By: Okosun Dennis
It was a spectacle of gathering of creme de la creme in the society, family members, friends and colleagues of Prince Abimbola Olashore, the quintessential investment guru, under whose tutelage his leadership at LeadCapital attained the status of a full-fledged investment banking, celebrated his 60th birthday in Lagos.
The celebration climaxed in the presentation of his autobiographical work titled: “My Journey,” a book that chronicled his life in service, especially growing up in the highbrow Victoria Island; his work ethics and nurtured by a disciplined parents, who taught him principles of hard work and resilience.
Invited guests consist of traditional rulers, bankers, business moguls and technocrats, who strolled into the Metropolitan Club, Kofo Abayomi street, Victoria Island on Friday, 20th March, 2026.
By 4pm, the large hall became lively with a trumpeter entertaining the guests mostly dressed immaculately in their different traditional attires to celebrate Prince Olashore.
The alavanche of ecomiums were well-tailored – reflecting his successful trajectory from being a trained Engineer to becoming a financial expert of repute.
“He isn’t only fluent in the language of finance but brings brilliance to financial engineering as he uses numbers to describe a simple conjuncts,” Mr. Leke Alder, recounted in his Season 6 adulation.
The celebration was a resume` of life of achievements that has spanned the last six decades. Every speaker in their turns, painted the professional progression of Prince Olashore, which was streamlined into every decade of his life – across six seasons of life.
Describing the celebrant as a “goal getter, ” imbued with the intellectual capacity to separate the wheat from the chaff, the Chairman, Organising Committee, Dr Niyi Osamiluyi described the Iloko-born investment banker as, “a man of many parts whom I first interacted with at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce.
“An incredibly focused man. He gets what he wants. He knows what he wants and how to get what he wants. We are here to celebrate Prince Abimbola Olashore,” he reiterated.
To Mr Akin Semowo, who enlivened the guests with “Season 1,” reminisced on his formative years in the early 1970s, a time that witnessed the very beginning when there were no titles, no achievements, and no control over his bedtime. He had to go to bed when mommy said he should. There was a boy there called Bimbo,” he began.
According to him, “A few streets away, there were two blocks of flats. Flat No. 7 and 9. That is where we grew up. I can practically say that we grew up under the same roof. Those early years in Victoria Land.” He further narrated that with heaps of white sand on the streets, they used to set traps for birds or throw their tennis court rings. “Victoria Island was safer. It was serene,” he recollected nostalgically with a tinge of emotion.
“I just want to say that it takes a village to raise a child. This village that we grew up in, completely shaped the man you see today,” Semowo recounted implicitly.
But for Mr. Henry Balogun, he exposed the celebrant’s teenager and adolescent years as a student at St. Gregory College, Obalende, till his early years in the university in “Season 2.”
However, “Season 3” gave an ebullient reflection of youth exburances laced with different fashions of that defines their days. “We liked each other – together in the United Kingdom and in Nigeria. He had these jerrycurls that everybody would wear back then. We both had these jerrycurls that anytime we came home or when we were in England, he decided to, always make sure it was fresh and looked good. As our friendship grew, we began to act like twins,” Mr. Ajirowa Lateef Bakare entertained the audience with those nuggets.
However, from “Season 4” to six captured his adulthood, working at Deloitte, his marriage to his wife, Mrs. Atinuke Olashore, giving birth to his two children and how he was practically forced to take accounting that culminated into passing the famous ICAN exams at the expense of his cherished Engineering. A part his younger sister shared: “Accounting wasn’t a planned career, he crashed into it.”
On his part, Olalekan Olatunbosun Olashore, the celebrant’s younger brother enlivened the guests with deeper reflections of how they lived at home and the excellent character portraiture of Prince Abimbola Olashore.
“He understands legacy and was always ahead of his pairs. He is time conscious and never late to places. His discipline and studiousness speak for itself.”
To his two children – Debola and Deniyi Olashore – growing up under his tutelage of their father taught them the spirit of resilience, patience and discipline.
Narrating a particular incident that shaped them positively and their disposition to hard work was when their father organised an excursion for them that turned out to be in his office.
Debola explained that the father instead of taking them to a neutral place, ended up in his office where he took them through his daily routines, observing that that particular episode left them with a time and life-tested lesson in hard work.
To the celebrant, Prince Abimbola Olashore, organising a birthday and book launch was an opportunity to show gratitude for what this environment has given to me.
In his characteristic style, he held the audience spellbound as he narrated the genealogy of the book which he chronicled as “My Journey” as a book he had started about 20 years ago. After several years the manuscript laid fallow, he dusted it several times for reediting but didn’t publish.
“The book that has been launched today, I started writing it about 20 years ago. For those that know me, I’m an avid reader of autobiography; especially about companies that failed rather than companies that succeeded.
“The reason is that they document in their books what they did wrong. I learnt a lot from their failure and they are certainly lessons one can learn from it. At 40 years when I first wrote it, I titled it, “Half A Life, What a Life.” Having gone through the banking sector and the banking crisis, I felt I needed to document what had happened.
“I updated it several times and will keep it again. I named persons and blamed them for being responsible for one thing or the other. However, I thank God I did not publish it then. At 50, I edited it again, a time that my views had changed with different perspectives,” he explained.
In his vote of thanks, he applauded his wife, Mrs. Atinuke Olashore and the kids for their unflinching, resilience and supportive roles.
Prince Olashore noted that “I felt my life has transitioned from being a banker, running an NGO and School – Olashore International Secondary School (OISA). I thanked my wife for all these gamut of achievements and successes.
“I am passionate about business, education. I thank God I concluded my book at 60th birthday and some friends of mine took on that responsibility.
Highpoint of the evening of speeches were the presentation of the book: “My Journey” by the duo of Mr. Akin Osuntoki, Dr. Ayo Ajayi and Sir Demola Aladekomo while a critical book review was done by Dr. Bisi Oni.
Prince Abimbola Olashore, is the President and Chairman of Council of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC). Under his leadership, the Chamber strengthened Nigeria–UK trade engagement and expanded strategic partnerships for policy dialogue, advocacy, trade missions, and business growth.
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