Beyond the Boardroom and Other Room…Retirement Goals for First Bank MD, Adesola Adeduntan

– Would He Retire to A Noble Cause or The Bosom of His Beloved Wives?

– What He Could Learn from The Lives, Post-Retirement Passion of Previous CEOs

Announcing his retirement, “As you are aware, my contract would be expiring on 31 December 2024 after which I would no longer be eligible for employment within the Bank having served as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank for a record time of nine years.

“During this period the Bank and its subsidiaries has undergone significant changes and broken new grounds. We have repositioned the institution as an enviable financial giant in Africa.

“I have however decided to proceed on retirement with effect from 20 April 2024 to pursue other interests.

“I am eternally grateful to the board of directors of FirstBank and FBN Holdings Plc for the support that I received from them during my stewardship. I wish our iconic institution continue success and progress as we move into the next phase of its evolution.”

Interestingly, however, life outside the boardroom promises such great fun Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan. Perhaps because he fell in love with someone who tastes like adventure but looks like the calm, beautiful morning after a terrible storm.

Like a sea-hardened mariner weary of the storms and turbulence of the briny deep, Adeduntan has every reason to romanticise his retirement as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of First Bank. And that is because he would be scurrying back into the cozy bosom of his heartthrob and newest bride, Adebimpe Aminat Oluwa.

As he inches closer to his retirement, Adeduntan, is getting set for a different kind of adventure. Having asserted his worth as an administrator and banker per excellence, the First Bank head honcho is excited about the possibilities of life beyond the routine powerplay and tumult of the boardroom.

The very basic core of his excitement lies in his passion to embark on fresh adventures. For Adeduntan, the joy of life stirs in his encounters with new experiences, hence his knack for an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun, and for him to enjoy soothing, infinite experiences in the bosom of his beloved Adebimpe.

In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is Adeduntan’s joy to share a planet and an epoch with beautiful bride.

If life as a boardroom titan was a blast for Adeduntan, his adventures as a retiree promises to be even more thrilling; he is raring to burst into the social space and saturate it from the base to the rafters with colourful delight.

There is no gainsaying Adeduntan dazzled and bathed in the spotlight as First Bank’s head honcho, now he is set to milk his retirement for all its worth, like the proverbial sojourner who had spent an eternity crawling alone through the shadows that he might truly appreciate what it is to stand in the sun.

There is no gainsaying that Adeduntan is intentional about his life after retirement; it was in bid to enjoy a quality life afterwards perhaps that the hitherto bulky bank chief hit the gym. Now looking trim and fit, he is set to travel the world and enjoy new experiences with Adebimpe and the other most important woman in his life, his first wife, Adenike.

But beyond spending time with his beautiful wives, what else could he do? Would he go the way of his predecessors and return into the cutthroat world of banking and finance, as a bank owner? Or would he simply embark on a roller coaster ride into the sunset, forever ducking the threat of idleness and its associated languor?

Would he tow the path of Tony Elumelu of the United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, who also doubled as majority owners of equity in the banks that they founded, and returned to assume the chairmanship positions after hibernation?

Would Adeduntan go the way of the former Chief Executive Officer of IBTC, Atedo Peterside, who started a private airplane leasing company ANAP- Jets and the returnee Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede, who became the Chairman of WAPIC insurance -a subsidiary of Access Bank and engaged in the activities of some international academic and climate change focused organisations.

Would he make a foray into a related sector such as the Fintech business, as a former deputy CBN governor and former Wema Bank MD, Tunde Lemo, did by setting up Flutterwave, the wave making money transfer platform?

Would Adeduntan remain in the financial services sector or would he pivot into the manufacturing sector and seek greater exploits in the production of goods?

Perhaps he would emulate Tokunbo Abiru, who resigned as the MD/CEO of Polaris Bank to contest for the senatorial seat in Lagos. Abiru roared to victory to become a senator, and now the frontrunner for the governorship seat of Lagos State, upon the completion of the tour of duty of the current governor, Jide Sanwo-Olu.

Whatever path he chooses to tread, Adeduntan is surely set for a thrilling ride as a retiree and lover boy.

The outgoing First Bank CEO will surely have to deal with the reality of life after retirement in ways he had never envisaged. He would have to get into conversations and answer seemingly simple but complex questions like, ‘What am I going to do with my two life partners?’ ‘How am I going to relate to my spouses?’ ‘What the hell has been going on with our kids?’”

“With whom do I embark on the first vacation? Do I go with both of them at the same time? Do I support our family with a third wife?”

There is no gainsaying Adeduntan is retiring at a moment when authentic leaders are needed in several capacities throughout society. It would be an enormous loss if he simply retires into luxury and the warm embrace of his wives and make no attempt to help solve the myriad problems plaguing his immediate society.

There is room for Adeduntan to make very important contributions to society while still having time for family and friends, hobbies, and travel. He must understand that among the many former CEOs, the ones who are thriving found ways to create or nurture things that will outlast them.

Their generative approach to their later years brings them a sense of well-being—and helps improve the world.