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The Awoyemis with a Special Guest |
delicate but organizing a Praise and Champagne Party for one’s wife @ 40 could
be an opportunity to get away from the hues and fuss of adding up complex
numbers to give policy direction for the nation’s economy. That was the hobby Olufemi Awoyemi, the founder of
Nigeria’s number one finance and economic analysis portal, www.proshareng.com found himself taking to on Saturday March 5th, 2016 as he
organized a well attended 40th birthday bash for his beautiful and
lovely wife, Alero Ogor Awoyemi in
the heart of Ikeja GRA, Lagos—South West Nigeria. Alero, his pretty and faithful wife clocked 40 on Monday February
29th.
The 5 hours classic
event which witnessed a surge of dignitaries largely from the Nigerian economic
and business community was a success as the Awoyemi couple hosted a large gathering of family, friends,
business associates, well wishers and people from all walks of life to quality
champagne drinks and sumptuous meals after an early hour praise and worship
session. Your Africa’s number 1 Celebrity Encounter blog, Asabeafrika attended the event and brought you some of the behind
the scene snippets. Enjoy.
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Celebrant, Alero Awoyemi @ 40 |
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The GDA greets The Great Man, Femi Awoyemi, founder of Proshare.com |
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Elder Sister consoles ’emotionally grateful’ Alero Awoyemi |
The Venue
held at the well spaced hall of Celebration Gardens Events Center by
28b, Isaac
John Street, off Joel Ogunnaike Street by GRA Ikeja.—Lagos. The Venue of the birthday bash was highly
decorated in mostly grey apparels with tables and chairs designed with the
ensembles of each organization and personalities expected at the occasion. On each table were big ice watered jars with
various brands of drinks ranging from fruit juice, soft drinks and exotic wine
brands. Everyone had a feel of good life with sumptuous meals and great drinks
as deserts were first served after the Praise and worship session of the event
before the major course meals of rice,
pounded yam, amala etc with all sort of assorted soups of Yoruba and Delta make.
The Venue which was partitioned into a
church at the beginning of the event later re-designed into an entertainment
venue for invited guests and dignitaries.
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Alero cuddles her loving daughter after the Praise Moment |
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Pastor Bisi Olowoyo and Dr. Olumuyiwa Onabanjo showers prayer on the Awoyemis as In-laws looks on |
celebration. Only rare and few people with a creative mindset could take their
time to christen an event. An ideas man
like the chief organizer was detailed enough to make a difference with his
wife’s birthday party. In recognition of God’s wonderful mercies in the life of
his pretty wife, Femi Awoyemi
christened the occasion “Fortified @ 40” and it was the tag name of all apparels,
banner and any accessory associated with the occasion. It was Madam Alero Ogor Awoyemi’s day and from
all indications, she was highly fortified at 40. The event which was divided
into two segments which is the Service (Church) and Reception (Entertainment of
guests) had sub-segments like “We Bow
Before Your Throne” (Opening Prayer); Expression
of Praise, Scripture reading, Opening Hymns, Testimonies/Thanksgiving by Celebrant, The Word (Sermon) by Pastor
Bisi Olowoyo, Prayers, Closing Hymns and Closing
Prayer. The Reception started with a welcome dance for the celebrant by a
musical band (Praise Band), “Enjoy the
Day the Niger-Delta Way” is the
maiden segment where the celebrant danced her heart out to Godly melodies in
God’s praise and worship. Other segments
are the Toast, Special words and wishes to the celebrant by family and friends, cutting of Birthday Cake, Expression of Praise (Celebrant’s Dance)
and the Vote of Thanks.
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Some VVIPs at the event |
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Proshare Executives in celebration mood |
Organizer, Femi Awoyemi
foremost, Olufemi Awoyemi the
husband of Alero Ogor Awoyemi is the
Founding President, Board of Trustee of the Prestigious Online Publisher Association
of Nigeria (OPAN)
resume is huge and very intimidating; Asabeafrika will make attempt at
reviewing 50% of his resume for starters. Awoyemi
is the Founder and CEO of Proshare Nigeria Limited, the
publishers of Nigeria’s number 1 business and finance analysis portal www.proshareng.com. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Accounting (1988) with several other
courses in accounting and finance related discipline from various national
& International institutions. He is a fellow of several account institutes
home and abroad, among which is The Institute of Chattered Accountants
of Nigeria, Association of Investment Advisers and Portfolios Managers, Institute of Credit
Administration and Institute of Information Management
among many others. Awoyemi is
equally an Associate member of the Institute of Chattered Taxation
of Nigeria, Institute
of Management Consultants,
Nigeria’s
Institute of Management and the Institute of Directors.
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Pa Kunle Awoyemi with wife, Funmi |
is a hand-on knowledge management expert with an impeccable portfolio of
commercial and consulting achievements garnered during the course of his
two-decades plus of progressive working responsibility with well-known local
and international firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers, UAC of Nigeria, Eternal Oil and Gas PLC,
Philips Consulting, Fountain Trust Bank PLC, Change
Management Associate and British and American Tobacco
where he left as a member of Senior Management with responsibility for Treasury and Management Accounts.
management practices and developments for several companies, think-tanks, high
net-worth individuals and private intelligence companies; with a specialty on
issues articulation, analyst and intelligence operations, forensic investigations,
reputation management, identifying future trends/impact and undertaking high
impact thought led engagements.
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‘Dear, stop crying, Jesus has fortified you already’ Femi seems to be saying to Alero who burst into grateful tears of appreciation to God after her testimony period |
Institute of Bankers (CIBN)
who has several local and international awards to his credit is the recipient
of “Year 2013 Most Outstanding Business Executive of the Year” award courtesy The
African Council of Chief Executives. He has contributed immensely to,
and has been actively involved in many initiatives, associations, academia and
commercial activities including roles as a member of the Publicity &
Publication Committees of the Nigerian-British Chambers of Commerce,
Chairman and Strategy Committee Executive of the West African Bankers Association. Independent Board Member, Northwards
Housing, Manchester City Council ALMO-UK and Technical Advisor to the
Nigerian National Assembly House Committee on Capital Market between 2011 and 2012.
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Femi Awoyemi breaks finance mood for Wife’s Praise moments |
is a tireless builder of minds as he uses his private time to deliver on
knowledge empowerment engagements including being a consultant to the School
of Post Graduate Studies, University of Lagos on
entrepreneurship and he continues to offer himself as a facilitator at many
management retreats, personal finance, empowerment training,
thought-out-leadership and knowledge sharing sessions of blue chip firms, NGOs
and professional groups and associations. He is the Chairman of the Board of
Directors of Value Fronteria, a competitiveness optimization firm that
leverages the technique of data mining, business research and economic science
to provide robust insights that enables decision makers to achieve accelerated
innovation and sustained competitive differentiation. He also serves as
board chairman of View Limited—a thought led strategic reputation management
consultancy firm.
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Some beautiful ladies @ the Alero Party |
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A VIP @ the event |
Co-Founder of Money-wise, a weekly finance publication that blazed the trail
in finance reporting in early parts of the new millennium has published over 1185 reviews, opinions, articles,
research work and publications in the last two decades covering work-place
issues, market intelligence and environmental scanning, service/practice/innovation
issues in the capital market, corporate governance in Nigeria and the Financial
markets; impact assessment of public policy and white collar crimes in
Corporate Nigeria. His articles have appeared in National Dailies, economic and
business magazines, journals and electronic media. At Proshare where he calls
the shot, the handsome finance guru oversees the strategic direction of Proshare
Consult which includes; www.proshareng.com, www.theanalystng.com, www.webtvng.com and www.nigeriaregulators.com.
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BGL boss Charles Okumagba with Proshare’s Femi Awoyemi |
A frequent
contributor to television interviews on economic and national planning matters,
Awoyemi was born in Somolu LGA area of Lagos State-South West Nigeria on February 23rd,
1968 (Shares birthday month with wife)
to Kolawole
Michael Awoyemi of blessed memory and Christiana
Ayodele Awoyemi (Nee Idowu) both from Sagamu,
Remo, Ogun State-South West Nigeria. His siblings are Dr. Yetunde Bukola Awoyemi, LLB, LLM, Dr. Olayinka Awoyemi MBBS and Engineer
Adebayo Awoyemi, Vice President, Wire Technologies, Canada.
Industrial Chemistry from Delta State University (DELSU). Alero is a mother of two lovely girls
and Executive Director of Proshare Consult, publishers of www.proshareng.com, www.theanalystng.com, www.webtvng.com., www.nigeriaregulators.com. Apart from being the woman who calls the shot at
home, Madam Alero’s career inclination
is felt by staff and board of Director of Proshare who has all benefitted from
her enviable wealth of experience.
that afternoon elicited a different atmosphere as he stormed the event from Benin
City, capital of Edo State
Southern Nigeria. Mr. Gbubemi Ogor
is the Assistant Director, Finance and Supply, Niger-Delta Development Commission—NDDC (Portharcourt). Gbubemi is the elder brother of the
celebrant and her father-figure at the event. The elder Ogor described his sister (Celebrant) as a Very Special Child right
from her younger days and equally thanked God for sparing her life and making
his family to witness such a joyous occasion for Alero Ogor Awoyemi. The
NDDC big boy noted that Alero’s birthday which rarely comes
until a leap year is a an indication of God’s grace as she is lucky to have a
leap year in 2016 which marked her 40th birthday on earth. The big
boy returned all glory to God. The elder Ogor
narrated how devil played trick on his journey from Benin to
Lagos and how Jesus
disgraced the devil. He said the aircraft he boarded ran into some turbulent weather
that morning and jerked three different times until he shouted “Jesus!!!” very
loudly and he was eventually landed safely at Lagos airport. Gbubemi drew people’s jaw to maximum
laughter when he narrated how a thirty minutes air journey suddenly became
longer in his imagination due to the jerking of the aircraft in the dizzy
weather.
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Pa Kunle Awoyemi with Mr. Femi Awoyemi |
Alero’s 40h
stood as Head of the Ogor family from Niger-Delta, meanwhile the Awoyemi family of Remo, Ogun state also attended their in-law’s 40th birthday
bash tagged Fortified @ 40. The Awoyemi delegation was led by Alhaji Kunle Awoyemi and his pretty
wife, Alhaja Olufunmilola Awoyemi. Alhaji
Kunle Awoyemi is the younger brother of late Kolawole Michael Awoyemi, father of the Proshare Consult founder,
Olufemi Awoyemi. The Dawodu (Leader)
of the Awoyemi dynasty in Sagamu—Ogun State is Alhaji Bayo Awoyemi who sent Alhaji Kunle Awoyemi to represent the entire family.
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The Awoyemis with RCCG’s Pastor Bisi Olowoyo, Dr. Olumuyiwa Onabanjo, Gbubemi Ogor and celebrant’s sister |
arrivals at the party saw him dressed like an Urhobo high chief, they
mistook him for the Pastor or leading minister in charge of the event. However,
his name turned out to be Obus Zalee
the famous presenter of “Wetin Dey?” on Radio
Continental 102.3FM. This fair
complexioned broadcaster and On-Air-Personality coordinated the event so well
but couldn’t make guests laugh like Isaac
Osagie of Proshare (Watch out for him later)
Edo born millionaire and Ikeja big
boy surprised many with his humility as he joined the Chief Organizer, Olufemi Awoyemi to do all the caring
and running around to ensure guests had a nice experience at the party. His
name is Charles Ifidon the Chairman of Divine
Hotels Services in the heart of Opebi (by Salvation) in Ikeja
South West Nigeria. His humility and sense of duty was regal as he, another big
boy, Dipo Dawodu and Olufemi Awoyemi totally refused to sit
through out the event, running from one end of the hall to the entrance and
everywhere, receiving guests and ensuring they had good place to sit, nice meal
to eat and a proper attention at the party.
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The Awoyemis and their guests |
Chairman of Event.
top dignitaries who graced the Alero
Ogor Awoyemi’s birthday shindig is ex-Nigerian Minister of State for
Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola. The very
handsome and humble ex-minister of state for finance was adorned in all white
attire and sat through the event for two hours as the Chairman of the Occasion.
He left after taking a stage dance with the celebrant and her husband. For
starters, Remi Babalola is a man of
huge profile; firstly he was an Executive Director of First Bank Nigeria PLC in
charge of Lagos and Western Nigerian business as well as Director in charge of Consumer
Banking and Electronic Banking section of First
Bank PLC until he was appointed by the regime of the late President Umar Yar ‘Adua on July 26,
2007 as minister of state for finance and left on September 16th,
2010. Before he was head hunted by First
Bank PLC, Remi Babalola
served at Zenith Bank PLC as General
Manager. You will never know why this Ibadan,
Oyo State born banker is close to the
Awoyemis until you run through his resume in a detailed manner. His resume
describes him as a “Magical Banker”; Remi
comes to the bankers’ community with an over ten year’s cognate experience in
Banking and Finance. The former minster of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has
a solid experience in development and implantation of new initiatives to
upgrade customer service quality, management of high quality risk portfolios,
management of fast growing deposit base, proactive formulation of strategies to
generating superior profitability and direction of asset liability management. Mr. Babalola for your information has
in-depth knowledge and proven achievement in financial and credit analyses,
trade financing, contemporary investment banking, funds management,
international and local banking operation. At Zenith Bank, he also ran the office of Financial Controller and
Chief Strategist; he was responsible for the banks’ planning and budgetary
process, domestic treasury and forex management support, establishment and
coordination of the profit center concept. In fact, he actually pioneered some
profit centers of Zenith Bank. His
previous job experience includes a four years stint with Arthur Andersen, one of World’s top financial auditing groups. Remi Babalola was an ex-auditing,
consulting, training and development executive at the banking and finance
section of Arthur Andersen. He was
briefly at Price Waterhouse for a
year, six months. He is an all round banker and he was the most rated guest at Alero Ogor Awoyemi’s 40th.
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Proshare Web TV’s Laura Igwilo interviews guests that came for the event |
Powerful Sermon
who know Pastor Bisi Olowo of Redeemed
Christian Church of God, Province 21 will tell you that he is
an expert when it comes to marriage counseling issues. However, Pastor Olowoyo who was the
Chief-Preacher for the “Fortified @ 40” birthday party of Madam Alero Ogor Awoyemi
was more than armed for a marriage counseling on Saturday 5th as he equally delved into Relationship
Counseling for all who attended the
event. The Pastor who noticed the fact that Alero Awoyemi’s birthday is always celebrated every four-four years
of a leap year as her birthday falls on February 29th said he is not
in doubt that both Alero and her
husband Olufemi are very special
people in the global community. The Man of God tagged his sermon “Teach us to Number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom”. Pastor Olowoyo in his 30 minutes sermon
said the celebrant did the best thing by taking her 40th birthday
celebration first into the church before God, thereby opening it with a church
service. The Pastor warned guests at the occasion to be weary of their aging
process and to be abreast with God’s wisdom as nobody can stop the aging
process “Aging is unstoppable, it is undeniable” Olowoyo noted. He said further that “The ephemeral nature of man
is quite unique and I can tell you this afternoon that the life of a man does
not contain the abundance of what he has”. The Pastor went further to drag
guests’ jaws into a laughing contest when he told the story of a fabulously
rich man who once told his wife while on death bed to kindly dig a very big
grave and burry along with him all his fanciful acquisitions and wealth at
death. And that the woman quickly obeyed her husband by simply converting all
his riches into a single cheque, “She wrote out the cheque and buried the
cheque along with her rich husband since he can always redeem his cheque in the
central bank of heaven”. Olowoyo
noted in his closing remarks “Today, you are standing, tomorrow you may be
down. You are not going to be remembered by the amount of the fleet of cars you
were able to acquire in your life time but by the impact you made on your
generation”. The Pastor said he was pleased with the rare impact Alero and her husband have made on
humanity and that he was sure that their days is numbered for wisdom and more
greater exploits.
reputation within the community of Doctors in Lagos state. He is an expert in
Public Health and Internal Medicine. The founder of Genesis Specialist Hospital in Lagos coordinated the ‘Item 7’ on
the event program which is “Prayer”. For good 15 minutes, the Doctor of Public
Health and Internal medicine became a prayer warrior and as he poured supplications
to God over the celebrant and her family the guests stood and received the
blessings in great abundance. Unknown to
many, Dr. Muyiwa Onabanjo an alumnus
of the University College Hospital, Ibadan is the head of a large
Christian Pentecostal Ministry in Lagos. At Genesis Specialists Hospital where he calls the shot, he has able
hands in Dr. Roger Olade and Dr. Gbadebo Adebayo.
thing to be a boss and it is another thing to be a good boss. This must be the
reason why all staff of the sub-segments of Proshare Consult
unleashed their presence and creativity for the celebration of Madam, Alero Ogor Awoyemi’s birthday bash.
Both members of the editorial segment of Proshare and the web television arm
were on ground to give the event a maximum coverage and including live
streaming. The Web TV team was led to the event by handsome and dynamic
producer, Otto Abasi (Head, Proshare
Web TV) with the beautiful and gifted presenter Laura Igwilo directing the presentation. A large banner with the
celebrant’s picture was erected at the entrance of the venue which served as a
mobile studio for many arriving guests and dignitaries who were ushered into
the studio for a short interview session with Laura igwilo who asked them feminine related questions which has to
do with love for one’s wife, celebration and appreciation of womanhood. It was almost
like a mobile TV show as all the big ladies and big boys took turn to speak
with Laura Igwilo on their
relationship either with the celebrant, Alero
or her husband, Femi. Other members
of Proshare team at Madam’s birthday
are Mrs. Grace Ajuwon (Human
Resources) Claudia Nwankwo
(Corporate Communications Department), Mohammed
Nasiru (IT), Tola Shotunde (IT) Saheed Karibe (Research and
Documentation), Emmanuel Duku (Head,
Motoring Department) and Isaac Osagie
(Head, Control Operations)
never believe what some of Alero’s
friends said about her when it was time for “Special Words and Wishes to the
celebrant”. Two of her old school friends who graced the party described her as
a “Sweet & Sour Personality” who could take one on a voyage of great
merrily moments but can equally turn her sour side on if her humility is taken
for granted. First to speak was Mrs.
Boyowa Efijemueh, an ex-staff of First
Bank PLC who described Alero as
a pleasant and humble friend who frowns at laziness but loves creativity. “I
have known her for 30 years going now and I can say she is one of the best
people I have related with on planet earth. She is a humble person but please,
don’t cross your boundary with her”. In her own description of the celebrant Dr. (Mrs.) Isoken Aikpokpo an obstetric
Doctor with Gbagada General Hospital,
Lagos and friend of 30 years describe the celebrant as someone who is very
focused, “Alero is focused and you can never derail her once she is set for a
course. I am proud of our friendship right from school and today we are still
together in one accord. It can only be by God’s grace”. Mrs. Isoken Aikpokpo was initially studying medicine at DELSU
(Delta State University) alongside Alero
and Boyowa before she changed to
UNIBEN (University of Benin) but her change in education environment couldn’t
break the chord of friendship.
of the few speakers who got people’s jaws jerking with laughter. He also got a
resounding applause after speaking. Isaac
Osagie is not a comedian but his testimony of Madam Celebrant made guests
to burst off their jaws with laughter. The Nnamdi
Azikiwe University Graduate and Head
of Control Operations at Proshare Consult
gave a testimony of how the celebrant changed his life for good in the last 6
years of his working experience at Proshare “When I came on board, I
didn’t have any experience and I told the MD exactly that. He quickly directed
me to the ED, Mrs. Alero Awoyemi and
the COO, Mrs. Resu Bagga (An Indian
Economic analyst) it was Mrs. Awoyemi
who took me through and started teaching me a lot of things that made me who I
am today. Perhaps in future, if I become successful, I owe it to this great
couple (Femi and Alero Awoyemi), they have given me a career path and I am
grateful for it. Isaac threw the
entire hall into a laughing spree with his last word on the celebrant “She is a
kind person, very unassuming but the only secret to her is work, work and more
work; with Madam, you cannot be idle doing nothing. You must be busy doing
something. She is always telling us in the office ‘you guys must work, work and
work. Even at 2am in the mid night, if I log on to the internet, I still see
her working. So, I will quickly log out so that she doesn’t see me and give me
another assignment to do” (Laughter & applause)
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Ex-Minister of State Remi Babalola with Lasena Water MD, Dr. Lance Musa Elakama |
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Femi Awoyemi with some guests |
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Femi Awoyemu with a business associate @ wife’s birthday |
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In-law to in-law smile, Femi Awoyemi welcomes brother-in-law Gbubemi Ogor to wife’s 40th birthday bash |
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Mr & Mrs Awoyemi with a guest |
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Mr. Gbubemi Ogor |
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Prince Adediran Adewoyin with wife @ the event |
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The fortified stage for Mrs Alero Ogor Awoyemi’s 40th |
of The Alero Ogor Awoyemi’s 40th Birthday Bash + Exclusive interview
in our next Post on Asabeafrika)