuja on 6 June 2013.

It’s not a surprise however that through his father’s foundation, Nathaniel Idowu Foundation, he has helped transformed the popular Maracana Stadium into a world class edifice.

Ajegunle has a history of grooming stars such as Daddy Showkey, African China and Solid Star who rose from the streets of Agegunle to the stardom, not forget football greats such as Odion Ighalo and Taribo West who played on the pitch of Maracana in Ajegunle before they hit limelight