Posted by Webby on
Sir Mobolaji Bank-Anthony was a company director whose many business connections and social standing placed him in a position of great influence, although he never involved himself in party politics.Son of Mr. Anthony Bank-Anthony of Lagos, one of the country's pioneers in business, Sir Mobolaji was born in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa ), on June 11, 1907.
After attending kindergarten schools in Calabar, Nigeria and Lagos, Sir Mobolaji went to the Methodist Boys' High School and CMS Grammar School both in Lagos, and the Ijebu-Ode Grammar School in Ijebu-Ode. He joined the posts and Telegraphs Department as a clerk in 1924, resigning eight years later to work with his father in Lagos.
Sir Mobolaji set up his own business the following year, after a business trip to Germany. 'I started as a hawker of medicine and watches', he once said . 'By the end of World War II, I found myself in a good position and started to expand.'
Within four years he had floated four enterprises- The Nigerian Marble Industries, M. de Banks Transport (road transport), M. de Banks Brothers ( general merchants ) and Boroni Prono, Nigeria (construction). At the end of 1966, Sir Mobolaji was either chairman or director of over a dozen companies. Among them were Mobil Oil Nigeria, British Insulated Callender Cables, Pressed Metal Works, the Aero Contractors Company of Nigeria and the Tourist Company of Nigeria.
Sir Mobolaji was awarded the OBE in 1958 and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
in 1962 for his public services to Nigeria. A Christian and philantrophist,
Sir Mobolaji was the president of the Lagos branch of the Young Men's Christian
Association.