Olawale Opayinka is trained as an actuary — a discipline that treats risk as something to be quantified precisely, not estimated optimistically. That rigour is the foundation of everything Makaya Consult does.
His connection to Eko Atlantic City began in 2009, when he undertook the financial modelling and value engineering assessments that underpinned what became Eko Development Company FZE — one of the city's earliest development vehicles. That same year, he organised the only Africa visit in the career of Gerald D. Hines, the Houston developer whose Galleria on Post Oak Boulevard transformed an undervalued suburban corridor into Uptown Houston, one of America's most successful commercial districts.
The Hines delegation — which included Nigerian economist Bismarck Rewane — assessed Nigeria's development prospects through a structured session at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos. The delegation concluded with meetings with Lagos political leadership — conversations that confirmed the scale of what EAC could become, and established the shared belief that has driven every decision since.
“The developer who understood what Eko Atlantic was becoming in 2009 is now available to guide your project.”
In February 2013, Olawale organised and delivered the ceremony marking the reclamation of five million square metres of Eko Atlantic City — one of the most significant milestones in the city's development history. The event was attended by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the 42nd President of the United States, the Governor of Lagos State, and senior international dignitaries. Organising an event of that scale on reclaimed land — with presidential protocol, international guests, and full ceremony infrastructure — required exactly the embedded knowledge and project discipline that defines Makaya Consult today.
In 2019, Olawale was appointed Managing Director and CEO of Eko Development Company FZE, inheriting the Azuri Towers programme at a critical juncture. The project — a three-tower mixed-use complex in the Marina District, including what would become Nigeria's tallest residential tower at 146 metres — faced the dual pressure of a global pandemic and significant supply chain disruption.
Azuri Towers — azuritowers.com — was commissioned on schedule in December 2021. The Office Tower delivered 28 floors and approximately 27,000 sqm of Grade-A office space. Azuri One became Nigeria's tallest residential tower. The light-up ceremony marked the delivery of the most significant building project in EAC's first decade.
In December 2024, Olawale founded Makaya Consult FZE, incorporated in the Eko Atlantic Free Trade Zone (RC 01689), with offices at P2 Retail, Azuri Towers — the building he delivered — at the heart of EAC's Marina District.
Olawale is a guest lecturer on Nigeria's coastal development economics. In March 2026, he was principal speaker at the DAWN Commission / BRACE Commission forum on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, projecting the corridor's potential enterprise value at $1.4 trillion to $14 trillion over 50 years. He is a golf enthusiast, a resident of Ibadan, and the proprietor of the Makaya Estate Golf Club.
