Chief Olasubomi Balogun
First City Monument Bank was 30 years old on August 11 . Its founder and former chief executive officer, Chief Olasubomi Balogun, shared his vision of the bank with business editors. The foremost banker who bestrode the financial sector like a colossus for many years, spoke passionately about how, with sheer determination and strong faith in God, he established the first indigenous bank in Nigeria, when all and sundry thought it was impossible. Kunle Aderinokun presents the excerpts
How will you describe your journey in the Nigerian financial market?
My journey to what you now see, has been divinely guided and if you care to know and to have details, go to the Primrose tower at the headquarters of the organisation you will read on the plaque: “This block, primrose tower is dedicated to the glory of God, as an embodiment of a young man’s faith in the unfailing support of the almighty God and in his own destiny in spite of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.”
Secondly, it is also a monument of a young Nigerian’s determination to succeed and to prove that given the opportunity, he has the might to attain the commanding height in the management of a financial institution.
Lastly, it serves as a lesson to all mankind that in all things, mortals may have their say but in the final analysis, the almighty God would have his way. That encapsulates my whole journey. I had a dream and had a vision. I was cheated as I was an employee of another institution created by Nigerians and expatriates. I was the brain behind the whole thing. I went on a course in the United States and I came back with ideas that we should set up a merchant bank, but when it came to selecting the chief executive, I was told that because I had a basic training in law, I could not be the chief executive. I was 42 and they brought a young man with little or no experience from America at 32 to come and boss me.
One of the gifts God gave me is courage and tenacity of purpose so that was what gave rise to the dream and vision which was clear by nature that God gave me. I knew where I was going but the vista was misty. It was unbelievable that one Nigerian would say that if he did not get a position in a bank, he would go out to set up a bank. But as this encapsulated, I was trying to prove that given the opportunity and with the support of the almighty God I had a vision to attain the commanding heights in the management of a financial institution. I was trying to prove a point but I was not arrogant, but by the grace of the almighty God. So when I felt cheated by not being allowed to head the institution created by a foreign institution, my then former employers, I had the courage to resign and without anything in my pocket. I decided to start on a journey of self actualisation. It was not a proud journey; it was a journey of faith. It was turbulent and so many people still see me around after about 40 years of doing what no other Nigerian had done.
Those of you who are older in the media know what battles I had fought and people who didn’t know me felt I was arrogant. I wish they learned from what happened to me by being focused and having courage. You would find that through my journey, the whole thing has been punctuated by my faith in God and that faith was very strong.
So 35 years ago, without thinking of what to do I threw in my letter of resignation. Dream is a personal thing and it is known all over the world that many institutions that have become large, an individual started it and I had a template which in this country was either not known or if it was known, people where cynical. In the world, you have heard of the JP Morgan, Rockefeller, Cadbury etc.; they were all individuals and if you heard of Sir Siegmund Warburg, who was actually my template, who started the oldest merchant bank in Britain… So, when I decided to do it, I looked for him, I read his book I even visited him before he died. You would find that most of his stories you would hear divinely guided, had been based on precedence. But in this country, for one individual to say I want to set up a bank, people thought it was sacrilegious whereas I was setting an example, I was being a pioneer. When I did it, seven or eight years ago, the likes of other banks you know now followed. So, FCMB is a 30-year journey that was started by me.We had the old generation banks that were started by expatriates and we had a few banks which were started by mergers, but there was no individual like my own case.
