Mr. Olufemi Awoyemi, CEO, Proshare Nigeria welcomes the GDA to his office in Lagos. |
dude behind Proshare Nigeria, a
leading financial communications firm and operator of the globally renowned
economic solution portal www.proshareng.com does not like the idea of granting press
interviews at all.
almost evasive when the issue comes to talking to the press. His reason is
simple; “men who solve money problems are not to be heard. They are to act and
their results seen”. The role of his Proshare
portal in the Nigerian economic sector is second to none as many adjudged the
portal as a vehicle used by majority of
decision makers in the Nigerian economic sector towards evolving a strong
economy in the area of confidence building in the banks recapitalization
processes and the entire Nigerian capital market reform .
rating magazine, Forbes which from
time to time had always consulted Proshare
in the area of finding out results of wealthy Nigerians. FORBES’ editorial
managers take pride in PROSHARE’s local content judgment. During a recent celebration to make her 7
years of steady financial intelligence offerings to the Nigerian economic
sector, Proshare went philanthropic
by visiting places and sharing material gifts including a large amount of money
to the motherless babies. The Proshare team
visited the Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care and Treatment Home School in Yaba, Lagos as part of her Corporate Social
Responsibility (CRS), giving the children hope and care in order to guarantee a
greater tomorrow for the less privileged kids.
The Proshare boss, Awoyemi talks to the GDA |
Olufemi Awoyemi (FCA), a seasoned finance expert was as usual in his
element trying to make his work speak rather than his voice but after a
continuous persuasion trough referrals and other forms of inducement, the London
trained, Ogun state born Money-Minded financial guru agreed to open up to
asabeafrika on the ground that we quote him verbatim, which we promised to
honor. Awoyemi gave us 15 minutes off his busy schedule to enlighten us on the
activities of Proshare in the last 7
years of establishment.
board member of the Journal of Banking published by The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and chairman, Value
Frontera Ltd spoke on the raging issue by stake holders in the Nigerian
economic sector that major telecommunications companies and their oil counterparts
should be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as a prerequisite for
investing in the Nigerian economic sector and as a panacea to a troubled
capital market which is just growing out of shock. The former Central Bank
Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the House of Representatives also gave a
voice to the arguments of Femi Awoyemi by showing political will to legislate
it to law. Mr. Awoyemi spoke on why
Nigeria needs such a law at this material time in our economic life. He granted
asabeafrika the audience inside his
Omole Phase 2, Lagos office some months ago. Enjoy the excerpts.
The Proshare Boss speaks with asabeafrika |
sector in 7 years
began by asking him how he feels with the Nigerian economic environment against
the backdrop of his awareness interventionist project through Proshare and the
Finance expert reacted thus “For somebody who has travelled across Africa and
across Europe, I do not think that Nigeria is going through anything extra
ordinary. If at all anything, Nigeria is in a much more structurally
advantageous position than most countries in the world today. In fact some of
the few things that they are doing around the world, Nigeria has done it
two-three years ago. What we just need for ourselves as Nigerians is to be
positive because we are such a peculiar people who desire a number of things to
come our way and as such we believe that we can be anything; we can do much
more. So, we demand of ourselves to do much more. If you go around, you find
out that it is because we say bad things about ourselves that it seems more
that everybody believes that we are so bad.
Mr and Mrs. Awoyemi with a top Director |
you will be shocked to find out that yes, things are tough because certain
things are beginning to hit us which we did not plan for before. But the
responses we have been giving suggest that we are more than capable of
addressing most of these problems. So, rather than talking down and speaking bad
about the country; and speaking bad about the people and the leadership that
create fear in the minds of other people or give bad value judgment , we should be positive and
hopeful of our ability to create our own fortune and reshape our destiny. Does that mean that everything is okay for an
organization like ours? No, it is not. We have our own problems, our own challenges
and our own difficulties in keeping staff happy, motivating them for maximum
productivity.
The argument is clear; you can not bring in a briefcase and go with a suitcase. The Nigerian economy that we
need for 20:20:20 requires you to come in with a briefcase and be going out often with a wallet every now and then. Let those who live in the country, who
provide the money you make, let them also benefit in that money
we also have something, which I think majority of Nigerians do have. But maybe,
they forget too often to rely on it.
That if you are truly motivated to provide that service you are doing,
you will find a reason everyday to get up and persevere and stay focused on it,
think and ask yourself questions; maybe the market has moved away from us,
maybe we are not doing things right. I will give you an example, if a client
tells us that ‘sorry, we may no longer be able to give you a particular service
or a particular patronage’, my first challenge is to ask ourselves; what was it
that we were doing well that we are not doing again? What was it that we were
doing or the client was doing that allowed him or her to patronize us? So if
those things are changed, you might find out that the reason why it is not
working lies in those things, then we have to find a way to remedy it.
Sometimes we are able to discover these things, sometimes we are not able to.
And so, that is part of the experience of organizations learning on how to
improve better. These rare opportunities provide you a platform to access and
re-strategize for maximum progress.
Some of Proshare’s think-thank fans and some Directors pose with Mr. Awoyemi |
The rebranded logo of the company |
The
CEO gave us the history of how he started the economic and finance portal and
the measure of challenges faced so far “Seven years ago, a small group of us
realized the potential harm that could be caused by something not well understood
at that time when there was a market boom on the top of a delicate regulatory
structure driven by a policy that was yet to be fully understood by the
generality of our people. While no one could predict the impact it would have,
we made it our mission to build the best possible service created for the
market-investor-regulatory mix.
decided to create a platform where the investor no matter how naïve he is can
check on at the press of a button, knowing fully well that all the information
that can aid his discretion for a valuable market judgment will be found there.
We didn’t stop there; we also went ahead to stand in as a bridge between the market,
the investor and the regulator or regulatory bodies. This remained Proshare’s mission till date. As a
team of almost 20 staffers and advisors worldwide, we work daily to help make
the business of investing in the Nigerian bourse, using the best in class
digital information, a value driven experience. Over the last two years when
the market turned south, we remained steadfast to the mission by continually
delivering innovative solutions that were best suited for the way we use
technology to serve our consumers.
as you can see technology has a greater role in the way the new market will
evolve, as we seek a greater nexus between the economy and the market segments
designated by the Nigeria Stock Exchange. While it is still neither good nor
bad for the Nigerian bourse, our platform is used and will continue to be used
to deliver credible, reliable and timely information for those that engage in
the market. That is why on the occasion of our 7th anniversary, we remain
committed to our vision and continue to seek new ways of engagement for the
market that is set to turn around based on a global acceptable premise”.
Proshare CEO spoke on why his company’s innovation is the best thing that is
happening to the finance sector. Hear him “Truth is we live in a time where the
internet has enabled a level of collaboration never before possible. This has
brought us to a new frontier. The possibility of a Proshare Online brokerage service
as a solution for engendering a retail market, a more inclusive participation
following a market crash; and a more engaging exchange that is willing and able
to provide the products and services to meet a growing new pool of operators
and stakeholders. We are rightly on course in the face of our subscribers,
partners, clients, employees and everyone who has been a part of Proshare’s 7 years history”.
the days when Financial Standard Newspaper was still the paper to beat in the
Nigerian business circle, Femi Awoyemi
was one of the leading lights of that experiment. Then, it was rumored that
Femi and his friend Ayo Arowolo had shares in the newspaper but today Femi
Awoyemi is telling us a different tale; hear him “Let me say one thing; two
corrections. One, I was not part of those who founded Financial Standard. I was
lucky to have good relationship with Weneso Orogun and Ayo
Arowolo.
And it was indeed Ayo Arowolo who invited me into Financial Standard. After a while they gave me a column, after a
while they got me into their editorial board and they just got me involved. And
because I was involved with Ayo on a number of fronts, and we saw the
opportunity as a generational responsibility to promote the company owned by Mrs. Eniola Fadayomi who I believed had
given Ayo and co the opportunity to show their talent and skills in the
organization then.
the same time while still working, I believe in the financial institution, I
and Ayo came together and the idea came about. Of course we were so focused on
personal finance. The challenge was that we were talking about straight forward
finance and then other socio-economic variables. I believe the combination of
my exposure in working for a mainstream financial newspaper and for birthing a
personal finance medium helped in bringing us to where we are now. My exposure
in terms of training at previous employments and the access I have to key
persons in both within the financial community and within the media and our
experimenting with online information dissemination platform with moneywise, it
was something which I had wanted to do. It gave us a unique background to
understand the dynamics of our profession.
Femi Awoyemi and the Proshare Team @ 7 |
if there is anything that has enabled us to stay on because I do not know about
success, if there is anything that has allowed us to stay till 7 years now, I
think it is the quality of people we have within the (Proshare) system. These are people who were carefully brought in with
the commitment to make sure that people who engage in the market have the
benefit of professional expertise made available to them and for which they are
not paying for. The service has run for 7 years without us charging money to
use the service (Proshare portal)
and that in it self with all sense of gratitude to God and to certain people
who make sure that we get funding , means that we are doing a service to
humanity. And for me it goes back to the concept where I told my personal story
and said it is a personal commitment of mine to make sure we are able to
support what those in charge of the market are doing. We are not seeking to
replace the market but to provide some support and a bridge, some advocacy to
push for certain things being done. Proshare
has grown from a small concern to a big family of investment advocates,
financial experts and market analysts of great value judgment. I think every
single person in this company has a stake. There are about three people who are
share holders and members of management but most importantly our corporate
philosophy thrive on the ability to allow everyone to have his own independent
opinion and make a brilliant analytical presentation. Mostly people here will
tell you this is what I want to do on Proshare
and they go ahead and do it on their own. They do not need to get to me. So, it
is now a knowledge based environment where self developed opinion is allowed as
long as you endeavor to be objective. It is a knowledge environment where we
have partners; for example, when Forbes (Magazine) was going to do African
richest list, they came to Proshare.
That decision was taken entirely by Reshu ( Reshu Bagga is Proshare’s British investment expert and COO).
decision (For Forbes to use our library and information support solution) was
approved by Reshu and Reshu handled it and when they finished,
Forbes recognized Reshu as CEO of Proshare. So nobody
comes to talk to me before taking such a huge creative decision anymore. And
that for me means that the analyst profession indeed, is now being well
respected. People who also need to be regarded are now being given their
desired esteem. The financial journalists are being separated from just anyhow
journalists. And stock broking firms are able to raise their games and becoming
much more interested and that is why you see Proshare is re-branding. Proshare
continue to change rather than remain in one point. We do that every year
and as we are talking now, we are working on Proshare 6.0 already for the kind of market we see coming forward”.
Sell Shares
weeks before we got the privilege to interview Femi Awoyemi, the economic analyst had made case for the need for
top telecommunications firms like MTN
and Glo should sell shares and
enlist on the Nigerian stock exchange. He made same case for oil companies as
well; but few days later, the immediate past CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi made
echoed Awoyemi’s position before the federal house committee on capital markets
followed suits two weeks later. But the whole issue actually started with Proshare and its head honcho, Awoyemi in form of a campaign; does
that mean Femi Awoyemi’s position is carrying weight in the right circle?
Hear him speak “Two quick corrections, one, page 66 of the Nigerian Capital Market Report issued by Proshare in February 2009 actually described this and if I can
recall what it said. We said we have looked at the market and what we believe
that is going to happen is that there are critical economic sectors in this
country like the telecoms, the energy sector, the mining sector, the
agricultural sector which all need to be brought into the market for it to be
reflective and be used as a barometer for the Nigerian economy. And it is also
critical that for us to restore market confidence, there is nothing faster that
can help restore market confidence; not any policy of government, not any thing
done by anybody except that we do the listing
because if you immediately go through a sector like telecoms which is the fastest growing sector in the country since
2002 and you bring it into the market, you would have made a great change for
the Nigerian capital market.
know that every time they spend money on telephone, at the end of the day, they
will be earning something back. That is the first correction. Second
correction, I do not believe that the house (National Assembly) or the (Former)
CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is echoing us. I believe it is an informed
judgment, it is in our self enlightened interest to propose such an action and
I believe that the (Former) CBN Governor is a very enlightened man who knows
that the argument being made is so clear. It is not about anybody needing to
force anybody. It is called an economic inclusive strategy whereby if you run a
basket of activities within your economy and your capital market which is the
source where people are able to generate funds to fund their companies only
reflects one tenth of the size of the economy, that is ridiculous. We have six
trillion Naira from an economy that is about thirty-three trillion naira
economy. We are talking about one-fifth or one-sixth of the market. But if you
bring in certain sectors, you might get up to like seventy percent of the economy
reflected in your capital market. This is where money goes. So, the Central
Bank Governor, captain of industries, the House of representative and The
Senate are taking what I consider to be well informed and self enlightened
position that has only one key objective at it, the public interest, the public
good and the revitalization of the Nigerian economy”.
The Shore?
question and he wants everyone to see it from his perspective. Hear him “I think
there are deliberate efforts to misinform majority. A situation whereby they said
the idea is to compel them; my understanding is that they believe that they
would hold conversation with players in that particular industry. There are
about four of them, MTN, AIRTEL, ETISALAT and GLOBACOM which is a Nigerian
owned business. We only need to present to them best practices available in
other countries where they are existing and also tell them, that as an
incentive for them to come into the market, there are certain things that would
be done which I believe the NSE is
working on to create incentives that would enable a win-win economic ambience
for these telecoms players to come in.
there would also be needs for discussion to understand that they have two means
of going about all these. Are they going to list by introduction?
That means they will list the Nigerian operations entirely or a percentage of
it over a period of time so that you do not just put them in a difficult position
or they do what we call a secondary listing or cross border listing. That means they take their parent company and
come and list it in Nigeria. The argument is clear; you can not bring in a briefcase and go with a suitcase. The Nigerian
economy that we need for 20:20:20 requires you to come in with a briefcase and be going out often with a wallet
every now and then. Let those who live in the country, who provide the
money you make, let them also benefit in that money. Let me give you an
example, one of the telecoms company was required to put two hundred and fifty
eight million dollars down to get a license.
money was raised in Nigeria from our local banks. They bought the license and
in about six month they made multiple profits and now used it to service debts
in their own country where they are listed. If they argue that we did not tell
them to list yes we agree, we did not have enough understanding then. Now, we
have enough understanding. Show us the true partnership we are and we say look,
it is not about your business, it is about the economy. If ninety three or more
million Nigerians are using a product everyday, let them at a point in time
have a stake in that business. It helps you to then know that as shareholders,
we may require you to make investment in this country. We may require you to
create employment in this country.
Mr. Awoyemi…..Telecommunications companies must enlist on NSE |
role of the capital market has also changed from a place where you raise funds
to being a place where you act as a catalyst for change, a source of infrastructural
development for the country. We complain about corruption, we complain about
governmental negligence but you see Nigeria requires such legislation. Now
would it be passed without the consent of the key players? No. there is so many
people involved. But we can make life easier for ourselves. The debate is
welcome, the arguments however, are unnecessary.
debate is welcome the argument unnecessary. The debate may just be a question
of form and nature not as to the substance of it because that argument has been
long overtaken by the economic realities. Kenya has it. I do know of a telecoms company in Nigeria
whose parent company has taken advisers and are considering listing on the
capital market of a North African country and the same company operates in
Nigeria. Why would such a company be arguing? Do not be surprised, however, in
the next few days when the usual stream of media intervention starts coming
out, people starts complaining. Yes, they have an unlimited purse. They can outspend
anything but they can not defeat the validity of the fact that the Nigerian people
require this piece of legislation.
Nigerian people must demand for a stake in their own economic sphere of
influence and that even if the House of Assembly people want to change their
mind, they should put them to task. The House of Assembly must pass this
legislation in such a manner that is fair to the Nigerian people but has a
robust economic interest for Nigeria. They may come to you or to the public
with the argument that it may stop foreign direct investment. But I ask you
‘what is the profit of the Foreign Direct Investment when they have no asset in
your economy?’.
is no physical investment? What is the essence of investment when there is no
physical investment? Tell me which physical investment does MTN have in Nigeria?
Most of it is rented properties? So, for those who are paying them; let them
continue to pay them. I will be ready to take on the telecoms issue because we
have devoted two years of research to it.
will tell you one thing which they should know
and you should let this one go out; that the first company that lists
would automatically become Nigeria’s most favorite telecoms company because you
can therefore run a piece and say ‘For every naira you spend, you are getting
something back’. “We do not only give you the chance to call, we gave you the
chance to develop your own country”.
That is the message we need. How much business is in Ghana? Nothing. The
whole of West Africa matched together is not as big as the Nigerian market.
South Africa where MTN operates from, it has twenty one million subscribers.
Nigeria, they have forty two million subscribers. So, there is much to be done
and this Government is not saying ‘take it or leave it’. What they are saying
is that ‘look, if you already have about twenty five percent in private hands
why don’t you just make sure that these things are officially listed on the
stock exchange?. We are not even compelling you to list hundred percent. So,
like I said, the arguments are unnecessary. The debate is welcome. The debate
is as to form and aid on ‘what we would do’ and not as to the substance, ‘if it
should be done’. However, if Nigeria fails to pass this policy, you will be
creating a challenge for us. Dangote
went to South Africa and ended up
listing. Oando is in South Africa,
it is listed, Oando is still going
to Ghana now and it will list. In Kenya
most of all the companies came and everyone was asked to list.
in 2006, the President of Kenya passed a law and made sure that these companies
listed. In Nigeria we have always done business with a very robust sense of
fairness to people. This National House of Representative and The Senate would
be fair. Nobody is compelling somebody. And I am well aware, contacts are being
made and discussions are ongoing to ensure that whatever that is presented as a
bill already, has some common consensus before it even gets to the level of
where it is getting to the public hearing. Permit me; the argument should be
that the media should for once at this particular time play the role of leading
for public interest, holding The House of Representative and The National
Assembly accountable. Holding the Nigerian stock Exchange accountable and holding
the telecoms companies accountable”.
majority telecommunications companies should enlist on the stock exchange, Mr.
Awoyemi had a parting word for his portal’s fans across the world. Hear him “Continue
doing what you have been doing. Help us improve, give us the right information.
I will give you an example; this key argument we have been making about
telecoms started with some bright minds who read our opinion on the net in
America. One of them is Dr. Chukwuma
Biyosa in America who started raising the argument with me as far back as
2007. He is an ardent professor in a university there and a key member of
advisory board of the same university who kept up discussing and exchanging
debate on this matter. There are senior people in our regulatory frame work who
are also subscribers of the Proshare
portal. So, when they exchange information with us it improves the quality
of the contribution we give out.
if I stand before you today and appearing a bit smart it is because these
gentle men in high places have been able to share their perspectives with me
and one has the opportunity of representing them very well and making them
tall. So if you are not a member yet, go in there and join our knowledge group.
And for those who keep supporting us with placements to stay through, thank you”.