‘At 88, there is still a lot to accomplish’

Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, the founder of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), in this interview on the occasion of his 88th birthday, talks about the many facets of his life, aspirations and fulfilment. From an initial training as a lawyer and a parliamentary draftsman, the octogenarian evolved to be a man of many firsts: first Nigerian to single-handedly set up a stockbroking firm and establish a merchant bank. FEMI ADEKOYA writes.

When you started out as a young entrepreneur many years ago, you had some ambitions. Have your businesses exceeded your expectations?
It makes me humble. As I have always said, God is my guide and consummate supporter. I started out as a stockbroker and with due appreciation to my God, I was the first Nigerian to single-handedly set up a stockbroking firm, just as I was also the first Nigerian to set up a merchant bank. I call it the grace of God.

Let me tell you one thing. A very well-known Nigerian who runs a financial institution, in fact, a conglomerate, once came to me and said, sir, you hardly speak for one or two minutes without referring to your God, and I smiled and said, you have said it all. Let me tell you a secret, all the businesses I have established, the good Lord had suggested to me, and I have always been a pioneer.

I trained as a lawyer. Subsequently, the government of the then Western Region trained me in the British Parliament to be a parliamentary draftsman. When, ultimately, the government of Nigeria, in fact, the leader of the Central Bank decided to set up a development bank, and brought in the World Bank as their partner, I was just in my place when a very good friend, Gamaliel Onosode (may his soul rest in peace) came to my house (I was then living in Glover Road, Ikoyi) and said, ‘Mike, there’s this development bank being set up by the government and the World Bank. I am sure they will need a legal draftsman to be drafting agreements. Given your background and the fact that you seem to be multifaceted in your different interests, I think this could be a situation that will open your eyes to so many things’. He asked me to apply for that job, and I did.

When we were called for an interview, there were about 25 lawyers. I didn’t know what it was all about, but being a lawyer and draftsman, something just occurred to me. I had a boss in the Federal Ministry of Justice; he called me and said I pray you get the job you’re going for, because it will catapult you beyond your expectations to heights that you do not expect. I said ‘sir, it’s just a bank, but he said no, it’s a Development Bank, and they have all sorts of branches’.

So many lawyers came for that interview and out of 25, I was picked. And for the life of me, I didn’t know anybody on the panel.

The chairman, who is now my mentor, Chief Chris Ogunbanjo, so impressed about my performance that he telephoned a neighbour of his, Mr T. K. Seiko, a lawyer, said that your Lagos friend, the Lagos boy, Subomi is very brilliant – he was easily the best of the lawyers and we are going to recommend him’.

So, in my early 30s, I got another big job in a financial institution – the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB). The institution was multifaceted and, among many other things, they were also interested in what was happening in the capital market, capital issues, and stockbroking. It was a small subsidiary of the firm. And because of my divine gift of multi-tasking and being inquisitive, I got there and I was made a lawyer and secretary. But I started trying to see what else I could be involved in, and the stock exchange excited me. Not long after that, the NIBD decided to send me to the World Bank in Washington and also to Wall Street in New York, and I felt it was an opening. There, I met distinguished lawyers who were heading stockbroking firms. I met investment bankers who were there. When I returned from my training, I went to my bosses and said we should have an investment bank as our subsidiary to be raising money and doing other things. It took them some time to accept. I didn’t know what their reason was. Maybe they thought I was ambitious, but God has his ways of opening doors for me.

Suddenly, I was invited with another candidate, a chartered accountant and the first Nigerian woman to be trained as a chartered accountant, the late Mrs. Olutoyin Olakunri, and our bosses told us that both of you would be doing something about Icon Securities. This was a secondary job for me because I was sitting comfortably as the chief legal adviser and company secretary. It was advised that Toyin, being an accountant, should first take the shot.

A few months later, when I was given my own chance, I arrived in the office one day, and Toyin, who was very close to me, walked in and said, ‘Subomi, I am resigning’. I said, ‘why?’ She said I would be telling you. She had hardly left when my telephone rang, and my boss, Silas Daniel, who was the group managing director, said Subomi would come and see me. I went and he said to me sit down, Mrs Olakunri is leaving us, and you have to take that position as the head of the stockbroking subsidiary. Somehow, fortune smiled on me again. These are part of the reasons I always refer to my God.

One day I called my wife and said I want to resign. We have just built my first prestigious house in Victoria Island, which is now Founder’s Place, a big branch of FCMB.

I said I must resign. So, I went to a friend’s office and asked, ‘Can you type me this letter?’ It was my letter of resignation. I went to the office very early and straight to my boss’ secretary and asked, is: ‘Oga in?’ She said, ‘Yes he’s in’. I said let me see him. The secretary said he’s too busy. I called the secretary by her first name, Bisi, I want to see my boss this morning. When she saw my mood, she was a bit scared; so, she went in to inform my boss and emerged to say, ‘You can go in, sir’.

I went in and I said to my boss, ‘You made use of me to do this and do that, but you wouldn’t want me to head the subsidiary business. What you have not done for me, I am sure my God will do it’. I threw my resignation letter on his table and that was the end of my career in NIDB.

I decided to set up a stockbroking firm. What was interesting was that my family and I have an altar or chapel for domestic prayers. One evening my wife said, ‘you didn’t hear what your son said, and I said, ‘no’. My wife said he wanted you to set up your own company. And I looked around and said, ‘Oh yea of little faith. How can a nine-year-old boy have an idea of me setting up a company? I went into the boy’s bedroom, he was already covering himself.

I said to him, ‘Babajide, what did you tell your mummy? He said, ‘Daddy, I pity you. Why don’t you set up your own bank?’ I went back to my altar and prayed. I said, ‘Oh my God, please show me the way. As I prayed, I started singing a chorus in Yoruba, which says: Oh my God, show me the way, don’t let me get into a wrong thing. Show me the way of what I will do well, which many Christians sing in churches, especially in my part of Nigeria. That was the simple prayer. And when I thought I’ve had enough, I rose up. Somehow, the tune of another song came into my mind: “You cannot fail; you cannot fail, because of Jesus you cannot fail”.

I was amazed, so I went straight to my study next to my bedroom. I didn’t say a word to my wife. I was the lawyer that drafted the memorandum and article of association of the company where they just refused me to head. So I took it, adapted it, deleted Icon … and made all the subsequent amendments.

The following morning, I told my wife I am going to set up a company, type this for me. My wife had started as a confidential secretary. She was worried. She said, ‘You have a good job’. She even told my mother, but my mother said, ‘Let’s keep praying for him.’

Did you ever consider setting up a law firm as a lawyer?
Not at all. I didn’t think of setting up a law firm and I never practised. My path was ordered by God into what He wanted to do. So, all I need is to continue thanking my God.

You had a friend who went into politics and eventually became vice president. You also mixed with people in government. Why were you not also attracted to politics?
No! I think I was being divinely propelled. I was close to Baba Awolowo, and to many people in government, including the attorney-general who opposed my licence, because he said so in their council meeting. If you give that man licence, an election is coming, he’s going to support Awolowo. I have written all these in my book. God knows the best.

Every year in commemoration of your birthday, you always have a project to tell God, thank you. This year, what is that iconic project you want to give to humanity?
Yes, that’s true. First of all, I want to thank my God for sparing my life. But, please forgive me. I like to do my things quietly. The good Lord will continue to spare our lives. I have not finished with what God has directed me to do for my neighbours. I am here to serve my God and my neighbours. Out of the blues, about two years ago, the University of Ibadan decided to name their conference centre and hotel in my name. I have even forgotten what I did there.

I think I am subdued by the overwhelming manifestation of God’s love and all I want to be doing is praising and thanking my God for letting me do what I have been doing. And one of the things I am always afraid of, is when I talk too much, they would say, he is always calling God as if that God belongs to him alone. But I have my reasons. My whole life is a manifestation of exceeding love, and I have dedicated myself to serving Him for the rest of my life. I pray to God, He is not inviting me yet.

When you established the bank, were there challenges that made you feel, ‘Would I succeed in this?’ And if there were, how were you able to navigate the thorns?
Hmm! I have a childish habit. Any time I want to do something, I would write it down and put it inside the Bible in my altar. I would be asking God just as I said when I wanted to start everything; my God shows me the way. Don’t let me make wrong choices. I would just throw myself into the arms of my maker and tell Him to help me. My whole life is a wonder to me. And I am saying it again, I only had a degree in law, but the ideas are just coming.

When you talk of FCMB, I was the first to conceive the idea of a Group structure. We had what I call a financial supermarket. I had a stockbroking company, a capital issues company and then we set up the bank itself. And after that, I had an asset management company, pension management, etc. All the companies, I call them First City Group, and recently we changed the name to FCMB Group.

To be honest with you, I admit that I am not the one doing all this, the ideas just come to me and I don’t understand.
So, I am spending the rest of my life just thanking my God and doing anything that the good Lord will guide me to do.
As regards challenges, I will say no one is greater than God. Once you embrace your God, whatever challenges you have would be subsumed in the divine achievements. For example, as I said earlier on, when we wanted a licence, someone said don’t give it to him, he is a friend of Awolowo. But I prefer talking about what God has done for me rather than telling the challenges.

And at 88, I am not tired. I am still wearing suits like you young men, because I believe the good Lord still has a lot of work to give me to do. So, I have dedicated my life to serving Him.

As a pioneer in this industry, given what the economy is like now, what do you think can be done?
I try not to talk about what somebody is doing right or wrong. Rather, I spend my quality time praying for this country. I tell you something, whenever I kneel down to pray, I, first of all, thank my God. Then I thank Him for what He’s done for my wife, my family, my children, the FCMB Group, then to my neighbours, and then ask God to bless Nigeria. That’s the routine I go through every day, I don’t dabble into that because ultimately, God does what he wants to do. In fact, when I was young, I remember I wrote a paper which I gave to General Ibrahim Babangida about whether to devalue the naira or not. I did it because it was like I received a vision. Today, I can only pray that it shall be well with the country because it belongs to all of us.

Do you see Fintech companies as a threat to commercial banks?
Every bank is expanding into different businesses. Quite a lot of banks have diversified into pension funds management. And technology has been a critical instrument. In our case, the capital market and normal banking will meet. If you are trying to raise money from the capital market, we have a company that handles that. If you want to buy shares from the Stock Exchange, we have a firm for it.

And if you want to go into real banking, even mortgages, even as we speak I read that our bank is trying to help people who want to get their own homes, so we are doing everything. That was why I said I conceived the idea of Group structure and with a due sense of modesty, I think I would be one of the people who first started the idea of Group. I called it First City Group.

There are a lot of avenues a bank or a financial institution can go into.
And I am encouraging the younger bankers not just to limit their activities to core banking but to go into different aspects of financial services. Truth is that what I would call financial assistance to communities is very wide, which may include what is today expressed as financial inclusion, where technology has become the vehicle. Fintech companies are merely complimenting what the traditional institutions had first started. FCMB recently, I read in the newspapers for instance, is asking people to come take money, to build their own houses, we’re getting strong into pensions, we’re asking for assets to be managed for us, we’re trying to be financial advisers. That was the idea I had, I call it a financial supermarket.

Any ingenious banker would not just stay in mundane banking.
For instance, if you go on the streets of Lagos, you will see some locals selling dollars. Some institutions have institutionalised this and added it to their banking.

Let me emphasise this, there’s no end to what you can do with financial services, not just banking alone. There is hardly nothing that is not within the financial services today, which we generally call banking.

I started as a capital market man and I still recall people calling me ‘Colossus’, the ‘Grandmaster’ because I dabbled into many things. I was always seen in the market. The one thing I am thankful to God for is that He has always made me a multifaceted businessman.

Young CEOs should go beyond mundane banking, they should extend their tentacles, buy into other companies by acquiring their shares.