The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Business

  • Success stories in event management business

    Success stories in event management business

    Mrs  Abimbola  Gbolade knew that she needed to make a change in her career and she was attracted to the idea of business ownership.  She was always the party planner among her friends. An idea was born and she started  an event planning company.

    She  said her  company  is  an event management and equipment rental company that provides full event support for all indoor and outdoor events. She said: “Our array of services include exceptional venue styling, catering, sound management, lightings, and special effects. I started two years ago with a little above N300,000. Today, the business is  worth more than  N8 million. One can start small.”

    According to her, to start the business, one needs mainly fabrics and lights, adding that others could be rented.

    “There is a lot ofcompetition in the industry.  Working  hours are flexible, depending on the amount of work at hand. My target clients include individuals, corporate and religious organisations. We are gradually reaching all our target clients. In this business, one needs to have integrity, diligence, and be continuously creative,” she said, adding that one could work on a part time basis.  On funding, she said: “Right now, accessing credit is a big challenge for small players. Training is an essential part  and strength  of any business. Put your heart into what you do and always strive to satisfy your clients.” To gain experience, she  started by planning  friends’  events. Since then  her  business has come a long way. Most of  her  time  is devoted to developing a thorough business plan, which she breaks down into sections and tackles one after the other.

    CEO/Planner Extraordinaire at BusyBee Events, Bisi Sotunde plans  events from start to finish and also provides event needs and supplies for both corporate and social clients from decorations, hostesses, bouncers, rentals, catering services and much more. Sotunde  made a foray into the events business about six years ago.

    She said: “Just before I graduated from the university, I started the business with about N30,000, but today, the business has grown to unimaginable proportion by God’s grace.”

    According to her, while one  could start  an  events planning and management services business  on a shoe string, but  with events decoration services, one needs capital to purchase materials and equipment.

    She said: ”To set up an  events management company, you basically need a laptop, internet modem, mobile phones with camera, your skills and lots of your networks.

    “Yes, events management is quite easy to penetrate. You don’t need specific qualifications to become an events manager. However, you must equip yourself with necessary skills.” According to her, she works 9am to 6pm, Mondays through Fridays and during weekends onsite. Her  work starts very early in the morning and eats late into the night. .She  targets  upper class, middle class and elites, families,prospective couples, individuals, private and public organisations.

    The scope of her business covers Lagos, Abuja and everywhere within and outside Nigeria.

     

     

  • Learning fundamentals of effective business writing(2)

    ast week, we said there are four different skills of communication, that is, listening, reading, speaking and writing. We advised that business writing, especially for external communication to customers, suppliers, investors, etc., needs to be handled professionally because when it is done properly, it will enhance corporate image, boost business, among others.

    We said some principles are critical to effective business writing. These are conciseness, completeness, correctness, clarity, consideration, courtesy, concreteness, etc. We discussed some of them. This week, we will examine the remaining. We said to create or sustain goodwill, good business writing must show respect. We expatiated that even in the face of provocation from a customer or seller, politeness must not be sacrificed. We educated that the best way to do this is to use passive voice (even active voice) and sound impersonal by not mentioning the seller’s name. We gave examples of these.

    Courtesy

    … The two active and passive voice examples (given last week) are impersonal and courteous because we did not say, “We write to notify you that most of the goods WE WERE SUPPLIED BY YOU yesterday are not in good condition” (passive voice and personal) or “We write to notify you that most of the goods YOU SOLD TO US yesterday are not in good condition” (active voice and personal).

    Concreteness

    Another fundamental of effective business writing is concreteness. Here, one needs to use image-building words instead of obscure ones. The tone of a business letter for instance, must be specific and active, especially when one is not writing a complaint letter that requires passive voice. It must sound personal and effective. It must be definite and positive. Instead of saying: “Our products are always cheap”; say, “Prices of our small products range from N20, 000 to N30,000”. Do not say “We shall see very soon or next week”. Say “We shall meet with you on Tuesday, next week”.

    Sincerity

    Sincerity is another essential of effective business writing. To achieve this, do not use exaggeration or unnecessary flattery. A tone of courtesy and sincerity builds goodwill for you and your organisation, while your message will achieve its objective. Do not say: “A company like ours will collapse within two hours if you delay our payment”. Say “If you pay your bill before December 20, you will maintain your excellent credit history with our firm and help our operations”.

    Customers or readers are too intelligent to be deceived as they know when you are sincere. Avoid exaggeration through the use of too many modifiers or too strong modifiers and incredible expressions if you want to radiate tone of sincerity in your business writing. Do not say: “We shall work day and night to see that we satisfy you”. Say: “We appreciate your goodwill and have taken specific steps to ensure your satisfaction.”

    Unity

    Unity is also required to achieve effective business writing. Unity in a paragraph is achieved when the paragraph contains information that is directly related to the main idea (as contained in the topic sentence) and the information is presented it in a logical order with brevity. At this analytical juncture, let us give examples of sentences that have and lack unity.

    Example of unity: “Employees can be motivated in different ways. One of these is to give them sufficient salary. Another way is to allow them to go for further studies. They can also be motivated through transport allowance.”

    Example of lack of unity: “Employees can be motivated in different ways. I discussed with the HR manager recently on the need to sanction errant employees. We still meet this month to discuss ways of moving forward in this organisation”.

    Coherence

    Another fundamental of effective business writing is coherence. A paragraph radiates coherent when it contains sentences that are well integrated. Coherence is easily determined in a paragraph through effective use of transitional words, pronouns, repetition of key words and ideas, parallel structure that is, parallelism (agreeable combination of grammatical structures).

    Positive language

    Very close to courtesy is the need to use positive language. Positive language also builds goodwill like courtesy. But the two are not semantically-co-extensive; not totally the same. That is, positive language goes beyond respect (courtesy) as this also involves using positive words in ideas and structure instead of using words that sound negative to communicate positive expressions. For instance, instead of saying, “We do not use sub-standard materials for our production”; say, “We always use best quality or very standard materials for our production”.

     

    Leadership

    Most great and charismatic leaders are masters of communication. The fact must be stressed that corporate leaders must endeavour to make effective writing be part of their corporate culture, that is, a company-wide activity, a collective responsibility or a layer of responsibility just as it is done in journalism where a reporter will write a story, send it to his/her desk head after which the desk head will send it to the editor. Then the editor goes through and sends to sub-desk to go through and get back to him or her (the editor) for final approval. This is serious gate-keeping.

     

    Corporate writing culture/style

    To entrench a corporate culture of effective writing, organisations need to have regular language and communication training. As in journalism, they also need to have a style guide as part of their corporate culture of excellence and consistency. This is because the practice of good, collaborative writing makes the difference between great business and bad business; between loss and profitability.

    • Concluded

    PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details. Till we meet on Monday.

    •GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Certified Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

     

    Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425

    Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

    Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

     

  • Learning fundamentals of effective business writing

    There are four different skills of communication. These are listening, reading, speaking and writing. Listening and reading are technically referred to as Receiving or Receptive Skills because they are about assimilation; while speaking and writing are called Transmitting Skills because they are about articulation or dissemination. And mastery of all these skills is very important. But our main attention here is on writing skills given the thematic focus of this discourse.

    Professional handling
    Business writing, especially for external communication to customers, suppliers, investors, etc., needs to be handled professionally. This is because when it is done properly, it will enhance corporate image, boost business, among others. But when it is not professionally handled, the impacts can be so damaging and tragic.
    We will therefore examine some of the concepts and principles critical to effective business writing/transactions.
    Good and effective business writing must have the following qualities: conciseness, completeness, correctness, clarity, consideration, courtesy, concreteness, etc.

    Conciseness and completeness
    Conciseness refers to the idea of being brief and direct to the point. You avoid redundancy, wordy expressions, repetition here. However, being brief does not mean that completeness must be compromised.
    Completeness involves giving the recipient all the information needed. For example, if a customer has written to you to know some things about your product(s) or organisation, you have to include the answers to all his or her inquiry in your reply.

    Correctness
    A business letter, for instance, must be correct in information, style/tone and structure. That is, you use the right language, format and factual information.
    This is the most important attribute in business writing. It involves more than freedom from errors. A writer’s credibility depends on accuracy of the message. If a writer misleads readers through carelessness or planlessness, his or her credibility will be eroded.

    Clarity
    Here you avoid ambiguous statements like “Give us more brilliant staff of yours”;  “Supply us more expensive Tantal”, etc. which reflect double meaning. For example, “Give us more brilliant staff of yours” in a situation where some have already been sent by a service company can either be interpreted as “Give us staff that are more brilliant” or “Give us more of your brilliant staff”. The same applies to the second example. Therefore, avoid a complex choice of words and lengthy sentences. Avoid writing polysemous words (that is, words that have more than a meaning) like “Referee”, “Coach”, in a way that can lead to lexical ambiguity. In other words, the context in which they are used should be detailed enough to make their meaning specific.
    To ensure that you write clearly, try to first sit down, think about what you want to write and arrange everything well so that you will not be writing effects before causes.
    A good dose of grammatical acumen is a gateway to communication efficacy, therefore, it is good to try to acquire good knowledge of grammatical concepts like tenses, reported speech, word order, etc. to be able to achieve communication success. Word order is very essential because the way you arrange your words has a lot to do with meaning in spite of using the same number of words, e.g. “Non-regular supply of goods” is different from “Non-supply of regular goods”; while “Your demand almost always exceeds our supply” and “Your demand always almost exceeds our supply” are different in meaning.

    Continuation
    In the statement “Your demand almost always exceeds our supply”, the customer’s demand has surpassed our supply many times, while in the second example, that is, “Your demand always almost exceeds our supply”, his demand has never surpassed our supply but is only always nearing that range. You should try as much as possible to avoid spelling errors. Also avoid punctuation errors, as they can affect meaning. For example, “Tankal is one of the Nigerian products, which is rated high in the world market” is different from “Tankal is one of the Nigerian products which are rated high in the world market”. That is, application or otherwise of a comma before “which” will affect the verb structure.
    In a nutshell, a business letter that is not clear can cause misinformation and negatively affect the corporate image of the company writing it. Even though misspellings are not the same as low intelligence, misspellings can mar your business writing at least on paper, e.g “Complaint” and “Compliant” (Word order). Do not use jargon (technical vocabulary), slangs (expressions identified with a specific group), cliches (over-used words/expressions), etc.

    Courtesy
    To create or sustain goodwill, good business writing must show respect. Even in the face of provocation from a customer or seller, politeness must not be sacrificed. The best way to do this is to use passive voice and sound impersonal by not mentioning the seller’s name. So you can say, “We write to notify you that most of the goods WE WERE SUPPLIED yesterday are not in good condition” (passive voice and impersonal).
    Apart from the traditional notion that passive voice is used for courtesy, courtesy can also be conveyed by sounding impersonal through active voice, e.g., “We write to notify you that most of the goods WE BOUGHT yesterday are not in good condition” (Active voice and impersonal).

    Reinforcement
    The two active and passive voice examples are impersonal and courteous because we did not say, “We write to notify you that most of the goods WE WERE SUPPLIED BY YOU yesterday are not in good condition” (passive voice and personal) or “We write to notify you that most of the goods YOU SOLD TO US yesterday are not in good condition” (active voice and personal).

    • To be continued
    PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details. Till we meet on Monday.

    •GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Certified Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

    Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425
    Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com
    Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

  • ‘Global economy will grow faster in 2014’

    ‘Global economy will grow faster in 2014’

    World economic growth will pick up next year, paced by improvements in the United States of America (USA) and the euro area, Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Company has said.

    The Newport Beach, California-based asset manager said the world economy is likely to expand 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent in 2014, up from 2.3 per cent this year. US growth will accelerate to 2.25 per cent to 2.75 per cent from 1.8 per cent.

    “The US economy is healing,” El-Erian said in an interview. “Household balance sheets are in a better place.”

    El-Erian, whose firm has $1.97 trillion in assets under management, said it’s virtually certain the Federal Reserve will begin moderating its asset purchases by the end of March, with a 50-50 chance of a move next week.

    He said the Fed is likely to couple any tapering announcement with a cut in the interest rate it pays on banks’excess reserves and a strengthened commitment to keep monetary policy easy for an extended period.

    The euro region’s economy will expand by 0.25 pe cent to 0.75 percent in 2014, after contracting 0.4 per cent this year, he said in a news report by Bloomberg.

    The Pimco executive said he was heartened by the broad-based improvement in the US job market last month. Payrolls increased by 203,000, while the unemployment rate fell to seven per cent from 7.3 per cent in October, the Labour Department reported on December 6. The employment-to-population rate also rose while hourly earnings increased.

    “The breadth of improvement was notable,” El-Erian said.

    The Fed’s “hyperactive” monetary policy has given the US economy time to mend after its deepest recession since the Great Depression, according to El-Erian.

    The Fed is buying $85 billion of bonds per month. It has also promised to keep its target for the federal funds rate near zero at least as long as unemployment remains above 6.5 per cent and forecast inflation is not above 2.5 per cent.

    “You’re looking at a transition where the Fed will remain engaged but will alter its policy mix,” by gradually reducing its bond buying while strengthening its forward guidance on short-term interest rates, he said.

    He said he expects the Fed to cut the 0.25 per cent rate it pays commercial banks on excess reserves as part of that transition. While such a move would not have a “dramatic impact,” it would underscore the Fed’s commitment to keeping rates low, he said.

    Banks’ reserves have mushroomed as the Fed purchased securities from them in its bid to lower long-term interest rates. Banks currently have more than $2 trillion in extra cash at the Fed, according to data from the central bank.

    Even as the economy improves next year, it won’t achieve “escape velocity,” according to El-Erian. The big missing ingredient is stepped-up capital spending by companies.

    “We have yet to see business investment really pick up,” he said. “Companies still prefer to use their excess cash for financial engineering” such as buying back shares or boosting dividends.

    Also, Reuters reported that Goldman Sachs strategists expected economic growth in developed economies to accelerate next year and urged investors to buy U stocks, partly on the likelihood that central banks’ monetary policies will remain accommodative.

    The gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the United States and the United Kingdom will exceed expectations, the strategists said, and US stocks look attractive since the Federal Reserve will likely keep short-term interest rates low.

    A key trade in 2014 will be to invest in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index while betting against the Australian dollar, said Noah Weisberger, head of the macro equity team within Goldman Sachs’ Global Markets Group. He cited the Fed’s stance of keeping policy rates low through “forward guidance” as a reason to buy US stocks.

    The strategists also touted stocks within the US, Japanese and European banking sectors.

    The S&P 500 has hit record highs this year and surged nearly 27 per cent. The Fed’s $85 billion in monthly purchases of Treasuries and agency mortgages have kept bond yields low, leading investors to seek higher income in stocks.

    Forward guidance refers to the language the Fed uses to tell markets how long it will keep short-term rates near zero. The central bank has kept the key federal funds rate near zero since late 2008 to help the economy recover from recession and has promised to keep it there for a while longer, probably until 2015.

    Risks remain that economic growth could lag their optimistic forecast, the strategists said. Also, if investors in general begin to expect higher economic growth, bonds could sell off and result in volatility for stocks, they added.

    The continued easing of risks stemming from the euro zone will be a positive influence on economic growth in developed economies next year, said Francesco Garzarelli, co-head of the global macro and markets research team. He added that inflation will remain “relatively low.”

    While touting stocks broadly, the strategists recommended betting against commodities such as copper, iron ore and gold. Copper and iron ore prices will suffer from supply growth, said senior metals analyst Max Layton.

    Investors should buy Chinese stocks while “shorting” or betting against copper prices, said Kamakshya Trivedi, executive director within the global macro and markets group. Trivedi said that a stable China might be “good enough” next year.

    Analysts have warned this year of an end to the “supercycle” of strong commodity performance over the past decade in response to a potential unwinding of the Fed’s bond-buying program, along with fragility in the US and European economic recoveries.

  • CAC scoredcard on ease of doing business

    CAC scoredcard on ease of doing business

    Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor), Abuja, writes on concerted efforts by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to ease the nation’s business climate for old and prospective investors

    Nigeria has made several efforts in the past to improve the ease of doing business in the country as a way of attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) mostly from Europe, Asia and the Americas. The various efforts and policy initiatives in this regard have, however, either met with brick- wall or arrived on the table half-baked.

    While some of the policies initiated in the past were ill-conceived, with obvious loopholes and flaws from the beginning, others were well thought out, but very poorly implemented. The result is that despite Nigeria’s vast human and natural resources, potential foreign investors continue to have reservations about coming to Nigeria to do business. This is beside the fact that many foreign companies operating in Nigeria have pulled out over the years due to many reasons, mostly centred on the difficulties of doing business in Nigeria.

    Despite the country’s long history of failed government policies and programmes aimed at enhancing the ease of doing business, the federal government through the Ministry of Trade and Investment has continued to initiate and supervise policy initiatives and reform efforts aimed at making it easy for both local and foreign businessmen to do business within Nigeria.

    For example, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which is an agency under the ministry, recently initiated a downward review in the cost of registering companies in Nigeria. Under the new regime which took effect from October 1, 2013, capital registration fees for limited liability companies (under Part A of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2004) have been reduced across the board. The exception is that the cost of capital registrations below N1 million will remain at 1%, attracting a flat fee of N10,000.

    Also, the fees for equity registration of less than N500 million have been reduced by 50%, while equity registration of N500 million and above has been reduced by only 25%. The rationale behind the variation in the percentage reduced is that smaller businesses will get more reductions to enable them make savings which would be better utilised if ploughed back into the business. That way, they will be in better positions to expand rapidly.

    The commission, under the leadership of the Registrar General, Bello Mahmud, has also unveiled plans to set up desks at major airports in Nigeria. This move will make it very easy for foreign investors to incorporate firms and start doing business in the country.

    Specifically, such desks will come in handy to attend promptly to investor’s enquiries, enlighten them and guide accordingly. One of the major problems potential investors have been having in Nigeria is lack of proper guidance. This initiative will enable such investors scale the hurdle of not knowing exactly where to start from when they come into the country.

    In addition, the CAC, as part of the general policy direction as initiated by Dr. Olusegun Aganga of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, will open offices in London, the United States and China, being homes to some of the top international investors across the globe. These offices will reside within Nigerian embassies and high commissions in those countries.

    The benefit is that through these foreign offices, the agency would be able to reach out to potential investors who have never visited the country to provide them with all the support and information they need to make investment decisions about Nigeria. They could even register their businesses before arriving in the country.

    In a bid to consolidate its successes and ensure that it is able to cope with the hike in the number of companies applying for registration, the current management of the CAC has also upgraded the agency’s technology, introducing fibre optics to replace the V-Sat that was hitherto being used. The high-speed fibre optics now allow for quicker and faster operations across the agency.

    The switch to faster internet connection became extremely necessary considering the fact that the recent reforms in the agency have led to a significant rise in the number of applications and filings it receives. The number of registered businesses in the country has gone up from less than 1.2 million in December, 2009 when the current RG came on board, to about 3 million within two years. As at the end of 2011, the agency says it has registered close to 900,000 companies and about 1.9 million business names. Also, around 50,000 incorporated trustees had been registered as at the same period.

    This new requirement is expected to weed out fraudsters and criminals, or at least make it easy to apprehend them in the event that they engage in unwholesome business practices or outright criminality. Before now, anyone could register a company and engage in dubious activities without being properly identified. As a matter of fact, some companies were even registered in the past using names of non-existent people just so that in the event that the company is declared wanted by law, the owners of the company cannot be traced.

    This measure, which is directly aimed at checking the activities of quacks, is beginning to ensure that firms that do business in sensitive and vital sectors such as architecture, pharmacy, medical services, educational services, amongst others, must have qualified professionals on their board. These professionals will have the responsibility of ensuring that the companies’ policies and practices conform to professional and regulatory standards.

    The effects of these reforms are already beginning to manifest. More local and foreign investors continue to incorporate firms to do business in the country. The impact is that the non-oil sector of the economy is beginning to grow exponentially as against what has been the case in previous decades. For example, in 2012 alone, Nigeria realised about 900 million dollars (about N144 billion) from the export of cocoa and cocoa-related products.

    Export of cocoa and cocoa-related products have grown in recent years by an average of 40 percent and a cumulative of 280 per cent from 215 million dollars in 2006 to 822.8 million dollars in 2010. Cocoa is now the second largest earner of foreign exchange for Nigeria, in addition to the fact that it generates around two million or more jobs directly and indirectly, through its value chain.

    The result is that for the first time since 2008, inflationary rate is now down to 7.8 percent from 8, according to recent figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It is important to understand why the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and its parastatals have stood out from many other MDAs in the country.

  • 37 stocks record above-average returns in 11 months

    37 stocks record above-average returns in 11 months

    •Costain, John Holt, Deap Capital lead worst-performing stocks

    Less than one-fifth of companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) measured up to average return at the stock market in a market situation that showed wide gap between exciting gains and losses and dormancy.

    Year-to-date analysis of the stock market for the 11-month period ended November 30, 2013 indicated that only 37 companies out of the 200 companies listed on the NSE recorded up to or surpassed the market’s average return of 38.61 per cent.

    Costain West Africa Plc, John Holt Plc and Deap Capital Management Plc lost more than 60 per cent of their market values during the period, leading the several dormant and declining stocks.

    The analysis both underlined the exceedingly positive overall market situation at the Nigerian stock market as well as the hangover of the previous recession that has kept several stocks dormant or inactive around their base prices.

    Conglomerates, fast moving consumer goods companies, petroleum-marketing companies, construction and cement companies and healthcare companies featured prominently among the 37 best-performing stocks. The analysis however showed decline in the momentum of fast-paced companies as forty five companies had measured up to market average three months ago.

    Forte Oil remained the best-performing stock, in terms of capital gains, with 11-month share price increase of 1,374.8 per cent. Champion Breweries placed second with average return of 308.4 per cent. Evans Medical ranked third with a gain of 270.1 per cent. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) retained year-to-date return of 239.1 per cent while Conoil Plc had increased its market value by 231.4 per cent during the period.

    Other stocks with three-digit percentage growth included Livestock Feeds, 191 per cent; Jos International Breweries 181.7 per cent; MRS Oil and Gas, 129.1 per cent; Cadbury Nigeria, 116.7 per cent, Presco, 115 per cent; Wema Bank, 119.2 per cent and Eterna Oil, which share price rose by 109.6 per cent.

    Several other stocks nearly doubled their market values including Julius Berger Nigeria, 99.1 per cent; Fidson Healthcare, 98.1 per cent and Dangote Sugar Refinery, which rose by 83.3 per cent. Other above-average stocks included UAC of Nigeria, 51.8 per cent; UACN Property Development Company, 52.5 per cent; Honeywell Flour Mills, 43.5 per cent; National Salt Company of Nigeria (Nascon), 59.63 per cent; Nestle Nigeria, 78.5 per cent; Diamond Bank, 41.70 per cent; United Bank for Africa (UBA), 64.7 per cent; AIICO Insurance, 38.7 per cent; Continental Reinsurance, 51.3 per cent; Custodian and Allied Insurance, 39.2 per cent; Wapic Insurance, 70.7 per cent and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, which grew its share price by 77.3 per cent.

    Other best-performing stocks included GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, with 11-month return of 44.1 per cent; CAP, 78.6 per cent; Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, 75.5 per cent; Dangote Cement, 52.2 per cent; IPWA, 52 per cent; Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria, 70.9 per cent; Red Star Express, 40 per cent; Academy Press, 57.4 per cent; ABC Transport Plc, 60 per cent while McNichols was the only Alternative Securities Market (Asem) stock on the list with an increase of 79.01 per cent.

    On the other hand, Costain was the worst-performing stock during the period with a negative return of 65 per cent. John Holt trailed with a drop of 62.1 per cent. Deap Capital Management Limited placed third with a loss of 60 per cent. Transnationwide Express dropped by 56.1 per cent while Multi-Trex and Morison Industries lost 47.4 per cent and 42.1 per cent respectively.

    Other stocks which lost more than 20 per cent of their market values included Chellarams, 27.3 per cent; Arbico, 26.9 per cent; Vono Products, 38.9 per cent; NPF Microfinance Bank, 34.8 per cent; Ekocorp, 22.6 per cent; E-Tranzact, 22.4 per cent; Thomas Wyatt Nigeria, 34.1 per cent, RT Briscoe, 21.1 per cent; Capital Hotel, 27.4 per cent while Juli Plc, an Asem stock, which lost 26.6 per cent.

    The year-to-date analysis showed that investors in Nigerian equities earned about N3.48 trillion in capital gains over the past 11 months. Aggregate market capitalisation of all quoted equities closed November at N12.449 trillion as against this year’s opening value of N8.974 trillion, indicating an increase of N3.475 trillion or 38.72 per cent.

    The main index at the NSE , the All Share Index (ASI)-a common value-based index that tracks all quoted equities, indicated 11-month year-to-date return of 38.61 per cent. ASI closed November at 38,920.85 points as against its index-on-board of 28,078.81 points for the year.

    With N3.48 trillion and average year-to-date return of 38.61 per cent, equities appeared in good stead for another record successive performance. In value terms, 11-month capital gain of N3.48 trillion has already surpassed total gains of N2.44 trillion recorded for the entire 2012. Also, real benchmark return of 38.61 per cent is already some three percentage points above average full-year return of 35.45 per cent recorded in 2012.

    The stock market had closed the first half of 2013 with average return of about 28.8 per cent, equivalent to N2.45 trillion in capital gains. Aggregate market value of all equities on the NSE had closed the first half at N11.426 trillion while the ASI had closed the first half at 36,164.31 points.

    ess than one-fifth of companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) measured up to average return at the stock market in a market situation that showed wide gap between exciting gains and losses and dormancy.

    Year-to-date analysis of the stock market for the 11-month period ended November 30, 2013 indicated that only 37 companies out of the 200 companies listed on the NSE recorded up to or surpassed the market’s average return of 38.61 per cent.

    Costain West Africa Plc, John Holt Plc and Deap Capital Management Plc lost more than 60 per cent of their market values during the period, leading the several dormant and declining stocks.

    The analysis both underlined the exceedingly positive overall market situation at the Nigerian stock market as well as the hangover of the previous recession that has kept several stocks dormant or inactive around their base prices.

    Conglomerates, fast moving consumer goods companies, petroleum-marketing companies, construction and cement companies and healthcare companies featured prominently among the 37 best-performing stocks. The analysis however showed decline in the momentum of fast-paced companies as forty five companies had measured up to market average three months ago.

    Forte Oil remained the best-performing stock, in terms of capital gains, with 11-month share price increase of 1,374.8 per cent. Champion Breweries placed second with average return of 308.4 per cent. Evans Medical ranked third with a gain of 270.1 per cent. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) retained year-to-date return of 239.1 per cent while Conoil Plc had increased its market value by 231.4 per cent during the period.

    Other stocks with three-digit percentage growth included Livestock Feeds, 191 per cent; Jos International Breweries 181.7 per cent; MRS Oil and Gas, 129.1 per cent; Cadbury Nigeria, 116.7 per cent, Presco, 115 per cent; Wema Bank, 119.2 per cent and Eterna Oil, which share price rose by 109.6 per cent.

    Several other stocks nearly doubled their market values including Julius Berger Nigeria, 99.1 per cent; Fidson Healthcare, 98.1 per cent and Dangote Sugar Refinery, which rose by 83.3 per cent. Other above-average stocks included UAC of Nigeria, 51.8 per cent; UACN Property Development Company, 52.5 per cent; Honeywell Flour Mills, 43.5 per cent; National Salt Company of Nigeria (Nascon), 59.63 per cent; Nestle Nigeria, 78.5 per cent; Diamond Bank, 41.70 per cent; United Bank for Africa (UBA), 64.7 per cent; AIICO Insurance, 38.7 per cent; Continental Reinsurance, 51.3 per cent; Custodian and Allied Insurance, 39.2 per cent; Wapic Insurance, 70.7 per cent and Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, which grew its share price by 77.3 per cent.

    Other best-performing stocks included GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, with 11-month return of 44.1 per cent; CAP, 78.6 per cent; Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, 75.5 per cent; Dangote Cement, 52.2 per cent; IPWA, 52 per cent; Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria, 70.9 per cent; Red Star Express, 40 per cent; Academy Press, 57.4 per cent; ABC Transport Plc, 60 per cent while McNichols was the only Alternative Securities Market (Asem) stock on the list with an increase of 79.01 per cent.

    On the other hand, Costain was the worst-performing stock during the period with a negative return of 65 per cent. John Holt trailed with a drop of 62.1 per cent. Deap Capital Management Limited placed third with a loss of 60 per cent. Transnationwide Express dropped by 56.1 per cent while Multi-Trex and Morison Industries lost 47.4 per cent and 42.1 per cent respectively.

    Other stocks which lost more than 20 per cent of their market values included Chellarams, 27.3 per cent; Arbico, 26.9 per cent; Vono Products, 38.9 per cent; NPF Microfinance Bank, 34.8 per cent; Ekocorp, 22.6 per cent; E-Tranzact, 22.4 per cent; Thomas Wyatt Nigeria, 34.1 per cent, RT Briscoe, 21.1 per cent; Capital Hotel, 27.4 per cent while Juli Plc, an Asem stock, which lost 26.6 per cent.

    The year-to-date analysis showed that investors in Nigerian equities earned about N3.48 trillion in capital gains over the past 11 months. Aggregate market capitalisation of all quoted equities closed November at N12.449 trillion as against this year’s opening value of N8.974 trillion, indicating an increase of N3.475 trillion or 38.72 per cent.

    The main index at the NSE , the All Share Index (ASI)-a common value-based index that tracks all quoted equities, indicated 11-month year-to-date return of 38.61 per cent. ASI closed November at 38,920.85 points as against its index-on-board of 28,078.81 points for the year.

    With N3.48 trillion and average year-to-date return of 38.61 per cent, equities appeared in good stead for another record successive performance. In value terms, 11-month capital gain of N3.48 trillion has already surpassed total gains of N2.44 trillion recorded for the entire 2012. Also, real benchmark return of 38.61 per cent is already some three percentage points above average full-year return of 35.45 per cent recorded in 2012.

    The stock market had closed the first half of 2013 with average return of about 28.8 per cent, equivalent to N2.45 trillion in capital gains. Aggregate market value of all equities on the NSE had closed the first half at N11.426 trillion while the ASI had closed the first half at 36,164.31 points.

     

  • Enhancing business communication with correct tense application(3)

    Last week, we said Present Perfect Tense is formed through the combination of the singular primary auxiliary verb “has” or the plural form “have” and the past participle form of any verb involved, e.g. “I have written the note”.

    We said this tense tells us about a completed action with present relevance. We explained that the past participle form of a verb is its third form, stressing that for instance, a verb such as “Go” has “Went” as past tense and “Gone” as past participle.

    We said different forms of each verb are written against it in the short forms “pt” (meaning “Past Tense”) and “pp” (meaning “Past Participle”) in the dictionary.

    As regards Past Perfect Tense, we said this is the past form of the Present Perfect Tense, and it is formed through the combination of the past primary auxiliary verb “had” and the past participle form of the verb involved.

    We expatiated that this tense is otherwise called “pluperfect”, “remote past” or “past before past”. We stressed that it is used for the earlier of two actions that took place in the past, while the simple past is used for the one that happened later, e.g. “I had gone before he came”.

    We said Simple Future Tense is used to express simple futurity. We explained that here, the first person singular personal pronoun “I” and the plural “We” make use of the modal auxiliary verb “Shall” to express simple futurity, e.g. “I/We shall go today.” We stressed that however, second-person singular and plural personal pronoun “You”; third person singular pronouns “He”, “She” and “It” and third person plural pronoun “They” use “Will” to express their simple futurity, e.g. “He/She/It/You/They will go today.”

    We said in spoken English, it is “Will” that is more commonly used for all persons and the implication of this indiscriminate use of “Will” is that a listener may not know whether a speaker is expressing simple futurity or expressing a promise, especially when Will is used with “I” and We.

    Future Perfect Tense

    Future Perfect Tense is formed through the combination of simple future tense and present perfect tense. It tells us about an action that will be completed by a particular future date. We said that here, the assignment of “Shall” and “Will” is just as applicable in simple future tense.

    A lot of people wrongly use “Would have” for all persons while using this tense, even in the present-tense case, probably because the phrase is phonetically pleasant. The standard way of using this tense is: “By next month, I/we shall have worked here for five years”; “By next month, they will have worked here for five years”, etc.

    Note: You can confirm this usage from any standard dictionary, especially Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 2000 edition (page 1310) or just check “Future Perfect Tense” in any edition of any standard dictionary.

    Future Perfect Continuous

    This is formed through the combination of simple future tense, present perfect tense and present continuous tense. It tells us about an action that will have been completed for a duration of time at some future time and then still continue, e.g. “By next month, I shall have been working here for five years.”

    The difference between future perfect tense and future perfect continuous is that here, it is additionally expressed in the Future Perfect Continuous Tense that working here will continue even after this period, a notion that is embedded in the present participle “Working”.

    Future Continuous Tense

    This is made up of simple future tense and present continuous tense. It is used for an action that is progressing at some future time, e.g. “We shall be discussing tomorrow.”

    Present Perfect Continuous Tense

    This tense reflects the integration of present perfect tense and present continuous tense. It is more commonly used with verbs that have long duration, e.g. “Wait”, “Walk”, “Work”, “Sit”, “Stand”, etc. This tense is used to express an action that started at some time in the past and is still in progress now, e.g. “I have been writing since morning.”

    Some grammarians say this tense can also be used when an action is not actually in progress. But I think this flexibility or deliberate infringement is better restricted to spoken English alone, because, strictly considered, as soon as an action that started in the past and is progressing to the present time ends, it is better expressed in past perfect continuous tense.

    Past Perfect Continuous Tense

    This is formed through the combination of past perfect tense and the continuous tense. It is the past form of the present perfect continuous tense. This tense is used to express an action that is no longer taking place, but continuing in the past, e.g. “I had been writing since yesterday, but stopped an hour ago.

    Last words

    Finally, when we talk about any form of verbal communication, the issue of tenses is very important because tense is any of the verb forms relating time to action. This time is basically divided into past, present and future. There is actually a problem when we cannot accurately relate time to action and use the appropriate tenses in a given business situation.

    For any speaker of English aspiring to attain a respectable level of proficiency in the deployment of the language, mastery of tenses is not only a matter of necessity but also that of compulsion. Therefore, endeavour to achieve respectable proficiency in your (business) communication today through commendable mastery of proper application of various types of tenses.

    • Concluded

    PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details. Till we meet on Monday.

    •GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Certified Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

    Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425

    Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

    Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

     

  • FG advised to discontinue taxes that hurt businesses

    The Federal Government has been told to discontinue certain taxes that hurt business and industrial performance in Nigeria.

    This advice is contained in the policy recommendation of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) released in Abuja at the second NISER National Policy Dialogue.

    The Director General of NISER Prof. Olufemi Taiwo who led the team at the policy dialogue said the recommendations of the research institute have been submitted to the National Economic Council (NEC) for further deliberation and approval. NISER is the socio-economic think-tank of the Nigerian government which conducts research to facilitate informed policy making towards sustainable national development.

    Specifically, taxes the institute recommended to be scrapped include Earmarked Taxes and Business Levies at all levels. “Taxes like Education Tax, Fuel Tax, Police Tax, Health Tax, Social Responsibility Tax, are potentially hurtful to business and industrial performance” the report said.

    Moreover, the company income Tax Act (CITA) NISER said “should be reviewed to give states the power to assess and collect this tax from companies registered in their domains. Apart from boosting state government revenue, it may encourage states to aggressively seek for real investments rather than depending on allocations from the federation account.”

    NISER noted that the recent adoption by Nigeria of the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS) presents challenges for achieving the goal of creating a tax friendly environment for business enterprises and international investors.

    Tax compliance, the institute said, should be simplified to remove the human interaction element that exposes tax officials to corrupt practices.

  • Managing people for success

    Managing people for success

    Managing people has always been a challenge everywhere. This is because people are difficult to manage and most managers too lack the skill of effective people management. This is why I want us to discuss this book titled: “The Art of Managing People” this week. It is co-written by Dr. Phillip Hunsaker and Dr. Anthony Alessandra, two brilliant management experts.

    Hunsaker is a professor of Management and director of Management Programmes, School of Business Administration at the University of San Diego. He is a renowned consultant, speaker and author of many best-selling books on Management. As for Alessandra, he is a highly-respected sales, marketing and management consultant as well as an award-winning public speaker. He has written more than 100 articles.

    According to Hunsaker and Alessandra, the art of managing people productively and effectively is ever-changing and evolving, and many of the managerial concepts proposed some years ago cannot work in today’s environment. These experts ascribe this to the fact that people, business environment, government and world have changed, while scarcity of resources has worsened, especially the valuable resource of skilled labour.

    Hunsaker and Alessandra disclose that attracting, training, motivating and keeping employees have become much more difficult and expensive. They submit that this text has been written to overcome many of the traditional manager-employee relationship problems.

    According to these authors, when a manager establishes a friendly yet productive working atmosphere, the benefits to the whole organisation are substantial. They educate that allowing your workers to express their own personalities and maximise their potential will reduce stress within the workforce, create a positive spirit throughout the company and increase the organisation’s productivity.

    This text is segmented into three parts of 19 chapters. Part one has generic subject matter of building productive managerial relationships, and covers the first five chapters. Chapter one is entitled “Adjusting effectively to personal style differences”.

    According to Hunsaker and Alessandra here, interactive management is a process of dealing with people as individuals in order to build trust in the manager-employee relationship, thereby improving productivity in the organisational set-up.

    Chapter two is titled: “Learning how to learn”. These authors say here that successful managers in today’s rapidly-changing world are distinguished not so much by a set of technical skills as by their ability to learn and adapt to the fluctuating demands of their careers. They stress that continuing success requires the ability to explore new opportunities and learn from past successes and failures. Hunsaker and Alessandra say one purpose for studying the learning process is to understand how people go about generating concepts, rules and principles from their experiences as guides for their future behaviour.

    In chapters three to five, these authors discuss concepts such as doing unto others; deciding how to decide; and analysing transactional styles.

    Part two is summarily woven together as “Interactive communication skills” and contains eight chapters, that is, chapters six to 13. Chapter six is titled: “The art of questioning”. Here, Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that one of the most critical and valuable tools in the manager’s arsenal of communication skills, is the art of questioning.

    They add that the ability of the manager to ask the right questions at the right time to help his or her employees best is an essential and integral part of interactive management. “Skilful questioning simplifies the manager’s job because it gets employees to ‘open up’. The employee feels free to reveal inner feelings, motives, needs, current situations, goals, and desires. With this knowledge, the manager is in a much better position to guide the employee to the ultimate achievement of personal, professional, and organisational goals,” assert Hunsaker and Alessandra.

    In chapters seven to 13, they beam their analytical searchlight on concepts such as the power of listening; projecting the appropriate image; communicating through voice tones; using body language effectively; spatial arrangements saying things; how your use of time talks; and making sure with feedback.

    Part three, the last part has a general subject matter of “Interactive problem-solving” and covers the last six chapters, that is, chapters 14 to 19. Chapter 14 is titled: Problem-solving together. Hunsaker and Alessandra educate that when managers are asked how they make decisions and solve problems, the typical response is usually something like “I don’t know. I just do what has to be done”.

    In the words of these authors, “Although they may not be able to specify what steps they take or what rules they apply, all would probably agree that making ‘good’ decisions and effectively solving problems are the essence of good management.”

    In chapters 15 to 19, Hunsaker and Alessandra discuss concepts such as defining the problem; developing action plans; implementing action; following through; and what to do with what you have learnt.

    Conceptually, these authors have presented an inventory of very rich and brilliant ideas in this book. Stylistically, this text is a success. For instance, the language of the text is simple while the organisation of concepts is okay. The authors use graphics to further enhance understanding of readers. Also, the title is short and assertive.

    However, grammatical errors are noticed in the text. One of these is, “Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potentials…” (outside back cover), instead of “Letting your workers express their own personalities and maximise their potential…” Note that “Potential” is an uncountable noun and therefore does not structurally take an “S”).

    Another error is that of structural redundancy, that is, “Much more difficult and much more expensive” (page xi) instead of the elliptical version “Much more difficult and expensive”.

    In spite of these errors, this text still passes for a masterpiece. It is highly recommended to anybody that wants to become well educated in the art of management.

  • How I became successful in business

    How I became successful in business

    Founder/Chief Executive Officer Proten United Kingdom, Opy Onas is a young entrepreneur, who is devoted to empowering entrepreneurs. Daniel Essiet met him.

    Opy Onas, real name Opeoluwa Onaboye, is an international speaker, author, business coach and entrepreneur. His businesses, which are based in the United Kingdom include Proten Coaching and Development, Proten Youth Development and Proten Publishing House.

    The 27-year-old life coach was  born in Ogun State. He attended Mayflower School, Ikenne. He  moved to the United Kingdom when he was 13. His entrepreneurial plans were hatched when he lost  a huge  amount  of money.

    According to him,  nobody embraced entrepreneurship in his family, even though his father was involved in buying and rental of properties. But at 18, “while in my first year at the University in London, I became involved in fraudulent activities. I spent around four years in different kinds of activities to earn a living and maintain my lavish lifestyle.”

    “This led to my involvement in a burglary where money and my personal possession was stolen. The experience, coupled with my strong christian faith led me to give up the criminal lifestyle and embark on a straight path,” he recounted.

    Why did he venture  into business? “When I gave up my old lifestyle, I gave up all my possessions and gave all my money to a charity,” he said, adding: ”I started looking for jobs and was unsuccessful. Through my job hunt, I came across a friend that owned an estate agency business and I asked him to show me how it works and he took me through the whole process. This was my first experience in business.”

    At 22, Onas  started an estate agency from his bedroom and grew with a good portfolio of clients.

    He said he  started his new business from his laptop in his bedroom. ”I talked a friend into building me a website and designing a business card for me. As the business was generating income, I was using it to grow the business,” he said.

    He further said his wife has supported “my crazy ideas from the beginning,” also played a role.

    “In total, I didn’t have more than £500 personal investment over the years. Everything else has been income that has been re-invested into the business,” he added.

    As the business grew, he explained, expectedly, some challenges set in just like every business does at the start up phase. He  realised that he was not passionate about the business anymore and so  was not giving much attention to it.

    However, while running the estate agency business, many people approached him to teach them how to set up their own businesses.He   found that he  was much more excited and passionate about it  and  that helping people to  achieve their dreams was something he  naturally excelled in.

    Eventually, the estates agency failed. He  had to close it down. He  set up a business consultancy firm to support start-ups through the initial process. This led to his  putting together his first book within a four- month period. The book  was launched in the UK  House of Parliament and has since become a huge hit, among aspiring entrepreneurs across the world, he said.

    Onas  has  built up  a wealth of knowledge on the subject of motivation and personal development. He  has grown  the  consultancy firm, providing support to hundreds of entrepreneurs through one-on-one coaching services, seminars, conferences and workshops that are delivered to several organisations, including universities, colleges and churches, among others. He  has  also  set up a youth development organisation, providing support to disadvantaged young people in Britain, and helping them into employment.

    Last year, he  set  up  a publishing company to help  aspiring authors publish their books. His words: “My aim is to train individuals not just to start a business, but most importantly, pursue a business that they are passionate about as this is the only way they can go through the tough times.”

    On challenges, he said his father did not initially support him. “He knew I was extremely smart and he wanted me to work in a top city firm. I would always lock my self in my room in order to focus, he said. He said his father’s disposition started changing “when I was featured in a full page article in a national newspaper in the UK. Right now, he’s my biggest supporter and probably the person who has bought most copies of my book”.

    Another challenge  to him, was the fact that he got married quite early (at the age of 24) and this was a period where his business was still growing and there was no regular income.

    “I had to do part time and night work to support my business aspirations and also ensure that my family was looked after financially. This was a tough period in my life,” he said.

    He said over the past years, he had worked with over 20 different people as a team working on various part of the company and projects. He  has  worked on various projects and also delivered large government contracts in the UK for youth development. He  delivers coaching services to individuals and small and large businesses. He  has  travelled around the world, speaking and empowering individuals to realise and utilise their passion. talents and gifts.

    He is the author of a  book titled: “Turn your passion into your profession. Known as the “Ideas Midwife”,

    What is the secret of his success? “The most important aspect of my business is my faith in God. Apart from anything else, you must have hope and for me, this is my faith in God.Also, you must get yourself a mentor or coach. You can’t go on the journey successfully alone. Have someone walk with you? Find a dream mate on your journey. All you need is one person who believes in you and walks the journey with you to encourage you when you feel like giving up.”

    His advice: “I don’t believe in motivation alone. That’s why I don’t call myself a motivational speaker. If you motivate someone who is going down a hill, he will only go down the hill faster. People need more than motivation, they need inspiration, education, guidance and strategic input. I try to cover those areas. Mindset is the most important aspect of a human being. Ask any athlete, he will tell you that the race is first won in the mind before they even reach the track. You must first believe that you can before you attempt anything. If you give yourself any opportunity to doubt, then you’ve already been defeated. Focus is key to success. He believe that starting a business young has its advantages as it means one is e in tune with latest technology that can be used to drive the business forward in this age.Apart from his faith, he is passionate about two main things- young people and entrepreneurship.

    “I am passionate about developing individuals and helping them fulfill their God-given potential, especially young people. I am also passionate about promoting entrepreneurship as I believe that we have all been given gifts or talents to use for serving other people.”

    He  is working on setting up some initiatives for promoting entrepreneurship in Nigeria and I will also be delivering employability skills training to companies from 2014.