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LADOL Free Zone (LADOL) is the first 100% indigenous Sustainable Industrial Special Economic Zone in Africa. The Zone was developed out of a disused swamp and has been operational since 2006. Every year since then the infrastructure and facilities have grown and expanded. The Zone now provides a 24/7 efficient, safe and secure location from which local and international companies, in a range of sectors can start operating immediately. Essentially, LADOL is a small industrial village. The Zone is the location of the largest fully integrated deep offshore logistics base and the largest fabrication and integration yard in West Africa. The Zone’s success is based on the significant value addition it brings to the market, increasing transparency, halving costs and increasing sustainability, quality and compliance. 

LADOL is now using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to build a unique circular ecosystem, servicing a range of industries. LADOL’s focus going forward is on attracting and servicing a range of non-oil and gas companies, in sectors ranging from technology to agriculture. The sectors identified will work together to create a circular economy within the Zone. West Africa is one of the largest under-served markets in the world with the fastest-growing population. Industrial companies working in LADOL can service this market sustainably and profitably, while creating tens of thousands of jobs. As the local market grows, there will be a higher demand for locally produced products, a larger skilled workforce and cheaper domestic operating costs.  

LADOL is becoming the blueprint for the Sustainable Industrialisation of Africa, turning Africa’s demographic dividend into a global driver of peace and prosperity. 

Leadership That Drives Excellence 

Dr. Amy Jadesimi is the Managing Director of LADOL Free Zone (LADOL). She is responsible for managing operations across several sectors and disciplines, as well as a wide range of clients, advisors and other stakeholders, all in an environment that demands unique solutions, resilience and excellence. Amy comes from a medical background, having trained as a medical doctor at Oxford University and Hospital. After graduating from medical school, she worked at Goldman Sachs in Investment Banking, where she gained extensive experience in corporate finance and advisory working with some of the largest companies in the world.  

Having a diverse professional history allowed Amy to develop a comprehensive and versatile set of skills, which has been an invaluable asset for the successful development and management of an organisation such as LADOL. The Zone has been operational for 14 years and was developed over the last 19 years. LADOL has significantly reduced costs and increased transparency in the oil and gas logistics support sector, much to the chagrin of some but to the benefit of the vast majority. LADOL’s success has proven that indigenous companies making long-term investments into infrastructure, facilities, equipment and human capital development are key to the sustainable industrialisation of Nigeria. 

LADOL is fully committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The company integrated the SDGs into its business model because it recognised, even before they were ratified, that by following the types of goals set by the SDGs LADOL would be a more profitable, resilient company. After almost two decades of hard work, LADOL is now focused on replicating its success and sustainable industrial master plan across Africa. 

Laying Foundations by Investment 

In the case of LADOL, it’s a combination of its location, almost 20 years of investment building infrastructure and facilities, creating a fully integrated logistics base out of a disused swamp. In addition, the company invested in equipment and personnel. In short, LADOL has built from inception as a specialized Zone with a streamlined business model and a core value proposition that includes attracting clients by significantly lowering market costs and enabling the most challenging projects in the world to be done in Nigeria for the first time. Once high value activities, such as integration of an FPSO can be done in Nigeria, all the activities that flow from that achievement can easily be done in country. In the case of integration, this means that fabrication and engineering will now be done increasingly in Nigeria as companies no longer need to export components out of the control to be made part of a larger facility or product. Everything can be done in Nigeria, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Leading to job creation and higher levels of investment. LADOL also had tremendous faith in the Nigeria, investing in the country for over a decade and a half with no return. 

LADOL built its integrated logistics base to meet and beat the gold standard for supporting deep offshore operations across the world, with high efficiency, reliability and speed. To meet the market need, the company had to build for several years and invest heavily ahead of the market. LADOL’s founders recognized that the market was changing and growing and prepared for it years ahead of time. Going forward companies working in LADOL will gain from even higher cost savings due to sharing of services. The company also expects and hopes that costs in country and particularly the petroleum industry will become more competitive, going down to what people see elsewhere in the world, where cost per barrel is US$5-10. The fact LADOL has made this investment as Nigerians means there is a high level of local content, and that always means lower costs. 

Building Operations on Strong Fundamentals  

LADOL Free Zone is building its business on strong foundations codified and implemented through strict management policies and procedures and technology. From inception the founders insisted on clear written work instructions, operational practices and restrictions. This enabled LADOL to be the first company in West and North Africa to become ISO 45001 certified, the company also maintains and annually improves on other international quality and security standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISPS. LADOL’s alignment with attaining the UN SDGs is embedded into all these systems. LADOL, with the aid of the USTDA, completed an extensive IT report on making the business cashless and paperless in 2012. Since then they have built on this network year on year with the aim of being completely paperless by 2022. Having foundations built on strict well-articulated and disseminated processes and policies implemented through an IT backbone has made LADOL highly resilient and scalable.  

LADOL also proves that the “resource curse” can be reversed. SDG advocates often see the petroleum sector as the enemy. Of course, the sector must be do much better, but even today strong synergies exist between petroleum sector and building sustainable industries. LADOL has shown how the petroleum sector can be leveraged to support diversification and build what will eventually be a completely sustainable business. Doing this with oil and gas companies will help them transition as well. Now more than ever we have to implement workable plans to shift towards sustainable energy. For commodity export dependent countries, like Nigeria, that means working with the largest industry we have to get there. Ultimately all companies, no matter the sector need to be implementing new economy business models that will make them sustainable. LADOL is a has built a platform and a range of services that are triggering and helping to drive that transition in Nigeria. 

Imparting Best of Entrepreneurship Practices 

For Amy, people have been her driving force. She believes the people you surround yourself with can be one of the most, if not the single most important source of support, inspiration and motivation. Every transformational leader should surround themselves with the best people they can find – in terms of strength of character, work ethic and shared vision. LADOL has faced so many challenges and obstacles and, yet, the people, the teams in LADOL have worked relentlessly and poured their dedication and commitment into the company, helping us to push through them all. This has been crucial to both the company’s success, as well as for Amy itself.  

On a more personal note, Amy believes the social and intellectual exposure she has been privileged to benefit from through her education and professional experience have also been a determinant factor. Amy’s family is strong believers in hard work, and she was taught from an early age never to take anything for granted, giving her a strong work ethic. 

The Leadership Challenges 

As is the case with all people, Amy has faced many challenges and struggled with many decisions over the years. As a Nigerian woman working in a male dominated environment, she faces numerous challenges on a daily basis, an experience shared by many female leaders. Amy says, the greater the level of success and responsibility, i.e. the more men you are leading, the more vociferously and emotionally people will attempt to object to your leadership. “In Lagos, where I live, there is a growing community of female leaders, so I am sure it must be easier for me than it was for my mother and grandmother. But professionally, and personally, I’m often reminded of how far we still have to go until women are given equal levels of respect and opportunities to men, without having to work twice as hard to get them,” she cited. 

Achievements That Inspire Others 

Amy planned each step before she made it, but she always remained open to new opportunities. Going to medical school was a short career in itself, one that gave Amy a deep understanding and respect for people, as well as strong interpersonal skills. But while she was studying, Amy realised she had other interests, particularly in the world of business and finance, and that was what led her to Goldman Sachs, a job she loved. After three years at Goldman Sachs, Amy enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to broaden her entrepreneurial education. The skills and experience she gained from Oxford, Goldman Sachs and Stanford were all critical in giving her the confidence to move to Nigeria and take a job with LADOL. Over the years, the additional experience Amy gained has convinced her that LADOL’s journey towards being a fully Sustainable Industrial Special Economic Zone is the right one for her, the company and, importantly, for its wider stakeholders in the country and, perhaps, the continent. 

The Future Outlook 

LADOL wants to work with other indigenous companies to lobby the government and make sure that the next LADOL has a much easier time growing and fund raising than it did. The company will continue to focus on operational excellence as well such as pushing forward with its masterplan leading to diversification and building  a circular economy in the Zone in 2020. LADOL also wants to further engage with the public sector and the Nigerian public and make sure they understand what the company can do, what its vision is and that its interests are all aligned.  

LADOL also plans to support SMEs. The company’s platform will be one where SMEs can move in and set up businesses, because it provides 24/7 support in modern facilities with shared services. Small companies won’t have to spend huge capex or support huge fixed overhead at LADOL. They will be able to rent a space and deliver their products or services to the market from the company’s convenient location. LADOL thinks that will unleash the potential of local content and bring SMEs up. This is important because these are the companies that will drive the country’s economy.  

In the future, Amy says, she will focus on turning LADOL into a blueprint for the sustainable industrialisation of Africa and replicate the model across the continent. At the same time, she wants to continue to work with organisations, such as the UNDP, and companies that are supporting the growth and emergence of indigenous businesses from low income, high-growth countries across the world. This is a crucial step to empower local communities and create a more sustainable, prosperous and peaceful global community. So, LADOL needs to build a long-term legacy for the generations to come. For Amy, this is without doubt one of the greatest challenges and opportunities ahead.  

Empowering Women Entrepreneurs 

In her advice, Amy says we need to ensure that there are fair structures in place to allow talented women to stay at work and build successful careers. For developing countries, supporting women’s access to education, as well as their socio-political inclusion, could be the difference between success and failure. The research is clear. Gender parity increases GDP and company profits. The McKinsey Research Institute estimates USD 28 trillion (26%) would be added to the global GDP if we had equal gender representation in the workplace by 2025. More importantly, an educated woman often leads to an educated family, with significant multiplier effects. Given how much harder it still is, relatively speaking, for women to succeed and thrive than it is for men, this is an important issue that needs to be urgently addressed.