For Adeola Falomo, leaving a 22-year career in the insurance industry was not the end of a professional journey but the beginning of an unlikely chapter that would see her become one of Nigeria’s recognised names in event styling and creative entrepreneurship.
Falomo, the Creative Director and Founder of Courage Events, recently celebrated her 63rd birthday surrounded by family members, friends, clients and business associates. The celebration on Sunday, September 20, 2026, also marked 17 years since she left paid employment and 23 years of entrepreneurship following her voluntary resignation from LASACO Assurance Plc., where she rose to the position of Assistant General Manager in the Public Sector.
Her story, as documented in an interview with The Podium International Magazine, is one of transition, persistence and an unwavering commitment to excellence. It is also a story of how a side hustle, initially pursued while she was still in paid employment, grew into a business with a presence in Nigeria’s events industry.
According to Falomo, the transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship was remarkably smooth. A comparison of her income shortly before leaving LASACO gave her an early indication that her fledgling enterprise had significant potential.
“The journey couldn’t have been better. I have never, for one day, regretted leaving paid employment,” she said.
“The Lord led me to start Courage as a side hustle—something to do while trying to make ends meet. The transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship was smooth. A few weeks before I left the office, I had reason to run my statements of account as AGM and also for my little business. I discovered that the little business was bringing in more money than my salary.”
The name behind Falomo’s growing enterprise has a story rooted in her Christian faith.
She recalled that, in 1996, after reading the first chapter of the biblical Book of Joshua at about 2am, she went to bed. It was then, she said, that she heard a voice telling her that “Courage” should be the name of her business.
“I jumped out of bed, wrote it down, and searched for the appropriate verse in Chapter 1: Joshua 1:9. That was in 1996. The name has stayed ever since,” she recalled.
That decision became the foundation for what was initially registered as Courage Enterprise in 1996 before evolving into Courage Designs and Events, incorporated in 2010.
Today, the enterprise has developed into a broader business structure comprising Courage Events, which handles decoration and event planning; Courage Rental, which provides decoration props and accessories; and Courage Furniture, which focuses on bespoke furniture, marquees, canopies, chairs and VIP and banquet tables.
Breezy News reports that Falomo’s journey reflects a wider trend among Nigerian entrepreneurs who have leveraged experience gained in formal employment to build independent businesses. In her case, however, the transition was accompanied by years of experimentation and an insistence on finding opportunities even when the initial business model was not yielding the expected results.
Falomo did not begin her entrepreneurial journey with an established events company or a large investment.
“I started Courage with little or nothing,” she said, explaining that her earliest activities included making bedsheets, pyjamas and nightwear before she underwent training in decoration.
Even after completing her decoration training, jobs did not immediately come.
Rather than abandon the venture, she diversified. She began selling decoration accessories, then moved into children’s parties and entertainment.
“The early challenge was a lack of patronage. It was a bit tedious to break even in the market. When I could not break even in decoration, I started buying and selling children’s party needs,” she said.
That willingness to adapt became an important part of the business’s evolution. By the time she decided to leave LASACO in 2009, Falomo said she had begun earning the trust of clients.
For her, trust remains inseparable from the reputation she has built.
“My watchwords are integrity and excellence. I wouldn’t take any job that I can’t attach my name to,” she said.
Her philosophy is captured in a simple maxim: “You are as good as your last job.”
She explained that success on one assignment should not become an excuse for complacency on the next.
“Doing excellently in your last job shouldn’t make you relax in the next,” she added.
Over the years, Courage has handled events for individual and corporate clients across different sectors, with the company’s work earning recognition from industry organisations and other bodies.
Among the recognitions received are the Product and Services Excellence Award by Success Motivational Venture in 2005; Outstanding Event and Decor Company of the Year by Southwest Legendary Awards in 2021; a recognition plaque for Support and Value Added by the Association of Professional Party Organisers and Events Managers of Nigeria (APPOEMN) in 2023; Spirit Awards in 2024; and the Resilience and Commitment Award in 2025.
The company has also been nominated for Best Rental Company on two occasions, received the Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Decorators Summit Community twice, and earned the Best Rental Company of the Year award from the Party Managers Association of Nigeria (PAMAN) in 2025.
Other recognitions include an award for sponsorship and contributions by the Rental Professionals Society of Nigeria (RPSN) in 2022 and a Best Service Provider Award in 2025.
Breezy News notes that these recognitions form part of a career that has extended beyond event decoration itself. Falomo has maintained active links with professional organisations, including APPOEMN, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Rental Professionals Society of Nigeria, the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria and the Party Managers Association of Nigeria.
She is also a lifetime member and former Social Secretary of the Professional Insurance Association and a life member and former Social Secretary of the Professional Insurance Ladies Association.
The entrepreneur is not resting on past achievements. She is currently expanding the Courage brand with new offerings designed to provide a more comprehensive event experience.
Among the products being introduced is “Tents by Courage”, a marquee service that includes tent flooring, stages, LED dance floors, executive chairs and a range of decoration accessories, including chandeliers and lighting.
For Falomo, the expansion represents another stage in the evolution of a business that began with modest resources.
Her experience in both insurance and event management has also given her an unusual professional background. Before entering the events industry full-time, she spent 22 years at LASACO Assurance Plc. She is an alumna of Methodist Girls High School, Yaba, and a Chartered Insurer with the Chartered Institute of Insurance in London.
She also holds an MBA in Marketing and a degree in Business Management from the European Business School in Luxembourg.
Falomo’s activities extend beyond commerce. She has also established herself as a mentor and encourager, particularly through Courage-A-Hand, her non-governmental organisation, which works with young men and women by providing mentorship and career guidance in partnership with other platforms.
Her public profile is also closely connected to her Christian ministry.
Ordained as a pastor in January 2012, Falomo has undertaken several ministry-related courses, including Children Evangelism and Deliverance for Churches. In 2023, she obtained a Diploma in Pastoral Studies from Christ Livingspring Apostolic Ministry (CLAM) and became a Jerusalem Pilgrim.
She currently serves as Welfare Coordinator of CLAM Global Outreach (CLAMGO), the evangelism and crusade arm of CLAM.
Her ministry activities have taken her to several communities and states, including Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Abia and Lagos. She has participated in crusades in locations including Akure, Oke Igbo, Ijare, Ile-Oluji, Bamikemo, Igbara Oke, Abeokuta, Ikenne, Ile-Ife, Ipetu Ijesha, Iyin Ekiti, Aba, Ologundade, Fadeyi and Lekki.
She has also served as Coordinator of the Parents Interceding Prayer Meeting at CLAM, Convener of the Deola Falomo Evangelical Ministry (Deefem), and host of the Isheri Olofin Liberation Crusade and Ogba Restoration Crusade.
At her 63rd birthday celebration, speakers reflected on the different dimensions of Falomo’s life and career, with family, friends, business associates and clients highlighting her dedication, kindness and support for others.
The gathering was more than a birthday celebration. It marked the passage of nearly two and a half decades since she began building her entrepreneurial enterprise and almost two decades since she left paid employment.
For a woman who once ran a modest side business while working as an Assistant General Manager in the insurance industry, the transformation has been significant.
Breezy News understands that Falomo’s story is ultimately about more than event decoration. It is about recognising an opportunity, adapting when the first approach fails, and building a reputation around values that remain consistent across different stages of a career.
From her first products of bedsheets and nightwear to decoration accessories, children’s parties, event styling, furniture and marquee services, the Courage story has been defined by reinvention.
And at the heart of it all remains the word that started everything in 1996: Courage.
