₦airaland Forum

Bank business is about raising money, they can do so via an stock offering or deposit taking. In the case of Zenith they are doing both. The thing to watch for is the fact that this is a private company going public and some people are going to get damn rich with your money (4get the branch expansion story) which is different from deposits and paying you fixed interest over time. The question to ask is will they then work at creating value like they did when it was a private bank?

Zenith at the end of the day is an excellent bank which has performed consistently over time but the investment decision should be based on fundamentals. Is Zenith going to pay you dividends and grow value better than alternative investments. Note: The talent pool at Zenith is very limited, if they lose some key players, regardless of size they will get into trouble. That is not the case with banks like GTB, Access and a few others where the processes succeed individuals.

So look at the basics. I have not done this myself as I have no intention at buying Zenith at this point. But remember GTB, it came out very well and slumped after the insiders had made their money. I would, given the Nigerian market avoid periods of hype and promotion.

Zenith is a bank you can bank on. Solid, professional and reliable Not like the STB pyramid scheme. But dont let discounts on the current stock price determine your investment. Study the fundamentals, Earnings per share etc.

The whole idea of funding is not to know the people in advance but believe in their ideas and the value it will create and yes they were in deep passionate; dedicated is another story. In times of hunger the mind is a very imaginative. In times of comfort, there are many excuses for failure.

While I choose not to disclose names here are some things I have given money to in the past.

1. A transaction switching system. The people went some way and then went another and as it advanced they started shopping the project to other people.

2. I put up the money for a visa (travel like embassy) online processing system. They did a beautiful presentation to the embassies at the lagoon and then lost focus. Like the first one, suddenly there were partners I had never heard of before.

3. An e-commerce portal when portals were brand new. (and this one was to someone that went to the same high school as me just 10 years later). As it advanced, it became solely his project and of course he never completed it.

4. Several software projects that have not seen the light of day. From banking to insurance to retail apps.

I've paid people in Ukraine, Russia, India, USA to complete projects that were started in Nigeria, unfortunately. yet everyone says there are no opportunities.

Venture capitalist have a stake in your idea till it becomes a product. They don't make money from just giving your money. They make money when they turned your idea to a product that is comercially viable. Until then it is just an idea and the money goes down the drain.

Truth, Nigerians are just not thinking about the global potential of an idea. How a simple idea that meets a need can make the initiator a global billionaire. That is the basic premise of the technological dream.

Everyday people with money call me and ask what will be the next big thing. VC is a club of friends, I have friends that will jump on it with the cash to make it happen. But currently we have all adopted the global dream at the expense of the Nigerian dream. Just yesterday a friend sent me a proposal for Ghana and it sounded great. There are now lots of technological opportunities opening up as Liberia opens up; we are funding broadband projects in Ghana and Liberia as well as Liberian data center as they can recruit English and French speakers. By the way our friends own 5% of PALM Inc. You can read about it here. www.sagioinvest.com. In their case, they will not touch you until you go public and even on the Nigerian stock exchange.

Bottom line, you have an idea, send us an none-disclosure agreement and we can talk........ Since we are anonymous on nairaland. Just send us a PM and we will give you details if we are interested.




So area (technology), opportunities in Nigeria; can't find.

I am a retired venture capitalist. I have put more money into Nigerian e-commerce deals than most, but at the moment I use the word retired for the following reasons.

1. The work is never completed.
2. The venturer thinks that he can screw you. He will borrow money from various sources (when he can) with the same idea and then never finishes.
3. I am yet to see a good idea that goes from start to finish
4. Loyalties change once money is on the ground and the project never finishes.
6. The partners quarrel once they are funded and the project never finishes.
7. Most people forget technology is a business and so needs a business plan so many deals are not funded, so that idea never ....

Catch my drift

I still look for great ideas, do you know what most people want money for?

1. HYIP
2. Fx trading.....
there are very very very very few really good original ideas with an understanding of the dynamics of the e-marketplace.


All things considered, show me a great deal and I will "show you the money"

what a waste of time. Banks spend so much time on hype and very little time offering what customers need. So can you use maestro online? No. So whats the point?

Less than one percent of the people here on nairaland will ever travel abroad to use the card so what are you paying $250 for?
There are so few atms where you can use it, what's the point?

You are better off with a card from graphcard at http://www.graphcard.com or naira2u.com and that costs 10% of $250

The problem is not the business to start but getting other Nigerians to patronize and supporting the business. I came upon this post as I was about to post my own question. How can every year all the Nigerian domains I see on line disappear? I think it is because we don't support them. We all want to shop at ebay, amazon, use paypal and egold yet, we can start our own local auctions to sell locally, there are excellent opportunities to sell just about everything; and who said there is no online payment? There is neticash and naira2u.com. So let's stop making excuses, just last year Naira2u offered to help anyone with an e-commerce idea put the idea on the web, free of charge. Did anyone take it on? Naira2u sent further emails to people begging them to participate to give e-commerce a chance. In the end maybe there were 20 proposals, a big shame for a country of over 140 million.

Ok, James' I guess you both don’t know that attractive guys have a difficult time with girls. Just like most guys flee from outrageously beautiful women. So here’s a secret, outrageously ugly and BIG women are easy. So start by building your confidence there. Then when you’ve had some experience you can move up the ladder. It’s like growing, you crawl before you walk then you run.

Someone I showed this comment added this, even with the ugly and BIG women, you must still show that you are care and not taking advantage then it becomes easy, like skating on Ice.

RemiAwo, absolutely nothing wrong in a world class organization, but you should seperate government interest from private interest. If private (F.O.G) are going to create private companies to take over public interest under the cloak that they are the next thing, thats our problem. Is TNG talking about new initiatives? No, they want to buy NICON, NEPA, NITEL, etc etc.....

Our concern is who is the buyer?

femmie wants military rule abi. dblock n the rest of yu did not get my last joke 2007 to 2030?

femmie wants military rule abi. the rest of yu did not get my last joke 2007 to 2030?

I like you dblock, you wont get in my way for 2007 but what will make you so popular and by 2030? Wow ok, Anyway hang with us and I just might handover to you by then

There is nothing wrong with EFCC swooping down on anyone if they have committed a crime subject to the EFCC mandate. The problem is EFCC acting as both policeman and judge and the idea of presumed guilt. In Nigeria you are guilty until proven innocent and EFCC can detain you without a court order indefinitely while they have not charged you with a crime.

Without a court order, EFCC will come to your house and/or office and take you back to their office, or demand that you report to them in Abuja or else. Yet the EFCC head refuses a COURT subpoena because he is above the law. The Plateau State house of Assembly asked him to come and respond to a matter and he outright refuses, why because to him they are not constituted authority. After all he has only one boss and it is not the Nigerian people.

It is only in Nigeria that the government and its agency publish the name of a commercial debtor before proving a case in court. Innocent people are turned into wanted people on the pages of a newspaper because they borrowed money from the bank for legitimate business and maybe the business or the opportunity failed. Whoever told a bank that every kobo they lend they will get back? When did a bank loan become a Treasury bill, yet the charge outrageous interest?

Even the Federal government defaults on its obligations and who arrests them? This is different from someone acting as bank director and abusing his power. If there is a crime to prove how about proving it in court?

Maybe this is one of those issues where everyone should just shut up and watch. The only problem with that is that it may appear ok until the victim is your father, mother, brother or sister.

why are you limiting the vote a la Nigerian style. Vote for me toooooooooo

My promise:

1. I will crackdown on everyone that is corrupt, not only those that are my enemies.
2. I will not serve more than one term. I am faster than Abdulsalam
3. I am unimpeachable because I will honor my obligations, I will share the bounty.
4. I will assure the end of military rule. I will disband the army
5. There will be no disturbance on the road, all policemen will let go.
6. I will not travel abroad for treatment, I will travel to my village for Babalawo since there are no good hospitals
7. Don’t worry anymore about NEPA, we don’t need them, we have kerosene.
8. Don’t worry about the cost of GSM, it is not for the poor man, maybe if we improve the economy there will be no poor men/women
9. We do not need Nigerian Airways and Virgin can go home. Naijaman was not meant to fly. Don’t you remember the elephant that was Nigerian Airways and an African animal?
10. With respect to 9 above, I will save significant amounts on Nigeria’s revenue but traveling by road. That will also limit the number of travels.
11. Who needs a Vice President when one man can do the job? After-all no-one advises me.
12. Lastly you can save the cost of first lady and her programs, I am a single man.

Need I say more

Vote for Me Pendelite 2007