Local Routes, Global Reach: StoneX Nigeria

Video transcript

There's a lot of potential in Nigeria. We're probably at the largest economy in Africa, so when investors are looking for returns, looking for opportunities, Nigeria itself is very, very important in the game of things. It's still a developing market, right, an emerging economy, which creates a lot of opportunities. Yeah, we have some issues; we also have risks, but then in those risks are high rewards as well. Nigeria is actually packed with gold mines. The market is there, the opportunities are there. You just need to speak to locals that can help the local investors and the foreign investors and show to them where the gold mines are.

Fifteen million people live in Lagos, and it's like everybody in Lagos is on the road in the morning. It reminds you of any major city—New York, London—you know, everyone is on the move in Lagos. Driving in Lagos is similar to financial markets. First of all, you need to know the markets, right, so you need to know the roads, you need to anticipate things before they happen. You know, knowing when to speed, when to be slow. So, it's just the same thing with the markets, right? Know when to get in, when to get out. You understand the markets, understand the rules, so you're driving on the road in Lagos. You make the decisions that would get you to where you want to go, just like in financial markets as well.

I went to the UK to study, and that is how I forayed into finance. When I was done with school, I came back to Nigeria, and I got a job with a bank, one of the leading banks in Nigeria. You know, working with clients and, you know, colleagues in 19 African countries sort of gave me that reach, you know, to be able to understand what it is to do business in this region, and I would say finance chose me, you know, and it sort of fits into the kind of person I am, my personality, my lifestyle, and the sort of things I like to do. As head of fixed incomes of sub-Saharan Africa, my main role is to actually find these clients and give them access to developed markets and also reach out to our clients globally to give them access to sub-Saharan Africa.

We set up Commercial Partners in 2016 to set up the financial services ecosystem of choice not just in Nigeria but in Africa. To do that, you need to have a very strong team to put this together. Our partnership with StoneX has demonstrated to other potential partners that we could actually go into a symbiotic relationship. They want a local partner in Nigeria; they want to be part of the Nigerian market. Major developing markets tend to have a lot of controls and restrictions, so you need to know what exactly they are and partner with locals on the ground—people who understand the economy, people who understand the environment like StoneX.

I think I've always been fascinated by the markets. My first job was in equity research. I was analyzing companies, doing valuations, building models, and all. Then I passed the stockbrokers exams and became a broker instead, doing trading as a main focus. So, I've been in the industry for about 14 years. I would say it's dynamic; things change on a day-to-day basis, so I think that's what keeps the job interesting for me. Relationships in terms of importance are actually the key. I mean, it's going to be different if someone is sitting somewhere in London or in Germany or in Switzerland and is servicing Nigeria or the African market, but we, being on the ground in Lagos, gives us that unique advantage. We understand the environment, we understand our culture, we understand how things work, we understand our regulations better. Being in Lagos with StoneX, that's our unique advantage in terms of serving our clients.

From StoneX, I would say we're able to go beyond just serving our local clients in Nigeria; we're able to offer products across StoneX, so products in the US, the UK, and other developed markets. So, I think that's where StoneX has the advantage. I think we're one of the brokers in Nigeria that has that capability at the moment, where we're not just limited to our local markets; we're able to go beyond. StoneX provides us with access to international markets, global markets. So, having partners like that helps, so when your clients walk in through the door wanting access to global markets, having fantastic partners like that helps you achieve that. So, it helps us become a one-stop shop. We meet with these clients, we go to their offices, we attend the same events with them, we organize events ourselves, and it's a day-to-day engagement with these clients.

We make them understand that we're there for them, we're part of their business, we're part of their growth. Our partnership with StoneX has been very critical to our growth and development as a business. You need a partner that can always provide liquidity for you—cash liquidity and security liquidity—that would always be there to provide the best price in the market. They were able to do all of that.

Everything you do here, it's always important that you have those connections, you have those networks, you know you can connect to the clients, the regulators, you know, the industry in general. Those connections are very important locally because you sort of improve the quality of your services by finding the best for the clients. And how do you find the best? You have to be able to connect, to network, to know where to get what you need.

These are the old currencies, old Nigerian currencies. This is a currency as well, which has graduated from here to here and from here to here. That's the trajectory, and this is where they keep the cowries. You could say this was one of the first banks, sort of, to save money, put money, put cowries in.

We've been to the market today. The way the guys interacted with me, I see myself in them because that's the same way I interact with my customers—ask them questions, know about my clients. You know, it connects to what we do every day. We trade the sovereigns, and the sovereigns are basically the way the government raises money. You see a signpost that says Sukuk, Sukuk 1, Sukuk 2, Sukuk 3. Basically, what it means is that this road is one of the projects financed by that Sukuk bond that was offered. We trade these bonds, and you connect it directly to the investment in the system or in the economy.

It's important to have a well-functioning regulatory environment just to make the markets fair and orderly, to make sure that there's discipline, there's integrity in the market, to give investors confidence. Without those critical things, you can't really grow a market, and people need to understand that there's direction in the market, there's clarity. You know what the rules are. I think it just gives everyone confidence that you have a well-functioning system.

Overall, the average Nigerian benefits because you see money coming in, jobs are created, and I think overall everyone benefits when the system itself, the financial system, is working appropriately. We're trying to ensure that we can contribute towards empowering minds across Africa. It will help ensure that you have a more educated and financially savvy population. If Nigeria's economy improves, our GDP goes up, currency strengthens, we all benefit.

There are things that are peculiar to Nigeria that wouldn't be the same in the United Kingdom or in the United States, right? To know these things, to understand the system you operate in, to be able to navigate, to know who to speak to, who to go to, who to sell to, what to sell—all this requires knowledge, expertise, and people who understand the system. You're not in the US or UK speaking to clients; you're here engaging the clients on a day-to-day basis, boots on the ground. It means being there, being in front of the client, having a presence—a physical presence. That's what it means to me: physical presence, having an office in Lagos, in Ghana, in Kenya. You're there, you're in the country, so if you want to do business in Nigeria, you're in Nigeria.