By Abdul Mohammed Lawal
Every community takes pride in the sons and daughters who take its name beyond its borders. Some become political leaders. Others become respected professionals, business owners, and builders of strong institutions. Yet in Nigeria, public recognition is often reserved for politicians, entertainers, and public office holders. As a result, many remarkable success stories do not receive the attention they deserve. One such story is that of the “Yakubu-Concern brothers” from Kogi State.
To many Nigerians, the name may not be familiar. However, within Nigeria’s financial sector, investment circles, and business community, members of the family have spent decades building institutions, managing investments, creating opportunities, and supporting the growth of industries that contribute to economic development.
This is the story of a family whose influence stretches from Ankpa to Lagos, from company boardrooms to the capital market, and from private business to community development.
For me, the first time I heard the name “Concern brothers” was during the building of the Ankpa Central Mosque. Their support for the project was talked about widely, and many people spoke about the role they played in making it happen. For many people in Ankpa, that project was one of the first major efforts that brought their name into wider community discussion. And around the same time, I often heard stories about their activities in the stock market and investment banking.
At the time too, I did not even know what the stock market was. I only knew that whenever people spoke about business, investment, or success in finance, the name “Concern” was often mentioned. Years later, after learning more about Nigeria’s financial sector, I began to understand why people spoke about them with such respect. Those names I had heard growing up belonged to men who had spent decades building businesses, creating opportunities, and making their mark in one of Nigeria’s most important industries.
Like the wise man would say, every lasting legacy begins with a strong foundation. For the Yakubu-Concern family, that foundation was laid by their patriarch, Alhaji Yakubu Concern. Long before his sons became respected figures in Nigeria’s financial sector, he had already built a reputation as a successful businessman in his own generation. In those days, business was more about trust, and a person’s reputation often determined the opportunities available to them. Credibility was one of the most valuable assets in business, and he had a lot of it.
His success earned him respect within the community and helped establish values that would later be seen in the careers of his children. Hard work, discipline, ambition, and enterprise became common threads running through the family’s story.
Among the most well-known members of the family is Alhaji Shehu Yakubu-Concern, a respected figure in Nigeria’s capital market industry. A graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a degree in Administration, Shehu has built a career spanning more than three decades in investment banking, stockbroking, portfolio management, and corporate advisory services.
He began as an Investment Analyst with Arewa Hotels Development Limited before serving at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. He later moved into the capital market sector through Rims Merchant Bank and its investment subsidiary, Rims Securities.
In 1995, his experience eventually led him to co-found Reward Investment and Services Limited alongside a former President of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers. He served as Head of Operations before moving in 2000 to Springboard Trust & Investment Limited, where he rose to become Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. And for more than three decades, he has remained active through different stages of Nigeria’s financial market development, from the merchant banking era to the modern NGX era.
Over the years, he has been involved in many transactions in Nigeria’s capital market and has earned recognition as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.
What perhaps sets him apart is his ability to combine professional success with community service. His name has become linked with development projects in Ankpa, including infrastructure initiatives that have improved the lives of residents and earned him public recognition from the Kogi State House of Assembly.
If Shehu represents excellence within established institutions, Alhaji Adams Yakubu-Concern represents entrepreneurship and institution building. A trained accountant and Chartered Stockbroker, Adams began his career in Nigeria’s financial services industry with OMF Securities and Finance Limited and later with Counters Trust Securities Limited, a subsidiary of First Securities Discount House. In the two organizations, he gained valuable experiences that prepared him for a bigger challenge.
Rather than spend his entire career working for others, Adams chose the path of entrepreneurship. In 2003, he founded SMADAC Securities Limited.
Building a financial institution in Nigeria is not an easy task. It requires vision, resilience, compliance with regulations, professional credibility, and the ability to earn the confidence of investors and clients. But these are currencies that are synonymous with Adams. And over the years, SMADAC Securities grew into a recognised participant in Nigeria’s capital market.
Available records also connect him with Kalliper Oil & Gas Limited, Creative House Montessori School Limited, and other investment ventures.
The importance of Adams’ achievement lies in his ability to build an institution capable of surviving economic changes, market challenges, policy shifts, and industry reforms. Through his work, he has helped expand participation in Nigeria’s financial markets while demonstrating the value of vision, determination, and hard work.
While Shehu and Adams built highly visible careers, another member of the family learnt from them and also built an empire. Alhaji Ali Yakubu Concern has maintained a lower public profile, but available records connect him with asset management, stock broking, and Bureau De Change operations. His involvement reflects the family’s wider presence within Nigeria’s financial services sector.
To see the “Yakubu-Concern brothers” story simply as the success of three brothers would be to miss the bigger picture. Their journey tells the story of a family that embraced enterprise as a way of life. And the result is a family whose influence extends across several sectors of Nigeria’s economy.
The is also a story about Ankpa.
From Ankpa, they built careers and institutions that reached far beyond their hometown while remaining connected to the values that guided them. Their achievements challenge old assumptions and broaden what young people can imagine for themselves. For aspiring entrepreneurs, their story is a lesson in perseverance. For professionals, it is a lesson in lifelong learning. For families, it is a lesson in the power of values. For communities, it is a reminder that investing in people remains the surest path to lasting progress.
This is about what becomes possible when excellence is pursued consistently, knowledge is valued, discipline is maintained, and success is seen not just as an achievement but as a responsibility. Long after today’s political debates have passed and today’s headlines have faded, stories such as these will continue to inspire.
Today, the institutions they have helped build stand as evidence of what can happen when ambition is guided by discipline and success is rooted in values.
In the end, the strongest legacies are built on values. By that measure, the Yakubu-Concern family has already earned its place among Ankpa’s most remarkable success stories.