Founder of FCMB Group, Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, is a household name in banking. The banking icon, who turned 83 yesterday, has touched many lives positively and created wealth for his people. As a mogul of the capital and money markets, he has devoted a substantial part of his private resources towards the care and service of the less privileged, writes COLLINS NWEZE.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, the Founder of FCMB Group and Olori Omo-Oba of Ijebuland has reached an altitude in life that is shaping his attitude and gratitude to God.
At 83, his conviction that he has a duty to devote the rest of his life to serve God, society and do things that add significant value to humanity has continued to wax stronger. As he often says, “when the final call comes, you will just open your hands and say, God, here I am. To be able to do that, you need the grace of God’’.
Indeed, since his birth on March 9, 1934 at Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State, Otunba Balogun has grown to gracefully become an outstanding personality, a great phenomenon and embodiment of achievements within his immediate environment and far beyond. His story is that of a man who understood early in life that the true essence of wealth is achieved only when it is deployed to the service of humanity, especially the less privileged.
A man of proven immense wealth who is highly regarded, respected and honoured in the society, the honour bestowed on Otunba Balogun does not, however, stem from the immense size of his wealth, but from the good use to which he has put this wealth for the service of humanity.
Over this period, he has garnered many epithets and appellations which present him as a colossus bestriding every aspect of national life. Apart from being the founder of FCMB Group, he is the Otunba Tunwase, the Olori Omo-Oba of Ijebu; the Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians, the Baba Oba of Ijebu-Ife and the Asalu-Oba of Ijebu Mushin. Otunba Balogun is a baron of the Nigerian capital and money markets; doyen, pioneer and role model of entrepreneurial banking in Nigeria; a constructive philanthropist and a distinguished church leader who has devoted a substantial part of his private resources towards the care and service of the less privileged.
A lover of children who has built several institutions for the health care, welfare and survival of children, Otunba Balogun is also a distinguished author, opinion leader, writer and a respected community leader whose contributions for community welfare have continued to expand even as he graciously grows older. A business icon, a philanthropist par excellence and a strong adherent to the Christian religion faith, he is also a strong character with unwavering inner convictions to which his resounding successes in many spheres of life could be attributed.
“I have a very strong character. There is nothing that I did that I wish I had not done. I have no regret over any of my past actions”, he says. Recalling when he was to set-up First City Monument Bank (FCMB), a wholly Nigerian bank which he singlehandedly established, he said he was coming up with a culture of excellence and he went ahead to define what the culture of excellence would be.
It is to his credit that he was the first to create a special dining room for banks and was also the first to insist on bank staff wearing dark suits and always come out, very smart. The culture grew like a wild fire, got situated in the Nigerian financial services and became a norm that has come to stay.
Quite early in life, at age 13, he found peace and with God, believing in His Son – Jesus Christ –and the scriptures in spite of his Muslim background. “My two parents were very religious but they were Muslims”, he says, recalling that when he was at Igbobi College, he was drawn to attend service. Continuing, he said, “Incidentally, my late mother was educated. I confided in her that I was going to convert to Christianity. The late Bishop Segun, who was a priest at Porogun Church in Ijebu Ode, converted me at the age of 13. Having accepted Jesus, I just found myself loving Him”. It is instructive that not only does this man loves God, but also loves reading the scripture and says that “the more I read, the more I get to know God and the more I love Him. I have become so much involved in talking about Christ”.
Perhaps, it is not out of place to link his disposition with inner purity which Otunba Balogun has externalised through his trade mark white apparels, buildings, cars, among others which, to him, are God-given. “People talk about my wearing white. I just felt at a point in life that I wanted to be pure and the nearest to purity is white. So, I chose white as my colour. Beyond houses, my personal vehicles, my everything is white,” he revealed.
Over the years, this icon of our time has distinguished himself with rare altruism – sleeping, waking and thinking about how to impact positively on communities and people, especially the less privileged in his society.
Philanthropy is almost always an interesting part-time for those who have the giving spirit and for Otunba Balogun, it goes beyond a part-time to what could be seen as a creed; hence he set up the ‘Otunba Tunwase Foundation’ through which he ventilates his philanthropic spirit in services to the community. On his 60th birthday, when he commenced the construction of the Otunba Tunwase National Paediatric Centre (OTNPC), he handed over a cheque of N10 million to the Chairman of the Management Committee to start off the construction.
In August 2000 when he presented his Memoirs, ‘’The Cross, The Triumph and The Crown’’, he specifically directed that all proceeds from the sale of the book should be channeled to the completion of the Project. In December 2011, he handed over the ONTPC to the University of Ibadan. And on June 7, 2013, the Paediatric Centre, then valued modestly at N3.7billion, was wholly donated to the University of Ibadan at a signing of Deed of Total Gift ceremony.
By the last count, he had awarded over 300 scholarships to many Nigerians at secondary and tertiary levels and has endowed, perpetually, an annual award of scholarships to the best students in Muslim College, Ijebu-Ode in honour of his late father; and also set up another scholarship endowment in honour of his mother known as “Iye Subomi Scholarship”.
Furthermore, this great philanthropist has endowments for the Nigerian School for the Blind at Oshodi, and has also instituted, through FCMB, an Annual National Marathon Championship for Disabled Athletes. These are besides other religious gestures. He has single-handedly endowed churches and established dioceses for some Christian denominations in Nigeria.
Otunba Balogun has several awards in his kitty. He is a recipient of the American Biographical Institute Inc’s Distinguished Leadership Award for outstanding contributions to the development of Investment Banking.
He is also a recipient of the University of Ibadan’s Degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) in recognition of his outstanding achievements both in the field of Law and his contributions to the socio-economic development of Nigeria; a Merit Award for philanthropic services to Ogun State in particular and the country as a whole, and also the Ijebu Development Association’s award and Council Membership of a number of multi-national Chambers of Commerce. The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria made him a Fellow of the Institute for his pioneering and outstanding contribution to the Banking Industry.
Otunba Balogun attributes much of his sound mind, firm stature and strong spirit to the supportive role of his wife, Olori Abimbola Balogun who is the proud mother of his four equally accomplished sons. “God gave her to me; I believe there was a manifestation of God’s influence on my choice”, he says, stressing that each passing day, so many years after, has seen to the confirmation of that assertion.
And as he clocks 83 on March 9, 2017, his simple message is: “I want my God to use me. I want to spend the rest of my life giving my service to God and humanity. I want my God to give me the opportunity of showing my appreciation.”
