Category: CEO

At the turn of the decade, most firms began to diversify their businesses to remain competitive. One of such was 45-year-old Odua Investment Company Limited, which is now dipping its hand in many pies. For instance, the firm after securing the mining licence to develop the Bita marginal oil field, alongside its partner, has incorporated a special purpose vehicle – Bita Exploration and Production Limited – and some measures for a smooth take off. Its Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Adewale Raji, shares the firm’s plans and more in this interview with TOFUNMI SANUSI.

Odua Investment Company Limited (OICL) won the licence to develop Bita marginal field. How far have you gone in securing enough investment to develop it?

The Bita marginal field was awarded to us and another partner by the Department of Petroleum Resources. We have 48.76 per cent and the other partner has 51.24 per cent. The entire bid amounts have been paid relating to us and we have also paid the signature bonus. As it stands now, we and our partner have jointly incorporated a new Special Purpose Vehicle, called Bita Exploration and Production Limited. It is this field we are now using to discuss with Chevron which through what is called a farm-in agreement, will hand over that asset to us. There are indications at this point that we may not need much investment, just about $20 million to go for the first oil. But the estimate that we have is that the total investment might require between $120 million to $150 million . Our strategy, having paid up the signature bonus, is that we will sit down and listen to people who offer financial and technical participation on the basis that they can also take equity in the whole project. So that is our strategy, where those who have the technical capability and the financial muscle will come in and will negotiate. They take equity; bring in the funds and the technical know-how to be able to produce oil from the field. Much of the funding is going to come from equity participation. As it is now, we and our partners are joint 100 per cent owners.

OICL is expanding into several sectors. What kind of expansion dream are you implementing?

We are a conglomerate already playing in multiple sectors. To take advantage of emerging opportunities we recently unveiled Sweat Revive Create (SRC 2025), a futuristic strategy that is not going to limit us to eight sectors that we are already playing in. We are exploring opportunities in areas such as e-commerce and logistics, among others. They are new in the sense that we know they are relevant for the present and the future, and we must look for means to participate in them, other than the sectors that we have traditionally been. Agriculture is one sector that we have been in, but we need to go deeper. We should not just be quoting the money we made from agriculture, we should also be quoting the jobs that we have created, the raw materials we are providing for industries, and we should be talking about the internally generated revenue that comes from that business.

The whole idea about using strategic partnerships is that it allows you to have a larger footprint and also means that, for us, we are gaining specific expertise in those areas. In other areas, we talk about “revive.” Until the Nigerian Wire and Cable Limited in Ibadan went down, at the beginning we were 60 percent shareholders, but it failed because of governance issues and others. The truth today is that there is still a very high demand for cables in Nigeria, today. So under the revive strategy, if we get the right partner with technical capability, we will want to enter into cable again. But we must enter on the basis that we have a partner that is already attested nationally or globally to be a leader in that sector, and that is what will lead to leverage because we know the market is there. We know our shortcomings in terms of being operators of the business, because of that we have to make sure that in entering a partnership, we have taken care of the technical management and the financing. We will build capability in terms of the investment framework and the investment guidelines. That is the reason why we decided at the group head office to move into a lean non-operating business. Our main expertise will be in the core areas of investment.

Our capability will not be built in operations but in relationship management, alliance formation, partnership creation, and joint ventures setup. We will make sure we have top-notch people who can do project appraisals, and make sure that requirements in terms of return on investment, internal run rate, return on assets are all top notch and you are doing benchmark comparison in the industry. Because your benchmarks are what make the business. In addition, we need to also make sure we can galvanise the funds as this business requires long-term, medium-term patient capital. We should be able to use our balance sheet which is over N150 billion to leverage money to do investments. As an expert once told us, why don’t you own one percent of MTN? One per cent of N3 trillion is N30 billion, so if you have that, you can own one per cent of MTN. If you generate long-term patient capital, then you are capable of taking advantage of those opportunities. And frankly, the companies that thrive in Odu’a, were found on this basis like in Lafarge, and what we had in Guinness before we sold off. It was such that our forbearers not only used Ikeja Industrial Estate as land that they gave Guinness to operate, they also added money to take equity. I have seen a record of 40 million units of Guinness shares, and today we have zero. Those are the things that we need to build afresh.

Don’t you think all you have reeled out is quite ambitious? How do you want to achieve that with this wide portfolio? What are the risk management mechanisms?

There are very tough risk mechanism methods and risk appraisals that have been put in place and it continue to evolve. Quite clearly, we want to be sure it is not just making money, but its money that is actually impacting the people. Governance is very strong as there are two independent non-executive directors on the board, who are not nominees of any shareholder, and we are allowing them to play their roles. Besides, accomplished professionals are the ones that our shareholders also nominated. All these have been put in place and we are stretching ourselves by making sure that the different entities we have chosen as consultants are top-notch global firms. Recently, we appointed PwC Nigeria as our external auditor; KPMG Nigeria is handling our strategy and tax. We have also Deloitte handling the governance side like whistleblowing, conflict of interest. So we are holding ourselves to the highest standards of building things and the reason is not far-fetched, it is just the beginning. We have to achieve it which is tough, and we also have to sustain it which is even tougher. But we have to lay the foundation of both at the same time and make sure that it is completely irreversible and make sure that with governance, it has to be stronger.

Is there a plan to raise fund in the capital market in the future and listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange?

Remember we are a group and if we are owned by the six state governments of the Southwest, the likelihood that an investor will be comfortable to be a shareholder will be slim. He will believe it is an unequal investment. So the company we call Odu’a Investment is not likely going to share ownership, but the entities within the company like the Lagos Airport Hotel that will be 80 years by next year will, in the future, be a global destination for conferencing, banqueting, entertainment and leisure. How is that going to happen without money and the expertise? So you find out that the hotel for us today and in our hospitality business as a whole, what we are looking forward to is a situation where it is this area we will allow investors come share ownership with us. It is at a prime location. Potentially, if you have a proper partner, you can actually spring on half the size of this land up to a 250 to 300-bedroom single-block global hospitality destination.

In addition, you still have half of the land still available for other development. That is the approach we intend to use. So in the future, a Lagos Airport Hotel is not there, maybe it will become a Marriot Airport Hotel, a Sheraton Airport Hotel, but in the process, with the partner bringing his funds, we will make this asset available for development, then the benefit you then have is that at that point we do not mind if we are a 20 per cent or 30 per cent shareholder, but the investor has the opportunity to come in and have a majority stake. So, what we see in the future is that we have a Sheraton, Four Seasons Airport Hotel, that is now owned by that partner and OICL where we have diluted ownership. When it moves from a N2 billion/annum revenue hotel to a N10 billion revenue hotel. In that, if you’re 25 per cent, you will have N2.5 billion accrue to you compared to when you are 100 per cent of a N2 billion business. So that is the vision that we have and that’s how we plan to sell stakes in our businesses.

So those are the structures you are putting in place to ensure that if something like COVID-19 happens again, it won’t really have that much of an impact?

Well, yes! What is fundamental is that when you do things like that and you have investments across, you are balancing your portfolio, even though the pandemic will still have the same impact that it had. But if you see businesses that thrived during the pandemic, you will marvel. We are privileged to be shareholders in Nigerite, I mean it was unbelievable. Because courtesy of COVID-19, even the competition that was imported, did not come into the country while the market was craving for supply.

The CEOs Network Africa, a forum for young entrepreneurs, is set for its 3rd annual awards ceremony.

The December 12 event with the theme: “The emerging generation”, will honour business owners under 30.

Senator Frank Ibezim, Hon. Shina Peller, HRH Prince Malik, Ado-Ibrahim, Dr Linus Okorie, Auwal Raphsanjani, among others, are expected to attend.

A total of 33 recipients will be recognised for outstanding achievements in 2021.

Awards Committee Chairman, Alli-Bob Cinwon explained that 1,379 nominations were received from across Africa.

“The finalists were critically screened and selected from different walks of life. It was an Herculean task.

“There are several young people doing amazing things and breaking new grounds. Our final selection was based on merit and track record.

“The quality of entries proves that young Nigerians and their peers on the continent are indeed resourceful, resilient and hardworking”, Cinwon added.

 

Stakeholders are convinced that the maritime sector is a veritable avenue for government to raise huge revenue and, by extension, save the country the embarrassment of going cap-in-hand to international financiers to borrow. The National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Tony Iju Nwabunike, says the only way to achieve this is through seamless operations in the sector. The seasoned freight forwarder, with over three decades experience, spoke with reporters in Lagos. MUYIWA LUCAS was there.

What is your assessment of the maritime sector in the last decade?

The situation of the industry has not been so good; but it has not also been completely bad. It has been good in the sense that some measures have taken place but attitudinal change of the people who are the actual operators is required to further reposition the sector for better efficiency. One bad side of the decade is that the port has been totally neglected by the Federal Government over this period especially with regards to port infrastructures; road infrastructures while the truck parks and holding bays are actually the problems we are having in the ports now. Again, government agencies are interwoven in their operations, those who are not actually interwoven are creating multiplicities of their own units as it suits them.

Stakeholders in the sector have always clamoured for seamless port operation. What does this mean to ANLCA?

I am a businessman and if I want to talk about commercial venture, I will tell you that efficiency means making more profits. When you are very efficient you achieve that goal and meet your targets. When you are very efficient, you begin to drive some other elements through at a very fast pace. And what it means to me is that, if port is very efficient, I will make more money, I will make more turnarounds of my businesses, the ports operation will work very fast. We need to meet the 24 hours target of the Federal Government if we are to claim that the ease of doing business mantra is working; we will make sure that all the government agencies and ports operators are actually working in line with that 24 hours target. On government side, port efficiency will translate to increase in their revenue from the port; the efficiency rates will be more result-oriented and efficiency will bring more revenue to government. When things are working properly, you will have discipline there, it will reduce corruption, late man-hour issues and you have a work pattern where you can now say you are going to finish a task within eight hours and return to your house and you will achieve results. So efficiency of the port will birth too many good things including revenue generation.

How well do you think this can be achieved?

What is achievable is what you are planning to achieve. If you don’t plan to achieve, you will not achieve anything. The Federal Government is always paying lip service on issues like this. I have been in this port for more than 30 years. Let me give you an example, this port road has been under construction for 22 years. Sadly, that road that is less than 10km has not been achieved for the past 20 years, notwithstanding the fact  that this is a gateway to Nigeria’s economy after oil.  So what is the government doing? We are talking about Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement and the borders are borderless, business is going beyond boundary and we are talking about a situation where African countries will interface with one other on business levels. What is the preparedness? Let’s give an example of the only legitimate land port we have and that is Seme Port. Look at the roads, so how would you think about efficiency when the Federal Government has not put that road to use for almost 20 years. I think Nigerian government is always believing, I am not trying to castigate the government, they should know that whatever they say about the port, they should facilitate it because the port is actually generating revenue. It is not as if this is a business that is not revenue-oriented, it is and government must take them seriously. The issue is that are we ready? I will say no, because time after time we keep on having meetings, seminars, symposium and town hall meetings and at the end of the day, you find out that we sit down take all these decisions, make our communiqué and you people put them in newspapers and that is where they end. It beats my imagination; until everybody believes and agrees that seamless port operation should be achieved, it will remain a mirage; but working towards the achievement is another thing.

How ready is Nigerian freight forwarding industry for African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)?

Equally we are just like every other Nigerian. All of us are not ready, despite the fact that we have been interfacing with our partners abroad and we have been talking to our customs brokers within West and Central Africa region. Like I will tell you categorically straight that I have spoken severally with the South African Customs brokers’ president and we have been talking about how we can help each other in this business, trying to get this industry fully prepared. On individual basis, we are actually interfacing, but because of the COVID-19, people like me that used to travel every other month, I have not travelled out of the country for close to two years and this is one of the dangers facing this Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement because if we have travelled, we would  be having seminars and symposium with our partners in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco many others.   We need to move around and interface with one another, and discuss issues relating to business in Africa. We actually have not done much and it is actually not good enough for us to say that we are prepared. And again, government policy has not given us the leverage to get ourselves prepared. If you look at it, we don’t even know what government is doing about it. Remember they actually have a committee on Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, nobody from the freight forwarding industry is in that committee, it is just a political composition, they use it to compensate their fellow politicians without thinking about those who are actually on ground that is supposed to be involved in this area. This is government policy and we are taking it from them.

As the pioneer chairman of CRFFN, can you say that the body has lived up to the expectations of its founding fathers?

I was the first chairman of the CRFFN and let me say this, CRFFN was meant to have our collective voice being heard by government. CRFFN is meant for us to be proactive before government and beyond Nigeria. CRFFN is a good platform where we would have actually stepped upon to leap higher. But like I told you, I have discovered that CRFFN cannot go further or higher with the calibre of people that are in our society. Associations need to be very proactive in nature. It must  embrace what happens in global maritime, they need to be seen as professionals in the attitude to work. But that is what is lacking and that was the very initial thing we discovered in CRFFN and we said let us go to our various associations to bring the best of them so that CRFFN can be  more vibrant. But as at today, nothing like that has happened. As a matter of fact, the very first Council, which is our Council, is still much better than the whole council put together.

How can CRFFN become effective?

It is simple. The associations will bring forth the more qualified people to take over the leadership of the CRFFN at the board level. The Federal Government should allow CRFFN to take its normal course to move forward. For all the purposes, the Act stipulates that it is going to regulate and control all the freight forwarders and customs brokers alike. It is going to control the works of all the association members alike. There are three types of membership in CRFFN, the corporate body, the individuals and association. So, because the nucleus of CRFFN should be very vibrant and intelligent, you shouldn’t be in CRFFN if you don’t know what it takes to be a freight forwarder. But Government has put in 17 of their agencies’ representatives into the board of CRFFN, leaving 15 for the people who are the owners of this council. And the owners of this Council are equally playing politics with their elections, while others are coming in through nomination. The 15 positions are just through elections, even the elections, the Federal Government is not allowing,  I mean the Ministry of Transport is not even allowing them to take their appropriate positioning. The truth is that government is just tying the CRFFN down, thinking that they are actually nurturing it; they are not doing the right thing CRFFN requires of them.

What is your take on the issue of multiple alerts that is being complained of by freight forwarders and customs brokers?

It is disheartening that Nigeria Customs Services (NCS) has failed to understand what World Customs Organisation (WCO) standard is all about. Customs work is not about generating revenue, Customs is not meant to be a revenue generating body. In fact, why should government be giving them targets? Their function is more of trade facilitation and security of Nigerian sea port and border post. But what they are doing today is all about generation of revenue. If you ask Customs what is your achievement today, they will tell you that they generated revenue or overshot their targets. They cannot tell you that they have secured the area in a very wonderful manner that there is nothing like insecurity issue. They have not told you that I can beat my chest and say that every consignment I touch within 24 hours must leave the port. So if you are talking about multiple alerts – if for example, one particular unit of government agencies like Customs will give up to 10 alerts, what does that mean? It means that you have 10 problems you must solve, whether you carry sand, or water or whatever you think you have in your container, otherwise, two things must happen. You leave the container there for them to take it to Ikorodu as overtime cargo or you pay from your nose the demurrages and the terminal and shipping company charges. So if they are holding you, everyday you will be punching your calculator to see how much you have as demurrages. That will now put you in a very serious unsettled mind. If I can pay demurrages of N500,000, let me give this Customs man one-quarter of this money or half of this money without anybody telling you anything, do you know this is another way of delaying you and punishing you so that you can come up with something to give them.

What impact has the war risk insurance regime had on Nigeria in terms of trade facilitation?

War risk insurance is within Asia and Africa, remember that all these shipping liners are business oriented people. What they are doing is to maximise their profits. War risk insurance is applied to areas where they believe is high risk area – Pacific ocean, Atlantic ocean, some areas in Asia. For example, if you are going to Afghanistan, or Africa, such as Somalia, Nigeria it is a war risk area, so the premium on insurance is always very high. How do you get out of it? It is very simple- for you to strengthen your security, making sure you will delist yourself from the security red alert country. That is what you have to do first of all and I think that is exactly what NIMASA is trying to do, making sure that they remove Nigeria from the red flag list of all these area. Then the second thing is to take that slogan to International Maritime Organisation all over the world. What the Director-General of NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, is trying to say in effect is that, NIMASA wants to go to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to look for a seat so that our voice will be heard. Remember the last one we went through Peterside Dakuku was a total failure. So I think NIMASA should relax, do the needful about our security on ground first. The people you are talking about have more intelligence report than what you think they have. So they will know whether you are still on the war risk zone or not. So the major reason why Nigerians are always travelling abroad to do all these things is for their self agrandisement otherwise, stay here, finish up what you are supposed to do, they will see you there and delist you from that list. The premium will come down and insurance will come down when you have taken the challenges of your territorial watersways and security gadgets, like they have imported will be applied so that we should not be seen as Somalians and other countries who are considered high risk areas.

The N13 trillion pension industry is experiencing rapid introduction of regulatory initiatives despite challenges in the macro-economic activities. In this interview with Omobola Tolu-KusimO, the Managing Director of IEI Anchor Pension, Glory Etudovie, looks at the impact on return on investment for contributors and retirees among other issues.

Before now, the pension industry only had a mono product under the CPS. But the regulator, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) launch the transfer window exactly one year ago to enable contributors and retirees change their PFAs at will. How would you access it?

The transfer window is a win-win situation for all stakeholders. First of all, the regulator and the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) have their acts put together and the customer too. This is because the customer now has a choice. One of the things I do not like is to not have a choice and so the mental anguish of feeling caged is removed. Secondly competition is enhanced because everybody wants to retain his or her client. For us smaller PFAs, it is an opportunity to express ourselves to various publics our capacity by way of efficiency. Before now it didn’t count because customers are caged. But now if you express it and they see it, it will win you more clients. In business where the market is limited, the only way competition can grow is cutting off slice of bigger market to increase your own market share. And so, for us and like the other smaller PFAs, it is a wonderful chance to grow and possibly rebalance the skewed nature of the market in some ways.

For example, there is a company from South Africa that had an edge because among other things, pension was far more developed in South Africa than here in Nigeria. So, while people were still thinking of what to do, they were head and shoulders ahead of others. Also, they had the links with other businesses from their sister organisations. I am concentrating more on the fact that they knew what pension really was. It was not as largely defined by government here. So, the company started quite early and the first few that were able to wake up early had the edge. Before people got to know how pension work, they already got the juicy accounts. People ported and organisations moved to them. They took benefits of wholesale movement. Those of us who were late comers to the market are now retailing so there was no way our growth could be compared with theirs. But again, it was not supposed to be an excuse because I will always tell the story of how Standard Trust Bank became UBA. Today, Access bank as swallowed Diamond Bank so I believe that we have a good chance to do same for growth. What we have done in our company a bit earlier was to put our house in order so that we don’t have exodus of people leaving. So far, from, we have some movements but we don’t have an exodus. Secondly, I have a marketing background which made me to get involved in the strategy to drive the company which wasn’t present before I joined in 2015. We had more of administration management persons. Also, per chance, I head the ethics and legal harm of Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) where we discuss ethical practices and overall practice of pension including the transfer window. This gives me an added responsibility to domicile it in my company. What we did on transfer window is that I made sure I got marketers enlightened. I told them that we are living in an enlightened world and they should not try to mislead anybody into porting from where they are to our company. Rather let people be well-informed and self-decided and so what are you going to tell them to convince them. So, I put together presentations that will matter to the clients. So, don’t go there to de-market another company for instance which is cheap. Because if you start on that note, it sounds like gossip and many wise people will rate you low immediately. Rather, let the person know the value of the information to enable his or her decision. I can make bold to say that we have the best presentations in the industry. We have our strategy and so far, it has worked. In our first quarter and second quarters we hit net positive balances of over N1 billion. The third quarter was less than N1 billion credit balance. You can evaluate how people to porting from your company and how they are coming in both numbers or value. On the average in each quarter since its commencement, we received clients of about 700 and those who left us were about 400. You look at this numbers based on the values depending on the organisations involved. If they are blue chip companies or where they pay better income, the values would matter. You may port somebody who has N10 million in his account and another person who has N2 million. If you net off, you will know that you are making a gain of N8 million. So, the values are different. But for each quarter, both in numbers and values it has been positive for us this year. Off course, the transfer window started late last year and so not much happened in that quarter. But the three quarters of this year has been good. Even in this fourth quarter, we are already some distance ahead in terms of numbers. But it is on the last day that you know the values. So, it has been positive for us even though we had looked forward to something much higher but I think we will close with about N5 billion which is consolatory but that it is not what we are looking for.

Does this mean none of your clients moved?

No, it is not as if they did not move but it was an exchange that we had. Some moved and some came in. But there were two things I did. When I came in, I met the music of the transfer window playing. I sat down to look at the implication. The implication was that unhappy clients will leave companies and even if you struggle to get it, it will be like a leaking basket because as you are throwing in others are leaving. so, it was our duty to reduce the outflow and I started finding out what were the issues when I came into the company in 2015. I found that there were mountain issues of our SMSs which is the quickest way to talk to your client and email addresses. so, we send them emails and SMS. everything is going digital. If they are not getting regular updates monthly, quarterly emails or social platforms to engage them there will be a wide gap amongst other things. The others are investment platform and how you’re doing with other services. These were things we started working on to create satisfaction and minimise exit. When the window was finally thrown open, we studied it to see just what does the window need. Just before It, we worked harder at our data recapture. We started our own before the official recapture exercise in the industry and we call our own that are data clean-up. We had in our system a department or a unit I called quality control to ensure what comes in is properly filtered and they work on backlog issues and this helped to an extent. Also, with the position of a Managing Director, you are managing four or five group of persons depending on your grouping. You have your client’s overall that you are working for. My next set of clients are the staff. I have to help them get the right mindset and engagement because if I get it right with them it will revibrate out. The next group is the board and shareholders. You have to work in a way that they see your vision to grow the company.

Are you witnessing new employees coming on board the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS)?

Yes. Government agencies are employing and organisations are also employing. The reports we have are graded. We have the RSA Transfer System (RTS) which is the transfer window itself and we have Retirement Savings Account (RSA) which takes care of the regular fresh employed people. So, they are move side by side.

How will you juxtapose the rate of employed people you have seen come on board with those who lose their job and are claiming 25 per cent of their pension?

I think those claiming 25 per cent have dropped radically this year. It was a bit high last year during COVID-19 pandemic and then maybe some four years back. We had a peak earlier in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. I think it was second to third year of his administration and the amount we signed out was much. People coming on request for 25 per cent over loss of job was much. It however dropped before COVID-19 interrupted the decline. But I think organisations have taken the shock and are trying to bounce back. The philosophy during COVID was just to manage to keep your head afloat so that you can breathe. People went down as far as that level for sustenance. Presently, the economy is picking up and there is a bit more engagement and employment are coming up. Although we don’t have parameters to measure it but we know that loss of job claims has reduced and this means that people are keeping their jobs.

Another product the regulator introduced to pension operators is Micro Pension Plan (MPP). How has this impacted your company and the industry?

The MPP has been moving slowly. This is because firstly, we are dealing with an unstructured environment where the level of education and enlightenment is not the same with the more formal sector. So, there is a need to run more campaign and enlightenment. But I think we are expecting results to early in the industry wide and side by side an economy that was looking down and inflation driven, it is not likely to grow. The gap between the haves and the have nots is widening. Even those who are working have seen their buying power dropping. Let alone those who are unstructured who either live on daily income. Obviously, if the buying power of the middle class is dropping it will affect their business. If inflation is also going up profit level will drop and people will have to recalculate how they spend. Similarly, many times, it takes a lot of time for people to understand, accept and key into an initiative of government. the government project of inclusiveness was to create a wider financial platform for people to be discipline and play on. Micro pension is supposed to be one of them but it is still sounding like English to many people and unless those who it is broken down to their unit and how it diffuses down to them as a unit. The PFA are not doing enough to sensitise the public and PenCom itself has said so. Another area of challenge for us is that there are various associations and cluster bodies for us to get through to micro pension. They have their own protocols and we find that some even want to benefit from it first before they understand what is happening and so as a PFA you have to apply brakes first to understand them.

The regulator has given PFAs up to April next year to increase their shareholders’ fund from N1 billion to N5 billion. This is expected to lead to merger and acquisition among PFAs while some will stand alone. What are you looking at?

For us at IEI Anchor Pension, discussions are at the peak. We are tiding up a lot to make sure with meet and even surpass the N5 billion shareholder’s fund as mandated by PenCom. And very soon, we will inform the public on what we have. But generally, I think a lot of transactions are being consummated. There are a lot of negotiations in different places for either outright merger or acquisition. People have expressed interest in us too. One of the things that I will like is to leave a viable legacy which I would like to see some years after I leave the company. So, if I have a choice, I will prefer a stand-alone than a merger. For me we have just reached the stage now to leap. We have been warming up, struggled got to where we are, restructured the market outreach and so many different things. When we lost part of our accounts last year, we recovered quickly.

When I joined the company, our assets under management were N47 billion and about half of it was RSA and the other was legacy majorly from one client. But as I speak, we grew both funds and cross over N100 billion before COVID-19. We lost or shared 50 per cent from that client with some PFAs. We gave you them about N28 billion from their own fund. Yet that same COVID-19 year, we grew our asset further with another N22 billion. So, it shows that we are getting stronger in terms of RSA and so the concentration risk of a major client is largely reduced. This gives us a better spread and nobody threatens us with any shock. The transfer window is also increasing it. We now have a base to grow everything including our fees among others and to compete knowledge wise among others. I will prefer to see the Legacy except I don’t have a choice.

How is inflation and exchange rate impacting the pension fund?

The fund is growing internally despite the payout. but if you must evaluate it from outside, then it will not be the same on our devaluation. So, it depends on where you are standing. In any case, we are not doing any dollar denominated business strictly, so it may not have any direct impact except if you want to evaluate it from outside in dollar-denominated basis. Within, naira is naira. But the fund can get better if the economy and investment world gets better. If more factories are working, more corporate bonds will be floated. If we have more corporate bonds the economy will grow and there will be better return on investment and we will not be waiting for Federal Government that has 50 to 60 per cent of the bonds at its own rate. So, the economy will impact on the overall business of pension because largely, the actuarial calculations is based on returns on investment over the years. If it is not sharp, it will be the other way round.  there was a time the money market went as low as one per cent from about 15 to 17 per cent in 2017. Treasury Bills was a bumper harvest for that year. Even the Bonds too were friendly. But up to sometimes last year or early this year, some people still came to market under 10 per cent for their benefits which was even considered high when it started coming back to 10 per cent. So, what happens to the economy affects the fund. It is a circle of growth, the impact in employment, pension payments because even those who have capacity to pay are now looking for way not pay. So, it is a circle of some sort.

What would PFAs like to do on investment of the fund to enable them give better returns to your clients?

It is a holistic thing and not just better returns. First, we need a lot of publicity on what pension is doing and can do. The two things should stand apart. If you look at the ratio of pension fund contribution to GDP in some countries compared to Nigeria’s eight per cent, you will find that our pension industry is just starting. South Africa for instance contributes over 60 percent. The Nigerian government needs to understand pension very well because presently, government does not. Apart from relieving it of its social responsibility, it also serves as the cheapest source of fund than going to banks. Also, there is a wide gap in infrastructure development. Health infrastructure, education, roads, transportation among others are required.

For instance, there is this investment we made in a University of Calabar. It is a modernized 1,600-bedded hostel. It had an industrial washing machine, security and other basic amenities many schools don’t have hostels anymore. What we have now are dead. Students can’t use government hostels anymore and that is why you see the students staying anywhere leading to growth in cultism. Parents have lost control as they don’t even know their children anymore. Values are reducing. Another example is our railway system. The railway stations if managed well will save the roads, make transportation easy and make money for the government. So, if government says let’s use pension money through infrastructure fund to just do rail which of course pays itself, it will be very good. Two weeks ago, I went by rail from Abuja to Kaduna and it was very comfortable. I was in the first class and I could read and sleep. The mental and social welfare of the people will be enhanced if we have the right infrastructure in place. You will spend less on the road and accidents will reduce. Therefore, pension can do a whole lot because it is a long-term fund of 5 to 15 years of critical investments. These are the kind of funds that banks cannot quickly produce unless they are 150 percent sure of viability of the business. So, pension is it because it can do a whole lot. If the economy moves around pension benefits. Pension is like a catalyst for growth.

The Chief Executive Officer of fast-growing fashion brand, Olajide Tope of T20 Luxury, has unraveled some of the myths in the fashion world, while highlighting his brand’s mission in putting Nigeria on the fashion map of the world.

On fashion trends, he stated: “Fashion brands all over the world may seem to be the ones dictating the trends, but in reality, the culture and customs of ordinary people give us an idea of what we in fashion world have to put out.”

In the case of fashion labels determining how fashionable somebody is, T20 boss totally disagrees that the name on your labels doesn’t get you tagged as fashionable.

“Fashion labels just help you add extra touch to your fashion orientation and especially because you look really good when you wear something in vogue,” he said.

On the place of jewelry in the fashion mix, which include beauty and style, Olajide was affirmative that jewelry is sacrosanct to good fashion.

“The place of jewelry in fashion cannot be overlooked. There’s a reason God gave us these natural resources for free and if you notice since inception, jewelry has always been in vogue. That’s one thing that would last forever,” he declared.

On the question of mobile phones taking the place of luxury watches in vogue and fashion, he said: “ That’s not true. I think a lot of people would love to have a Rolex or AP watch or any kind of rare piece of watch despite having a time on their phones. People have different perspectives on that, but wearing a quality watch is always very attractive to many people

He affirmed that the luxury fashion market today is worth trillions of dollars globally and Nigeria, though fashion has not really reached the contemporary level because of our level of development.

Luxury fashion brand, T20 Luxury was established in June 2020 by Olajide Tope who hails from Ilesa in Osun State to make a difference in the luxury fashion space by bringing to bare professionalism and transparency in the fashion sector.

After participating in the CEOs hangout organised by BrandTell Nigeria, entrepreneurs across Lagos State have continued to shower encomiums on the brains behind the successful programme.

The hangout, held at Shodex Gardens on Saturday, was tagged ‘Funtime to Fortify’.

The edition, organised in partnership with Olusola Adekoya Foundation (OAF), was attended by 30 business owners and creative directors from different sectors of the economy.

Mary Diego, the CEO of Hermosa Body Works, commended the team for the ‘great work done to impact’.

She also disclosed her eagerness to collaborate with the convener on subsequent efforts.

“I am so glad and well appreciative for being a partaker of such an amazing gathering. It is with plum pleasure to meet the Creative Director in person as well, “she said.

For Kolawole Keshinro, the Executive Director of Specsfotografi, it was another feather to the convener’s cap after witnessing the first edition last year.

While describing the convener, she said, “I’m glad to have her in my corner. She is a selfless being, ever eager to give back to humanity. She is always supportive of friends and always seeking to bring out the best in others.”

Gloria Ijenebe, a participant at the event, said she ‘learned and unlearned’ through the programme.

The Creative Director of Ewa leathers, who is also a legal practitioner, said that the event boosted her morale as an entrepreneur.

She said, “Before the event, I had almost given up on my brand and dream. I however feel like this event is solely organised for me.

“I appreciate the quality of people invited, the time and efforts put into organising this programme, the entire team and most of all, I appreciate the convener.

“I learned and unlearned. I have a fresh drive and zeal to see my brand start afresh and I am excited about the future,” she added.

Olusola Owonikoko, who is the Executive Director of Stanford Edge, encouraged the government to ensure that policies are flexible enough to accommodate the yearnings of SMEs in the country as this would help their productivity and economic growth at large.

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Olusola Adekoya, the founder of OAF, urged business owners to be at their best and be consistent while doing business to stand out.

He also revealed that the idea behind the partnership was borne out of the need to “address the long-term needs for creating a better space for creative minds in entrepreneurship and empower them for a brighter, greener, great future.”

The Executive Director of Nixxhash Communications, Denike Fagbemi -who is also the convener of the event- stated that it is an attempt to reinforce the need for more people to go into entrepreneurship as a way of rescuing the government from the numerous national and economic setbacks.

Mrs Fagbemi further called on the government to review some policies set up by the government to provide a more conducive environment for SMEs to thrive in the country.

She said:”We need more ideas to be explored. We need more collaborations in the entrepreneurial journey.”

“Inconsistent policies, unexplainable taxation and lack of access to low-interest loans are some of the issues affecting business owners from the icing in the country.”

“It gets harder every day and there is a need for consideration by the government for SMEs to survive.”

“As business owners, we are all that we’ve got. We should stop seeing ourselves as competitors and more as collaborators,” she added.

ADE Sun-Basorun is the Chief Executive Officer, FoodCo Nigeria Limited, an indigenous diversified consumer goods company with headquarters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. In this interview with IBRAHIM APEKHADE YUSUF, Sun-Basorun a seasoned executive with experience leading business transformation at FoodCo, McKinsey & Company and General Electric (GE) in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and the US, speaks on his career trajectory, successes, and challenges thus far. Excerpts:

Management style and philosophy

For Ade Sun-Basorun, who sits atop as the Chief Executive Officer, FoodCo Nigeria Limited, the fastest growing consumer goods company in South-West Nigeria, his management style and philosophy is encapsulated in the time-tested principles of creating value for all, providing opportunities for all as well as allowing room for improvement. These useful nuggets, he emphasised have stood him in good stead thus far.

“There are some things I hold dear. One, is to set a clear strategy and direction for where the business wants to go. Second, is to identify the right individuals to get on the team or off the team, as the case may be. Third, is to agree with the group what each person is to do and how team members need to contribute. Next, you put structures in place to monitor that and gauge customer responses to ensure that what you plan to do really resonates with your customers.”

Naturally, as a team player, he is completely sold on the idea of delegation of responsibility. “I absolutely believe in delegation of responsibilities. There is really no other way to operate when you are running an operation with any scale. Today we have well over 700 employees in 14 different locations across three different states so you really have no choice but to allow people in different functions and different places have the authority to carry out their responsibilities.”

 

Staff motivation

The FoodCo boss believes in treating staffers equally. “I find that to treat people as adults and equals is the first thing we all want as humans. I equally believe that it is important to give people meaningful roles and assignments that stretch them and give them opportunity to do good work so they can be proud and excited about their achievement and of being a part of a winning team that has accomplished a goal. I think that is critical to getting teams to excel.”

 

Best decision thus far

Undoubtedly, he says the best decision he took was becoming a believer. “I am far from perfect but having Jesus in my life and being able to work everyday on being more like Him and having the peace, love, support, direction, stability and simplicity that He brings into my life is undoubtedly the best decision I have ever made. I think the second-best decision I have ever made was marrying my lovely wife.”

 

Worst career decision

The worst career decision he ever made was moving off a consulting project abruptly without really giving the leadership of that team enough notice and warning of the switch. “I really should have done a better job of figuring out how to transition smoothly because my actions hurt the leaders I worked with and caused me to burn a couple of bridges that took a long time to repair,” he says with a tinge of regret.

 

Greatest influence

His greatest influence is being raised in a family setting. “As the African proverb says, it takes a village to raise a child so I owe a lot to my family and church members, all of whom showed love, support and examples of how to relate with people. They also exemplified what excellence should look like and in their various ways showed me that I could aspire to and achieve anything I set my mind to.”

 

Definition of success

Success to him is being able to go to bed every night contented, happy and grateful. “Contentment with what one has, not because I am perfect, but because I am grateful to God for what I have been given. At peace with the decisions, one has made. At peace that one is working and investing time and energy in something worthwhile and excited about the potential and possibility that can come from whatever it is one is spending time and energy on – whether it is school, church or work. Lastly, just grateful for life itself.”

 

Advice to young people

At the risk of being sanctimonious, he says the youths need to learn something or two about the value of perseverance, hard work and seeking for knowledge.

“My advice can be summed up in three words: patience, hard work and continuous learning. Patience because things often take longer in life than we might want. Your goals at age 30 might happen at 35 or 38 and it’s fine. As the very old saying goes, nothing good comes easy. Most successful people we look up to have been toiling in the background for a long time before we saw whatever we perceive as success.”

According to him, “When we talk about continuous learning the immediate thought drifts to technical skills. So, for instance, if you want to be an accountant you work on getting an ICAN, if you want to be in the ICT you work on a variety of IT certifications or maybe learn software development skills. However, I think it is also very important to learn soft skills like how to understand and manage one’s emotions, how to manage time, understanding and maximizing one’s personality, how to lead and function well in teams amongst others. These are skills that, as we go through school, we don’t really appreciate that they are as important as technical skills. To be honest, the further up one goes in the career ladder, the softer skills become even more important than technical skills. So, continuous learning in both technical and soft skills from early on will really help young people on their journeys.”

 

What business needs to be succeed

Waxing philosophical, he says, there is really no one single thing that helps a business become successful or otherwise. “For starters, there are many things that need to be done right; from having a clear strategy on what you are trying to do, to having the right people, to being able to manage your operations well, to being able to get your finances in order. However, if I had to say one thing, I would say it is to find one problem and solve it well.”

For the younger folks, he says, the problem could be as simple as if the folks in their dormitory or schools don’t have access to hot food at lunch time or maybe all the businesses around are paying too much for cleaning.

“It doesn’t really matter what the problem is, the point is, has your business identified a challenge that is being faced by consumers that they are willing to pay to have resolved and can you find a way to solve that problem better than the other alternative that the customer has? It’s a simple question but it’s not always easy to answer. It’s businesses that can answer the question and answer it well that generally find good success.”

 

Toughest challenge facing business leaders today

Clearly, managing in a post COVID-19 world is top of mind for everyone and working through a challenging economic environment is another one, he admits. However, he says if he had to pick one thing, he would say it is recruiting, developing and motivating a globally competitive workforce is the most challenging of all the hurdles businesses need to overcome.

“For businesses to be able to compete, they need people who are the best in their respective fields and are able to bring ideas, solutions and execution on-par with not just local competitors but also increasingly with global competitors. That is quite a conundrum for several of us in business; how do we attract the right talent, how do we help them develop and develop new skills, and how do we enable them to be the best at what they do compared to their global peers? I think that is a little bit of a challenge today. However, in the coming years, I think that is increasingly going to become the currency of competing and winning.”

 

 

Leisure moment

Despite his ever-busy schedules, Sun-Basorun finds time to unwind. Of course, his best bet is hanging out with family and friends. “My favourite way to unwind is to spend time with my family. I have young children and they are an absolute joy to be around. Prior to COVID-19 I quite enjoyed social time with friends; simple get together. However, COVID-19 has made that quite complicated. I am also an amateur golfer.”

 

Books read

The last book he read was back in July. “The last book I read was titled ‘Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High’ written by Kerry Patterson.”

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sniper Entertainment, Olofinjana Ademola otherwise known as Olofin Sniper, has recalled how the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 almost ruined his show business.

He said: “The Covid-19 nearly caused a lot of damage for me because at that period I was about to set on a tour with about 30 people. We had run visas and tickets already and we lost all visa fees. It was only part of the ticket fee that was returned but I later found a way to fix out people who are still interested after the Covid-19 lockdown issue.

“It was really a bad experience that could have dented my image as a tour organiser and show promoter but thank God the situation was put under control fast enough.”

He further recalled: “The pandemic definitely negatively affected the global music industry culture but it’s only temporary, as there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We can already clearly see that right now. This is why and when we must all come together to work together, understand, be patient and make things even bigger and better. Things are going to be going or coming back to normal again and very shortly we would put the past beyond us.”

Olofin Sniper first organised an event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2019 in collaboration with Billyque Ent 7Days Summer with Zinoleesky and some other upcoming artists as the performing stars.

After Zinoleesky, next was Mohbad who he brought to Dubai as guest artist and DJ 4kerty as the guest DJ.

After the success of his debut events as a show organiser in Dubai, Olofin Sniper signed an artist known as Ayanfe Viral under his company, Sniper Entertainment, thus asserting himself as a record label boss. He promotes his artists tirelessly through organising some club tours and media rounds.

Others he has taken on shows include Dotman, Barry Jhay and many more.

He has also engaged in musical tours with the likes of Ayanfe Viral, the first artist he signed under his Sniper Entertainment. Recently, he hosted a tour to Russia tagged “Sniper and Friends” during Euro 2020. He recently also hosted a Fuji show with Taye Currency.

He promotes Enish African Restaurant Lounge & Bar and The Club Lounge he weekly on Wednesdays and Sundays respectively.

Olofin Sniper attended Saint Joseph Secondary School Agege, Lagos and later proceeded to Gateway ICT Polytechnic Ordinary Diploma in Business Administration.

He rounded up with a BSC in Business Administration at Universite La Hegj in the Republic of Benin.

By Ibrahim Adams

The Executive Director of Nixxhash communications, Adenike Fagbemi, has explained why brand owners need to take breaks occasionally.

She said it was necessary to take breaks occasionally to boost their productivity and foster the achievements of their companies.

She stated this while disclosing that Nixxhash Communications in partnership with Olusola Adekoya Foundation (OAF) is set to organise a CEO’s Hangout that is intended to bring 30 different brand owners together.

The event, scheduled to hold on Saturday, September 25 at Shodex Gardens, Lagos, is tagged ‘Funtime to fortify’.

Fagbemi, who is also a lead strategist, explained that the theme for this year’s session was born out of the need to create a relaxed atmosphere for the business proprietors while they unwind, converse and network.

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She stated being a CEO is a not an easy task, especially in Nigeria.

She, however, noted that it is always fulfilling as a brand owner to see visions form into reality.

She pointed out the fact that it is easy to get engrossed in the activities that comes with being a team lead so much that they (brand owners) forget to unwind.

According to her: “There is need to occasionally take a break to ease off the accumulated stress, evaluate and re-strategise.

“Therefore, since CEOs deserve a time out, what better way to do that than with like-minded colleagues. This is the reason the CEOs Hangout came into existence.

“Another thing about this much anticipated event is that brand owners get to network with other great minds. It’s a session that offers reflection and exposure to other colleagues’ experiences. It’s a time to laugh at our mistakes, talk about what we learnt from them and get more strength and encouragement to forge ahead.”

The director of OAF, Dr. Olusola Adekoya, said: “I believe that every CEO in Lagos should look forward to this moment this is because you don’t just get to have fun but you also get an invaluable exposure to minds of other great personalities.

“This event is just the right pill that every CEO needs to perform maximally in his or her organization. As a brand, we are glad to be a part of this.”