Chief Michael Modupe Sadipe was born on the 12th of December 1914 in Ondo, a major town in Ondo State Nigeria. Following his early education he relocated from his hometown to the Lagos the then capital of Nigeria to seek his fortune. In the mid 1950`s he founded his first Trading company named after him MM SADIPE & SONS trading as a major distributor in high quality building materials such as Cement, Marble, Paint and Tiles. He was very successful and thereafter expanded his enterprise to include a concrete building block making factory to support the rapidly growing real-estate industry at the time. Following the Independence of Nigeria in 1960 and in anticipation of massive infrastructure development, he founded his largest enterprise the Nigerian Concrete Industries Ltd (NCI) in 1962 with his invited German engineer partners. In spite of fact that he did not have an engineering background or college degree, he rapidly developed NCI into the largest and most reputable national manufacturer of large industrial-grade pre-fabricated concrete building structures for the construction of bridges, street lighting structures, large buildings such as the National Stadium and the National Arts Theatre with the company branches in 4 of the 12 states in the country at the time. Until his death on the 17th of July 1979 he served as the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of NCI. The company was subsequently taken over and run by his children. His rise from humble beginnings to become one of the most successful industrialists of his time was a testament to his tenacity – the hallmark of all great entrepreneurs. The MM Sadipe Entrepreneurship Award was dedicated in his honor in March 2023.