In the course of searching for prospects on behalf of our clients, we found that many Nigerians roam the world in search of foreign partners for individual projects and venture capital to produce one thing or the other. We also found many talents wasting away in the name of doing business or searching for business overseas. They believe that mere indication of intent to do business is a good reason for a foreign investor to ship machinery and equipment to them. In nearly all cases, the costly trips yielded nothing.
On the other hand the Nigerian government has the most generous conditions and financial assistance for transfer of technology in the world. The Nigerian Investment and Enterprises Promotion Commission and other government agencies are very receptive to new ideas and new technologies. Many of these globe trotting Nigerians are not aware of the opportunities for venture capital at home. Many are aware but are unwilling to start business from “the start”. They can’t wait and they don’t have businesses to show.
Common sense indicates that it is better to seek help for an existing business than to ask investors to invest with you just because you say so. Some of our talented young business conscious investors-to-be have in fact grown old and reached retirement age in fruitless searches for overseas partners. Our Finance and investment group is there to help nurture business ideas into real production facilities before going out to seek funds or equipment. Additionally, we have a large pool of talented university and polytechnic graduates who can be assisted to put their theoretical knowledge into productive use.
Our unique approach is to recruit and pool investors, especially, the globe trotting ones, the young unemployed graduates who can form the springboard or nucleus of our technology and the struggling business owner who has little capital but wants to go alone even when he cannot make ends meet. Perhaps he will do better if he pools resources with even his competitor who is also struggling in ignorance to make more money.
