About Ovie Brume (1973 – 2002)

Oviehire Adeyemi Kesiena Brume was born on July 21st 1973 to Fred Brume and Evelyn Oputu. Also known to his parents as ‘Sunshine’, he was a high achiever who excelled both academically and in sports.

Ovie had a Nigerian and foreign education, attending primary school at Corona Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria and completing his secondary education at Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland. His further education took place in the USA, first at the University of California at Berkeley where he studied Economics and Business Administration and Harvard Business School for a Masters degree in Business Administration.

Ovie left his mark on all the institutions he attended. At Fettes he was discovered as an outstanding athlete, setting seven school records. In Berkeley his intellectual abilities blossomed as he maintained a 3.9 grade point average, making the Dean’s list, while being a star player for the university’s rugby team and a member of the U.S. Colleges Rugby All Star team that competed internationally. At Harvard Ovie was elected President of the Africa Business Club where he became known for the range of business and social activities he organised for African students.

Ovie worked as a management consultant with Deloitte and Touche before his MBA and returned to Nigeria in 2001 to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. In Nigeria he embarked on various projects in the communication, mining and petroleum industries, committing himself fully to his projects until his unexpected death in Lagos on December 11th 2002.

Ovie was a big thinker with a keen entrepreneurial spirit. He had brilliant ideas for the advancement of Nigeria and recognised that for the country to fulfil its potential, young people had to dedicate themselves to building the nation by using their talents to develop businesses and industries that would make use of untapped resources. He firmly believed that the future of Nigeria lay in its youth and was concerned that the present generation of business and political leaders were not doing enough to nurture and support them. Ovie was conscious that the opportunities he had been given were not available to a large proportion of Nigerian youth and feared that as a result, many of them would not be able to fulfil their latent abilities.

Ovie was kind, gentle, compassionate and always ready to help others through counselling or sharing his knowledge with anyone who asked. He loved the joyous and open spirit of children. He was a caring son and brother, a loving father and husband and a loyal friend. He touched the lives of everyone he met.