Unegbu: Taking integrity in business to next level

Odidison Omankhanlen, Lagos

UnegbuIn the financial industry, Mazi Okechukwu Chris Unegbu, the Managing Director of Maxifund Investment & Securities Plc, is commonly called Mr. ‘Integrity’. This feat was not achieved in a day. Overtime, he has built up a reputation such that all stakeholders in the business industry want to associate with him.

According to him, “everything is not about money but everything is about your integrity; your name: How do you see your name? And once your name is good, investors would be happy to leave their money with you and go to sleep, so that their money can work for them.”

In all his life either in business or otherwise, the man Unegbu has never deviated from this statement. Which is why, even the regulators trust him with various assignments where integrity is required.

In a nutshell, Unegbu remains one of the few Nigerians that can stand tall in matters of integrity. In his over three decades of playing in the financial landscape, there has been no trace of financial impropriety leveled against him or his organisation.

Speaking with Sunday Tribune last week in Lagos, Unegbu said since Maxifunds was incorporated in 1993, no clients of his has reported any misdeed or misconduct to the regulatory authorities, adding that integrity has been the watch word all his life.

Apart from being the last helmsman that successfully steered the defunct Citizens Bank of Nigeria through the banking consolidation exercise, he was also a former President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and one of the people who midwived the birth of Spring Bank Plc.

One is not in hurry to forget his mediatory role in dousing the planned picketing and strike in the industry by the combined forces of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) at the time. The issue was resolved amicably because of the negotiation prowess displayed by Maxi Unegbu.

One would recall vividly when he was to take Maxifund Investment & Securities Plc, to the capital market to raise funds. According to him, “We want to diversify into other areas of financial businesses. Now, we want to go into fund management. We want to go into the work of an issuing house and I believe we are going to have more money.

We want to go into other areas of finance such as micro finance by which we intend to see how we can help people at the grassroots get the necessary funds to do business. I have noticed that our banking system does not favour giving loans to the grassroots people all because the operators are ever in a hurry to make profit even in the first year of operation.

At the end, he got more than required and indeed, a cross section of investors confirmed they put in their resources because of Unegbu’s integrity.

Who is Mazi Unegbu
Not many people know that apart from being a boardroom player, he is also a learned gentleman, a Lawyer. He had his first degree in Banking and Finance, University of Nigeria, Nsukka; second degree also in Banking and Finance, from the University of Ibadan and a Law degree from University of Lagos.

He is also a Part-time Lecturer at the University of Lagos.

Banking career
Mazi Unegbu commenced his banking career which spanned over two decades with African Continental Bank Limited in 1972, before he moved over to First Bank of Nigeria Plc, between 1979 and 1990. He had a brief stint with Broad Bank of Nigeria Limited, between 1990 and 1991 where he held various management positions before transferring his services to Progress Bank Plc as the Managing Director/Chief Executive, between 1991 and 1996. In 1995, he was appointed as the Executive Chairman of the Bank by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, (NDIC).

He is currently the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Maxifund Investment and Securities Plc.

The company
The company was founded in 1993. It was not initially a stock broking firm at all. The name of the company then was Sterling Securities Limited. The company had some form of problems. So, in 1997 when he retired as executive chairman of Progress Bank, he had to take over the company. He bought the company and restructured it into what is known today as Maxifund Investment & Securities Plc.

According to him, at that time, the company had N20 million as capitalisation. Later, they were asked by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to increase to N70 million which they did, using their retained earnings.

Before recapitalization to N70 million, the company was originally situated at Igbosere in Lagos Island. Then, there was no operational license as an investment and securities company, yet they were carrying heavy overhead costs – paying salaries of workers, rents etc. So, by the time we got the licence, through the assistance of Alhaji Otiti, they had shareholders’ fund amounting to about N18 million.

Recent Developments
In 2007, the company recorded profit after tax and other income amounting to about N15.8 million. The trend has been up. And this was all based on N70 million capitalisation. And this year, they paid 10 kobo per share dividend to its shareholders which, according to industry rate, is very good.

Based on all these and the belief that the capitalisation of stockbroking firms would be moved up, they decided in 2006 to do private placement. Before SEC announced the N1 billion capitalization which had been suspended to give room for wider consultations, they were looking for N500 million, believing that the new capital base would not go above N250 million, but it was a surprising thing that it was put at N1 billion. But by November 16 2006, after the exercise, it was over-subscribed. Today, the company has N680 million. The shares were sold at N1.20 per share and it was over-subscribed. They now have about 383 shareholders as of today. The shares certificates have long been dispatched to the shareholders.

Management Style
First of all, you must have integrity. After that, you must believe that God who gave you all that will also assist you to continue to work in that line. You know by the time I returned to the company after the Citizens Bank job, I discovered that I have lost some quality clients. So, I went after them that I was back. So, what is your problem? They complained that they didn’t get this , they didn’t get that because information is money. If I take your money from you, I must tell you what I have done with the money. Now, we have very active website, where you can log in to see the statement of accounts, see what stocks we have bought for you, your stock position at any point in time.

As a visiting lecturer in the University of Lagos, each time I go to class, I always take 15 minutes out of the two-hour lecture to talk about morals of business or ethics of business. You need to let Nigerians out there know how they can take care of themselves rather than depending on the government. And we are begging government to make business environment very friendly.

How you relax
I read a lot. I have so many books in my library here in my office, even when I am in the car. Then after that, I play tennis at the club, at Ikoyi Club most of the times. Then early in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays, I go jogging. After that, I would come home, observe our morning prayer, go to church and then come back to stay with my family and let the children know how I make my money.

Most people don’t tell their children how they make their money. They would be telling fables to their children and the children will grow with it thinking that that is how money is made. I am also a visiting lecturer at the University of Lagos where I teach Banking and Commercial Law. I read and write a lot even in the middle of the night.