Daily Independent (Lagos)
10 November 2008
interview
On Saturday, November 29, De - Plum, an entertainment outfit will in conjunction with Mact Securities invite egg heads in the three financial sector and policy makers in public office to Civic Centre for a brainstorming session on the advantages of going to the capital market to raise funds for infrastructure development. Tagged: "Intellect At Ease," the event, according to Greg Otsu, the CEO, Mact, will be spiced up with entertainment. "We are bringing these policy makers to listen to these financial experts in a cozy environment with lots of entertainment," he told DEPUTY EDITOR (Saturday), Charles Okogene, in this interview. Excerpts:
As a lawyer-turned stockbroker, how has it been in the last 10 years?
I have done a lot of things, I am a very inquisitive person, I have this desire to do everything but just because we have to be known for a certain thing we try to streamline our operations. And in order to strengthen my background as a businessman and not to lose focus of the fact that my first discipline is Law, I am currently doing my masters in University of London. In answer to your question, it has not been that easy but we have been able to forge a stronger relationship with people we work with and those we want to break ground with. The challenges are much but we hope to get there and get there fast.
How easy has it been for you as a lawyer in stock broking industry?
It only gives one an edge over others because some people say you are a lawyer and that one tends to be smart and that as a stockbroker, one is double smart. But as far as I am concerned, I believe that whatever you do in life, you need to be humble to attain whatever height you want to attain. One's background has given one a level of versatility to be able to take some decision amidst some tight options. Being in this industry has helped in expanding our horizon and opens our mind to the fact that there are certain things we cannot say we do not know because we are basically supposed to be core professionals. The background has only helped in strengthening my discipline but I try to tread carefully.
What exactly is Intellect At Easy and why are you involved in it?
As I said earlier on, I have this desire to be part of everything, but we try as much as possible to streamline our efforts to be known for what we do. I have this unquenchable appetite for social business development. I believe that it is an area that an average Nigerian businessman ought to look at. When I was growing up here in Lagos I remember I used to admire Ben Murray - Bruce; a lot of people thought he was joking when he started the Most Beautiful Girl In Nigeria (MBGN) pageant but I saw something burning in him and along the line he has transformed into an edifice like **The Galleria**; so whatever you want to do in life, you can move from one position to the other and I believe that it is his burning desire to contribute to entertainment industry in Nigeria and the world that made him to branch out into such a huge business. No interest is too small. Though, I am a lawyer, I have always liked social life, I have always liked recreation, I have always liked tourism and the idea of people taking life easy and recreating. We have been part of show business here. We have been part of social activities and growth for the entertainment business in Nigeria. We believe that if serious minded people come into the industry, a lot of people will take it seriously. We all know that Hollywood is a great money spinner for American government. If you go to Dubai you will see a lot of recreation spots that are revenue earners for the country. That is what we looked at and decided we can do same here in Nigeria. We want to use the powerful instrument of entertainment to educate policy makers on the importance of financial tools like bonds.
What exactly are you looking for with Intellect At Ease?
We have basically noticed the gap between the government, legislative and the private sector. We have also noticed the huge gap between the capital market and the various state governments; the opportunities that are abound in the capital market for the state government. What we are looking at is that we are calling the state government and federal government representatives to come and put their minds at rest by listening to them in a socially conducive atmosphere. I tell you, I don't know how many of our states, that have been able to raise bond for development. We were part of Kebbi State's bond, Lagos State raised bond every time to develop infrastructure, Cross River raised bond to put up Tinapa. We need to expand our horizon. We need to talk to ourselves. If the people that occupy public offices or decision makers are educated as to what they can gain by interacting with experts, their orientation about bond raising will change for good. If they know that all they do is to guarantee the bonds they have raised for, say, road construction with their monthly allocation, I think that our roads will not be in the terrible state of disrepair.
The attraction is that they will have the bulk of money they need to develop whatever they want to develop. Like Kebbi State, they used theirs to build a technical school. There are a lot of opportunities like that, which are not known to our policy makers, and so we want to inter-marry the public and private sectors. We want to use the platform of Mact Securities to bring the expertise, knowledge to bring know-how. We are fund managers and we want to bring our colleagues to come and talk to policy makers in a fun-filled environment.
Don't you think that this programme is coming at the wrong time, because of the world financial crisis?
The programme is meant to educate people because a lot of people hardly have the patience to read or listen. They only know what they do. But we are saying come and let's reason together; that you should expect that once in a while stock prices will fall because what goes up must come down. The same way you have birth, that is the way there is death. When you have positive, there is negative lurking around. Whatever it is, we are saying come let's rub minds in a very relaxed atmosphere. Let's do business together, let's tell you what you can do, how you can cope with the meltdown because definitely, the market will still go up. It is a programme meant for relationship building. So, it is not coming at the wrong time, instead, this is the right time for it.
What has been the response so far and can you give us a run down of the programme. What are we to expect that night?
Basically, it is going to be an evening of cocktail. After the cocktail, we move to where the banquet will take place, where the dignitaries will be seated. We are expecting speakers from the three financial sectors - the bank, insurance and stock broking - they will tell us their own experience. We also expect speakers from the private sectors and also, a governor has accepted to give a speech and we expect Lagos State governor to be the chief host, while the climax will be entertainment. We have about two or three artistes that have agreed to perform jokes here and there. It will take place at the Civic Centre. We are looking at relationship building.
You have been saying we, we; who are 'the we' you are referring to?
De - Plum...we have interests in the De - Plum, as an entertainment sister company. They are our consultant in this programme but we are bringing in our expertise to partner with them.
What is your expectation from the programme?
My expectation is to see a lot of our government officials around, because a lot of private institutions are coming for the event from UK, U.S. Asia and within. A lot of banks, conglomerates have indicated interest and we just want to generally have an evening where interest of the outlook of the economy will be discussed. It will be an evening of fun and way forward.
Tell us more about yourself?
My name is Greg Otsu. I started my discipline as a lawyer, then went into stock broking, because I have always loved to impact on the economy. I have been practising as a stockbroker for over 10 years now. I am married with three kids; the MD Mact Securities. We are also into fund management; we are also going into property development. Basically, we hope that in the nearest future we will be a holding group.
I am from Edo State, Estako, to be precise, I am 38 years old and I am looking forward to better challenges and avenue to impact on humanity and develop the economy.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
