“Good day Edward.” Mr. Odusote strode confidently into the room, arm outstretched.
“Good afternoon Mr. Odusote, how are you?” Edward stood up to shake the proffered hand.
During their brief first meeting, he‘d accepted a business plan for the stock market transaction Mr. Odusote wanted them to partner on. Now he pulled out the detailed proposal from the top left drawer and placed it on his cluttered table top.
He‘d met Mr. Odusote for the first time last Friday after his proposal had been lying around for a couple of weeks. Mr. Odusote had left a leading financial services institution to form his own stock broking firm, Top Assets Limited, a year ago. The firm was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an issuing house. Mr. Odusote was the portfolio manager, and also dealt in asset management and corporate finance advisory services. “All is fine with me.” The thickset stockbroker sat down and adjusted his bulk. “Did you study the last email I sent yesterday?”
“Not yet, but I have printed off some of the attachments.” To be honest, the over-zealous manner the broker forwarded mails to him reeked of desperation.
Mr. Odusote placed a sheaf of papers and a laptop on the desk, and fixed an intense stare on him. “Those contain a lot of current stock data that will interest you even more.”
Edward rarely dabbled in stocks and was yet to take full charge of the company investments arm. He would have called in the director of that division for this meeting if he weren‘t out of the country in pursuit of more business.
Mr. Odusote sat forward “It‘s like I said last Friday. Some say things will only be right with Nigeria when we get out of the Paris Club debt. But, it‘s already happening with the overhaul of the financial sector. The involvement of banks and pension funds place the capital market at a very attractive stage now, and I think you made one of the best decisions last year acquiring Capital Investment Fund. What you need to do now is to maximize profit and this here,” Mr. Odusote thumped on the file before him, “is the best you can do.”
Edward recalled that the proposal set out a series of ways he could change the operation of Capital Investment, some with which he didn‘t feel very comfortable. He had examined the books before he took over last year and was satisfied with the fund‘s business and results. However, Mr. Odusote was right in one important aspect. A lot was happening in the business sector and so Edward let him keep talking.