Olateju Oyeleye (7 April 1924 – July 2013) was born in Ilesha, Osun State, Nigeria.
[1] He was the son of a farmer, Pa Joseph Oyeleye Aare, whose main produce was cocoa, kolanut, and bitter kola.
His mother, Madam Felicia Esan Oyeleye, was a "petty trader" who hawked beans and pap.
[2] His early childhood was the foundation of his religious life and core values, where his parents through example developed his faith in God, "respect for others, desire for service, and passion for excellence".
His older brother, Daniel Babalola Oyeleye, got him his first job after high school at the Nigerian Post and Telegram, or P&T, organisation, where he worked for about 10 years.
The scholarship he earned for his exceptional scores on the GCE "A” level examinations, from the Western Nigeria Production Board, aided him in his goal to study Engineering at the university.
[2] After college, Teju Oyeleye spent two years (1957–1959) getting practical experience at Ferguson Radio Corporation, Enfield, North London.
This required a lot of professionals, many of whom were being called back from their dwellings in England, to come over and establish this new television station in Nigeria.
Color television arrived in 1975, a few years after the time Teju Oyeleye moved to his next professional challenge Total Nigeria Limited.
Teju's management style was "collaborative in nature and his direct reports were given significant responsibility as well as the accountability that went along with it".
A number of his pupils eventually went on to head the newer TV stations while they were being created all across Nigeria.
However, in a span of six years and five promotions, he had risen to the rank of general manager, which in this scenario was the equivalent to chief operating officer.
At the time he joined Total they were ranked number three in Nigeria in terms of productivity amongst the petroleum companies.
Eleven years later when he was promoted from his position as general manager (In this scenario he was the chief operating officer), the brand had risen to be number one in Nigeria.
[4] For his next assignment, Engineer Oyeleye was asked to help set up several new ventures (similar to incubator companies) for Total.
[4] For the three years he spent in the role of Group Executive Director of Total Nigeria Subsidiaries, Engr.
Teju Oyeleye took on the position of Secretary-General during the earlier years of the organisation, starting from when Chief G.O.
It was founded to create a more unionised voice of Nigeria's engineers so they could discuss with government officials and unofficial authorities topics related to technology.
[5] After the death of his first wife, he married Comfort Olubunmi Oyeleye (née Awolowo), an accounting executive in 1979.
[10] In December 2003, Teju received an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) from previous Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo.