Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, will not forget the late astute banker, Otunba Subomi Balogun in a hurry. Balogun was a reliable ally to the businessman when he was at his lowest financially.
A few days ago, Balogun, the founder of First City Monument Bank, FCMB died in London, United Kingdom, at the age of 89.
Otedola adopted Balogun as his father after he lost his biological father, Sir Michael Otedola, a former Governor of Lagos State who died in 2014.
At the height of the global financial meltdown between 2007 and 2009, Otedola’s businesses, especially in the downstream oil and gas industry, were challenged. He had a diesel stock, which was bought for $800,000,000 (eight hundred million dollars) at $147 per barrel. However, due to the meltdown, the price of oil collapsed to $33 per barrel.
Otedola’s business nose-dived and he was on the verge of being declared bankrupt. The situation got so worse that he became incapacitated and almost contemplated suicide. When he finally made an attempt to approach the bank, two top bankers who understood real entrepreneurship, came to his rescue. They were Otunba Balogun and Tayo Aderinokun, co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB, who later died in 2011 at Wellington Hospital in the United States as a result of a protracted illness, offered to help. The two believed in his dreams and were able to rescue his business.
