The founder and former Chairman of First City Monument Bank Limited, Otunba Michael Subomi Balogun has passed on.
The business mogul and elder statesman was born on the 9th of March 1934 in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State to muslim parents. Balogun and d!ed on the morning of Friday, May 19 2023.
Balogun converted to Christianity while in secondary school. An alumnus of Igbobi College, Lagos, he studied Law at the London School of Economics.
Before leaving for Europe, he worked briefly as a teacher. As a student in London, Balogun regularly attended fellowships and had the opportunity to meet some notable Nigerians including Yakubu Gowon before the latter became Head of State.
He returned to Nigeria after graduating with aLaw degree to join the Ministry of Justice, Western Region. From the regional Ministry of Justice where he was a Crown Counsel, Balogun found a new post as a Parliamentary Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice.
After the January 1966 coup, he joined the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank. At NIDB, his interest in investment banking led him to advocate for the establishment of merchant bank sponsored by NIDB.
When ICON securities, a merchant banking outfit was established in 1973 as a subsidiary of NIDB, Balogun moved to ICON Ltd as a director of operations. When Balogun’s ambition to head ICON was not realised, he left the firm to found City Securities, a stock broking and issuing house. City Securities developed relationships with Mobil, Texaco and Total petroleum marketing companies, handling the companies equity offerings.
In 1979, he applied for a merchant banking license to establish First City Merchant Bank. Balogun was inspired by the entrepreneurial works of Siegmund Warburg, who co-founded S.G. Warburg, he visited Warburg in London prior to establishing his merchant bank. He often tells the anecdotal story of how his son inspired him to take the leap in starting the bank.
When the operations of the bank took effect in 1983, Balogun established an entrepreneurial culture at the new bank, unique as an owner managed bank in contrast to the government owned banks at the time.
Balogun built a National Pediatric Centre in Ijebu-Ode and donated it to University of Ibadan’s, University College Teaching Hospital.
Otunba Olasubomi Balogun’s last social outing was on his 89th birthday when he danced gracefully to a popular orthodox Christian song.
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