Alhaji Dr Mohamed Babatunde Cole is a true patriotic Sierra Leonean. He is a mechanical engineer, who graduated from Fourah Bay College school of engineering with a division one, and among the top of his class in 1977. Today Dr. Babatunde Cole is married to his beautiful and lovely wife, Mrs Batily Cole. They both have three successful adult children.
Over the years, Dr. Babatunde Cole undertook advanced training overseas in marketing, operations, enterprise development, risk management, leadership, and finance. He has served in different capacities, served as the Director of Leoneoil company limited, and later became its Board Chairman, Council Member of the Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture, President of the Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture, Member Freetown Dinner Club, Fellow of Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers, Director of Ecobank Sierra Leone Limited, Chairman Board of Directors Ecobank Sierra Leone Limited, Director of Leone Dock Labour Company, Managing Director NP (Sierra Leone) Limited, Executive Chairman NP Group limited, Chairman Board of Directors Standard Chartered Bank, among other positions held.
His hard work over the years resulted in a comfortable financial position. Dr. Alhaji Babatunde Cole, however, used God-given blessings to serve humanity; his generosity and business acumen was evident from his childhood days. His mother, Madam Abiodu, was engaged in several forms of petty trading, including selling kerosene by the gallon to support her family. Young Tunde Cole, back then, would buy the gallon from her and resell it to customers by pint, as his own personal business. Therefore, helping his friends during school days, it is no surprise that he continues to do what he does today. For the past twenty years, Dr Tunde Cole philanthropy has included, but not limited to, helping his alma mater; St Edwards and the Fourah Bay College respectively.
At the St. Edwards, he constructed a block of classrooms, and for the Sierra Leone Grammar School, a squash court. He is the current largest donor to the Edwardian million dollars development fund, and has been supporting the Muslim communities in diverse ways in the Aberdeen community, where he resides, and the country at large.
In the Holy month of Ramadan, he normally provides food stuff for Muslims across the country, and also sends Muslims every year to perform the Hajj in the Holy land of Mecca, giving stipends of $500 each to pilgrims for their personal use and expenses. Because of the love and care he has for the less privileged, he has been supporting people living with disability with bags of rice and cash every month in Aberdeen and some communities in the country.
Dr. Babatunde Cole also provides support in numerous ways to meritorious students and students in need, with many of these students moving on to acquire degrees in the areas of business, law, medicine and also in engineering.
Also, as a proud alumnus of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, Alhaji Dr. Mohamed Babatunde Cole thought it necessary that the best he could give back to the institution that played a significant role to his academic success, is to contribute to the infrastructural development of the university, where he donated a $2.5 million worth multipurpose engineering building, recently opened by President Julius Maada Bio. The building is equipped with smart boards, WiFi facility, canton, offices and lecture rooms that could accommodate up to 700 students per session. With these kind gestures of a philanthropist, a true patriot and kind hearted personality, Babatunde Cole did it with the utmost modesty and humility, and has never come to the public domain to trumpet what he has done, it’s only people who have appreciated his good work that would tell the world about it.
Back then, when the private sector was under threat in Sierra Leone. NP SL Ltd is privately owned by indigenous entity. The privatization process, which started during President Julius Maada Bio’s NPRC regime, gave opportunity to Sierra Leoneans, of which Dr. Babatunde Cole was part of, to run the affairs of the company. All thanks to President Julius Maada Bio for giving the opportunity to Sierra Leonean indigenes at that time, against foreign competitors to run NP SL Ltd. The financial success of Dr. Alhaji Mohamed Babatunde Cole started right at that time.
In another development, Dr. Alhaji Mohamed Babatunde Cole, as the Director General of the Leoneoil company Sierra Leone Limited, has been instrumental in the company successfully acquiring the Sierra Rutile holding Limited, after the Board of the latter approved US$76.4 million takeover bid. This significant development in the Sierra Leone mining sector was announced on 21st July, 2024, through the Australian Stock market. The announcement marks a pivotal moment in Sierra Rutile’s corporate history, buying it under the stewardship of an indigenous Sierra Leonean entity, which could potentially reshape the future of the company, and allowing foreign currency to stay in the country, would definitely boost the country’s economy and also further create employment for Sierra Leoneans.