Ogunbe Ajiboye

A Yoruba merchant prince who built an intercontinental trade network connecting West Africa with Europe and Asia in the 1800s.

Ogunbe Ajiboye (1805-1876) was a visionary trader from the ancient Yoruba city of Oyo who redefined trans-Saharan commerce during the pre-colonial era. As head of the Ajiboye Trading Consortium, he established a network spanning 12 African kingdoms and European ports, creating one of the most extensive pre-colonial trade systems. His caravans transported kola nuts, gold, and textiles across 2,000 miles from Lagos to Timbuktu, while his ships connected to Lisbon and Mumbai through newly opened sea routes.

Ajiboye's innovation was the introduction of credit notes - a form of promissory notes that reduced transaction costs and enabled large-scale trade. This system, documented in the Yoruba Historical Archive, allowed merchants to trade without carrying heavy currency. By 1850, his consortium controlled 30% of the trans-Saharan salt trade and pioneered the use of camels for bulk transportation.

He also founded The House of Negotiations in Badagry (1843), a proto-bank offering loans and currency exchange. Though marginalized by British colonial historiography, modern economists recognize his financial systems as precursors to modern banking. His 1862 treatise Commerce Across the Desert remains a key text in African economic history studies.