Entreprise & Capital Management Consultancy

Pay Off Credit Card Debt in 6 Steps

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 22:25:15 GMT

Taming the Credit Card Beast: Your Guide to Freedom from Debt

First of all, it is important to understand that a credit card or overdraft loan is like a revolver loan in the sense that it provides a line of credit that can be used repeatedly, up to the approved limit. This means that it can be used as many times as you like and pay back, without any further approval from your finance provider. This is of course subject to your pre approved limit.

A credit card can be used interest free if you use it and pay off your balance in full within the interest free period. If not, interest will be applied to the balance, usually starting from the day of transaction. Some credit cards offer some kind of insurance, like purchase protection or other benefits. Check your card agreement for details.

Note that credit cards sometimes have different interest rates for different types of transactions. For instance, cash withdrawals typically incur a much higher interest rate than normal purchase transactions.

Also note that when you pay the minimum balance, it tends to be applied to clear your newest transactions that aren’t accruing interest yet. So, if you have any old transactions, interest will continue to be charged on them. Therefore, if not carefully managed, your credit card account balance can steadily increase and spiral out of control.

Overspending and not managing repayments responsibly can easily lead to debt and financial hardship.

You MUST be DISCIPLINED and COMMITTED to paying off your balance.

Actions You MUST Take Now

1) If you have more than one credit card or loan

Check your credit card agreement(s) to find the interest rate on each.
Check your payment cycle on the agreement. Interest is normally calculated on a 30-day rolling cycle.
Find out the interest free period you may have.

2) Determine the minimum amount you must pay on each credit card monthly

Set up a direct debit or standing order payment to ensure you never miss any. You’ll also see all the above information on your card statement. Might be best to use your latest card statement as it will contain updated terms.

3) Pay extra into your credit card account immediately after your direct debit payment clears

If your payment goes out on the first day of every month, interest for the new cycle will start running from the very next day. That means, if your additional payment is made on the 2nd, total interest charged to your account will be less that month. You can pay in extra as many times as you want. The sooner the better.

4) If you have multiple credit cards with different interest rates, set up standing order payment for the minimum on each card

Focus on paying off the card with the highest interest rate. All your additional payments should go into the card with the highest interest until cleared. Repeat the process for the next card with the highest interest rate.

5) Understand the interest rate structure of each credit card

Don't just look at the advertised interest rate. Different transactions can attract different interest rates. For instance, card A may have a 10% standard interest rate and lets say, 39% cash withdrawal interest. But card B may have a lower standard interest rate of 8% and cash withdrawal rate of 49%. If you focus on paying off card A because the top line rate looks lower, you’ll be haemorrhaging money on card B, if you've used your cash withdrawal option on both cards. Study the interest rate structure of each credit card and always prioritise paying off the balance with the highest interest rate first, regardless of the standard or top line interest rate.

6) If you are struggling, call your card provider and talk to them honestly

Tell them you can't afford to pay their minimum requirement but that you are DETERMINED to pay off what you owe. Tell them what you can afford to pay each month. Don't be too optimistic with the amount. If you can afford to pay £10 monthly, tell them £5 or even £1. But also insist that you want to RESERVE the RIGHT to pay extra, as much as you can, as soon as you can. This will ensure that you can conveniently reduce your minimum payment requirement to £5 or £1 monthly or whatever amount you agree with them. Make sure you pay the extra, as much as you can, every month, or as soon as you can. The sooner the better.

7) This EXTRA step is for you if you have multiple debts and are struggling to keep up with all your commitments

Loan consolidation: get a loan (if you can, offer a collateral to get cheaper interest rate) and use the loan to pay off all your credit card debts, then focus on paying off the loan per your loan agreement.

Balance transfer: if you have the option, transfer your credit card balance to a 0% card. Some credit cards offer 0% for a specified time period after which they charge interest. Interest will normally be charged from the date of transaction. So, check your agreement carefully and make your own summary of the key points.

Be disciplined and implement the payment plan. Doing this will reduce your balance quickly and relieve you of the stress. And soon, you'll be debt free and have a better credit score.

Hope that's helpful.

Like, share & leave your comment below.

HetoGrowShop Links: URL Redirect

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 20:26:13 GMT

Top Solar Power Bank FAQs and Resources from HetoGrowShop

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AI, Web3, and the Future of Work and Employment

info@hetogrow.com (Henry Okoli) — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 23:20:52 GMT

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Web3

Emerging digital technologies are revolutionising the way we work and do business. Artificial intelligence (AI) and the Web 3.0 (Web3) ecosystem are at the forefront of this change, including blockchain and decentralized user-generated internet apps. These technologies provide opportunities for businesses to become more effective and gain competitive edge.

Below we explore how AI chatbots and web3 are changing the future of work, and how these technologies are affecting employment and productivity.

AI and Chatbots

AI refers to computer programs, systems and tools that enable machines to act like humans and continually learn over time. An example of this technology is a chatbot, which is software that uses computer programming logic to simulate human conversation and perform traditional human tasks. A bot (robot) is software that can independently interact with humans in natural language as well as with other computer programs.

AI chatbots provide special ways that businesses can interact with customers. These pre-programmed bots are designed to understand and generate natural human language so they can respond to customer enquiries and perform a wide range of other tasks.

Web3 is the next generation of the Internet. This third generation of the web is already revolutionising how we access information and interact with each other online. Web3 is based on blockchain technology that allows developers to create decentralized Apps (dApps) that don’t have to be hosted on a central server. Blockchain ensures high security, increased privacy and evasion of censorship.

Here are a few examples of AI research and content creation tools

ChatGPT: A content generator created by OpenAI. It interacts conversationally.
Chatsonic: A content generator by Writesonic. It offers voice command and the ability to create art.

Forget traditional internet search. These two specifically generate direct responses in a conversational form. You can even use them to generate scripts, and codes including visual basic (VB), SQL, Python, HTML, CSS, and whole Apps in multiple languages and platforms. They are my two favourite AIs. Chatsonic generates more current content than ChatGPT which was launched in November 2022. A beta version is currently being tested and is open to the public. The knowledge base is growing all the time in both of the above applications and I suppose that integration is the best way to get the best out of these and other AI tools.

But, be careful and remember that the age-old principle of garbage-in, garbage-out still applies. So, the quality of our input will determine what you get. Here’s one example of awesome-chatgpt-prompts from Github.

Other AI tools that I’ve used or explored include:

Rytr: Creative copy and content writing assistant
Jenni: Writing assistant
Descript: Video creator - transcribe any audio or video
Jasper: Create imaginative art.
Synthesia: Create videos from plain text
WordAi: Rewriting tool
Lumen5: Convert blogs into youtube video
Copy.ai: Writer/Editor
Photoroom: Creative photo editor.
Quillbot: Rewrite texts, blogs, etc. This AI rephrases and regenerates AI generated content
Otter: This AI Records meetings, takes notes in real-time and generates an automated summary
Uizard: Website builder
SEO.ai: Create high-quality SEO content for websites
Pictory: Create short, highly-sharable videos
Dreamstudio: Create any art or video
Discord / Midjourney: Image creator
Bubble: Build desktop and mobile apps
Adalo: Build desktop and mobile apps
Buildfire: Build desktop and mobile apps
D-ID: Create a video using an image
Jasper: This AI writes movie script and blog optimised for SEO
Murf: Convert scripts into voiceover
Markcopy: Create, schedule, publish, and manage SEO content
Caktus: Training AI tool
VisualStudio: Script compiler and code editor
Flutterflow: App maker
Steve: Create videos from blogs/articles

How AI and Web3 can Transform the Future of Work

AI chatbots and Web3 technologies can be used to automate tasks and work flow processes to improve efficiency and reduce the need for human effort. Examples abound of chatbots being used to handle basic customer inquiries. Apps have already been developed to integrate ChatGPT with Google Chrome, Facebook, WhatsApp and other Social Media platforms to handle customer enquiries. These can result in human job displacement but new opportunities are also being created particularly regarding upskilling and retraining to enhance the proficiency and efficiency of affected individuals. Other areas of application include integrating various AI technologies to do data analysis, prediction, develop designs, proposals, presentations and quick decision-making.

Overall, AI and Web3 technologies have huge potential for creative applications to enhance productivity and efficiency in many ways. They are already transforming the way we work and do business. As these technologies continue to evolve, it will be important for businesses and workers to stay up to date with the latest developments and adapt to the changing landscape. The future of work is here, and it's up to us to make sure that we use these responsibly in ways that benefit humanity.

Account Registration Error Code: Cookie = humans_21909=1

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 19:42:36 GMT

Regional website access restriction

A customer in Nigeria tried to register as affiliate on our e-commerce website but encountered an error message: <script>document.cookie ="humans_21909=1"; document.location.reload(true)</script>.

He contacted us about the problem with detailed video screen recording and pictures.

The Region/State field was disabled so the customer couldn’t seethe pick list

I thought it was the cookie notification which he hadn’t accepted. But that wasn’t the problem because he tried using another phone but had the same issue.

The Region/State field was disabled so he couldn’t see the picklist. I tried it here in the UK and it was ok. I sent messages to friends and family to test the page and they all had the same problem - failed to work on phone network but okay on home broadband/laptop; both in Nigeria and South Africa. This test was done to isolate network, hardware and software problems like browser cache and cookies, IP address or firewall and proxy issues, etc. vs. ModSecurity – a web application firewall that can actively look for attacks to the system and stop malicious activity. But, sometimes these server level codes can be triggered when legitimate work is being done, to effectively block or limit website access. This can happen when hosting companies do systems checks/updates. The solution for this is called whitelisting, which basically is granting specific access by IP address or URL.

An indication of this problem is sudden inability to log into your Dashboard especially if it is IP restricted. Don’t just update your IP, run a system-wide check to ensure your customers don’t have difficulties transacting on your website. I had this problem last week but I just fixed it for my self not realising it had wider implication.

No coding updates had been done on the website recently. Moreover, the affiliate registration form had been working perfectly. I did cursory check on the website to isolate malware/scripting issues. All looked okay.

I did a detailed search on the internet and found that many websites built on different Apps have had this problem including WordPress, OpenCart, Magento, etc.

Who else out there has had this problem?

Apparently so many others out there have s had this problem. The most common root causes are

Hosting company's security settings suddenly changed
Hosting service provider blocked file names and URLs that contain words like checkout, registration or contact.
New protection on the server. May require disabling Mod_Security if it's enabled on the server and restarting Apache.
Rename the register.php file to something like register2.php, registernew, registration.php, etc . The keyword "register" might be reserved hence causing the error.
Can be caused by an extension that makes all pages have SEO friendly URL

I felt that changing the register file name would necessitate changing all occurrences and references in other files. This could complicate the problem. I didn’t think it was a smart fix. Besides, if it had been working okay as evidenced my new registration emails up to now, and given that there had been no script editing recently, the web files didn’t need to be altered.

I contacted the hosting company and they immediately denied culpability and asked me to contact my web developer. I told them I am the web developer and there's been no problem with the website. After over10 hours of denials and arguments, they said:

“ just to set your expectation, while we are the hosting provider, there's a thin borderline of what we can support as Tech Support and being a web developer. As a tech specialist, we assist in making sure that our server works fine and can load your website. Design, scripting, web developing on the other hand must be handled by the website owner or their web developer. If its working at your end and another country is not, then it seems that the issue is with the coding on the scripts on the affiliate page .”

I noted that if the issue is with coding, customers wouldn't have been able to register up till recently. Moreover that argument fails given the fact that the website works perfectly in some countries and on some gadgets; but not others. It always worked in all countries on all gadgets. Surely the problem must have been caused by server related setting / recent update.

Finally, after about 10 hours and 4 different Tech Support specialists, they agreed that it wasn’t a scripting issue. They did something on the server and the problem was resolved.

Recover & Restore Lost / Missing / Deleted Files after Windows 10 Upgrade

Mon, 24 Dec 2018 02:29:51 GMT

Windows 10 update deleted files - Fixed

Introduction and Definition of the Problem

Windows 10 reset (Dell Inspirion 5537 15R PC) ended up rolling back to Windows 8.01 after several hours. File and folders disappeared despite selecting option to preserve personal files, pictures and other folders. Attempts to use Dell Backup and Recovery (DBaR) and Windows 10 to restore the missing files after upgrade failed. Upgrading back to Windows 10 didn’t help either after running for days. It turns out Windows 10 upgrade works best when option to download MediaCreationTool1809 to PC is selected rather than run online directly.

Files are still missing after Windows 10 upgrade. Several posts on MS Community website report similar issues but most of the suggestions aren’t helpful including checking Windows.old folder in C: drive. Dell Recovery is also not seeing the missing files after upgrade to Windows 10 version. File History restore from external hard disk also fails as many files are missing. Available files have date and time stamps appended like yyyy_mm_dd 18_04_09 UTC. Microsoft Tech Support aren’t able to help with remote log into PC. If this sounds like you, the below suggestions may be helpful.

Solutions to Data Recovery after Windows 10 upgrade

The reason you can’t see your files is because they've been repackaged and saved in a different format with file name extensions you're not used to seeing. And you don't have the App to see them. Also the data files are saved in a different location. But the data is definitely there. Here's are some solutions to recovering your files.

The solutions explained below mainly relate to files missing after installing Windows 10 update and assuming your File History to restore points and backups are too old and missing significant new files.

Many sites offer solutions to the problem but in reality, they are really peddling their data recovery software, many of which are completely unnecessary, don’t work and may cause other problems that are best avoided.

Step 1 – go to C: drive and check Windows.old folder.

Look out for Temp, Recovery, Users and other folders in your c: drive. Windows tends to save backups of your files here. But you’ll have to look deep into your PC find them. Explore each folder for your files.

Step 2 – go to C: drive and check Temp, Temp_Migration, Users folders, .INP files.

Some of these folders may contain backup of your files. In this folder also, locate a new backup folder with data and time stamp reference like yyyymmddtime_BACKUP. This folder should contain .INP extension file formats. These are source code data backup files of Dell Backup and Recovery prior to Windows 10 upgrade. This folder can be very large depending on the size of your files. You can’t view or open these files with common Windows Apps. However, you can view the file listing by opening the .xml files with any text editor or view with your internet browser as indicated below. It will show you how the files have been backed up and to be restored.

Step 3 – two options to restore .INP backup files from reformat by Dell data backup and recovery software for Windows 10.

Option 1 – Use Dell PC factory recovery software

Assumption here is that you have a Dell PC. You may need to install new DBaR update. Use it to set up a “pretend” backup of any file. This will create a Profile 1 folder. When done, view the contents of the new folder. Delete the contents of the new Profile 1 folder. Copy/paste the contents of the new yyyymmddtime_BACKUP folder described above. Note – COPY only. DO NOT delete the original .INP data files yet until you are satisfied you have all your original files back. Now, open/refresh Dell Recovery and select Browse Archive. You should now see date of last back up. That’s basically the data you’ve just copied into the new Profile 1 folder. If other data files are visible, ensure you select the most recent one. Click the back arrow / select Recover Your Data. Click through and select relevant folders and click Restore Now when ready. Be patient and allow it to finish. This may take several hours depending on the size of your data.

Option 2 - Use Dell Migration Restore Utility App - MigRestore

The DBaR App may fail to restore your files – in which case it will return a No Files Found error. Your next option will be to download the Migration Restore Utility tool from Dell website. This needs to be downloaded and unzipped in your PC. Note That if you do not unzip, you may end up with DellSystemRestore.dll error.

If you see “error: fail to open dll”, its likely because you haven't followed the instructions properly. You must first download the MigRestore App, unzip it and then double click to run the .exe file. It should then give you option to select folders to restore.

Data recovery can take very long time (perhaps up to 48 hours) depending on the size of your files. That’s partly because the files will be restored to exactly how and where they were. So, best to be patient. You can monitor the progress by using File Explorer to examine recovered files if you need to. You can use them as normal – open, update, save, transfer, etc. But I suggest you don’t use the PC so that all available resources can be optimised for the data recovery.

Don't switch off during this stage. In fact, make sure you are plugged into a power input source. If you screen saver goes off and you end up with a blank screen, be careful to press the power button gently, once, to turn the screen on again. If it doesn't turn on immediately, DON'T press the power button again as doing that might switch the PC off. Be very patient and wait for the screen to come on especially if your data is big. Sometimes the progress bar can be stuck at different progress points for hoooours. But be patient, it will nudge up a bit till file recovery reaches 100% and the App says Finished .

When done, I suggest you have a quick look to check that your files have been completely restored. Then, Backup to external disk, run Windows backup with File History, set new PC restore points and whatever else you need to do to ensure you never lose your files again.

I would also suggest you partition your hard disk after backup. Save your files in a new partition like E:. Doing this provides additional protection for your files if Windows fails again necessitating update of the Windows Program Files in the default drive C:.

Hope this has been helpful!

What is Prime Brokerage?

info@hetogrow.com (Henry Okoli) — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 22:54:36 GMT

Functions of a Prime Broker

Trading securities is a very complex process arising from when a trade is placed, to when it is executed / settled and managed. Prime brokerage is a specialised set of capital market services provided by well-resourced large financial institutions like top in investment banks, to other qualifying institutions like hedge funds, pension funds, insurance firms, etc., that may elect to outsource such services rather than perform the functions in-house.

These expert services facilitate the trading operations of fund managers and other financial organisations by helping them monitor portfolios, manage risks, liquidity and grow the business.

What Investment Product Deals are Brokered?

The trades aren’t just limited to vanilla securities like stocks, shares or bonds. They also include complex derivatives like futures, options, forwards, structured notes, and more complex structured products like the following

Delta One Structured Products

These products have delta of 1, hence for a given variance in price of underlying asset, the price of the delta 1 derivative product will equally move by a similar variance.

Note that delta signifies the sensitivity (or change) of the price of a derivative product, to a change in the price of the underlying asset or index. Hence, Delta One implies a one-for-one or like-for-like variance. Synthetic delta one products can be created by combining other derivatives to achieve the desired constant unit delta of 1, hence providing one-for-one economic exposure to desired underlying assets. For an agreed fee, Traders can create a strategy that offers the return (income) of a given index like the FTSE 100 index without the risk of actually buying the quoted stocks. The Trading Desk can either buy the securities directly or a combination of derivatives thereof to achieve the desired return.

Structured Credits

Another set of derivative products that lend to delta 1 are structured credits. These are pre-packaged derivative investment strategies based on single products, basket or derivatives, as the underlying assets. The organisation of the business tends to be in the form of flow trading (mainly when the Trading Desk trades with client funds, in liquid securities per instructions, often acting as market maker and hence, also trades for itself). In this instance, it will typically trade in Flow Credits, which are securities like bonds, single name CDS and index CDS traded like single names. They’ll also trade structured credits, which are products with multiple underlying credits, such as synthetic CDO, CDO tranches, index tranches, FTD and NTD baskets.

As a market maker, prime brokers can employ a swathe of strategies to broker a deal. For a relatively small fee, clients like hedge funds can enjoy the expert services or prime brokers compared to the hefty cost of setting up the infrastructure in-house.

Functions of a Prime Broker

Securities and Cash Financing.

Provide leverage to speed up trade executions. Line of credit (margin financing), which normally requires collateral, can be extended. The collateral could also be used for other investing purposes to earn additional income, subject to terms agreed with collateral owner. Also, by allowing large financial institutions like hedge funds to borrow securities for short selling , prime broker earns financing fee (spread).

Custodial and Securities Clearing Services.

Having custody of funds (cash management) and other assets of a hedge fund speeds up trade execution and reporting.

Capital Introduction

Linking up fund seekers like hedge funds, and investors such as pension funds, commercial banks and other institutional investors like sovereign wealth funds, insurance funds, family offices, etc.

Risk Management

Consulting and advisory services in regulation, research, due diligence on hedge funds and technology analytics. It is important to understand that the credibility of a hedge fund, from the perspective of a prime broker, may be swayed by the size of collateral in custody, compared to detailed due diligence of the hedge fund. It therefore makes sense for investors to do their client on boarding KYC / due diligence.

This is particularly important given the complex and cloudy nature of the products and business, to ensure that appropriate internal controls are in place to bolster the structural integrity of the system for the benefit of both staff and firm. This will help prevent what happened at UBS in 2011 when Kweku Adoboli (biggest rogue trader in Britain, convicted in 2012 for losing $2.3bn, having booked fictitious hedging trades to hide his “over risk limit” trades. During the trial, it was revealed that the bank had uncovered about three other instances of unauthorised trading. His actions wiped circa $4.7bn off UBS’s market value. He claimed the bank turned a blind eye when his strategy raked in millions in profit) worked his way up and transitioned from back office to front office , mastering the systems along the way and was able to circumvent internal controls. The breach was discovered when UBS Risk Management Team conducted routine checks on outstanding trades with French Banks, rumoured to be due to other concerns about their own counter party risk. Compliance Team asked questions and things unravelled from there. I guess one can say that internal controls ultimately worked and limited the loss eventual loss. However, the operational risk had already materialised. The key point here is that investors need to be proactive and conduct independent due diligence focusing on prevention rather than belated discovery of material risk.

Concierge Services

Package of services provided for old and new funds needing help with infrastructure, setting goals and strategies, administration functions , staff hiring and training, etc. for a fee. Some of the expert functions may depend on product type and can include monitoring, reconciliation and control of revenues and balance sheet analysis and commentary. Micro level primary responsibilities include management of the books and records including finance daily and monthly profit and loss and balance sheet sign offs, regulatory reporting, reviewing and advising on new trading structures, managing key risks and controls etc.

Fund Administration and Transfer Agency

info@hetogrow.com (Henry Okoli) — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 19:11:35 GMT

What is Fund Administration?

Fund administration refers to a set of services provided in support of active fund management including origination, underwriting / financing, asset management and raising capital for new deals. The function can be performed in house but it is normally considered as non-core function. Therefore, fund managers generally outsource it to third party service providers who are often independent experts, like a trust company, with technical understanding of fund management and regulation. They also perform independent verification and valuation of funds.

Functions of a Fund Manager

Having outsourced non core functions, the Fund Manager can then focus on the core functions such as:

setting strategic investment goals, research and determine securities to invest in and grow the assets of the fund
active management of trading portfolios and investment decision making to ensure fund goals are met.
sourcing investors for the fund and attracting new capital
ensure compliance with fund reporting requirements
ensure that prospectuses and other reports/documents are completed, distributed on time and filed
overall operation of the fund including risk management and investor customer service.
hiring, selecting prime broker , outsourcing and complete oversight of activities that may impact their funds, remain the responsibility of fund managers. Therefore, they must actively manage more than just their funds’ investments.

Fund administration is achieved through fund accounting and registrar/transfer agency services. Fund administration services are dependent on the investment strategy, structure or transaction volume of the fund. The function is very sophisticated, requiring

strong operational infrastructure with automated systems and internal controls
shareholder administration – books, records and reporting
technical expertise in regulatory changes, corporate secretarial and related services like corporate actions.

What is Registrar / Transfer Agency Service?

Registrar / Transfer Agency service refers to timely and accurate recordkeeping and distribution support for fund businesses. Registrar services include:

maintenance of shareholder register and recordkeeping of investors’ bank account balances, cash, dividends, interests, capital gains and other distributions. Processing all cash received from or due to investors
account administration including provision of investor reports like monthly fund statements and processing investor communications and related requests
keep record of transactions like corporate actions including processing shareholder subscriptions, stock redemptions, switches and transfer and cancelation instructions received, and issuance of certificates.
perform due diligence on new investors, internal controls and compliance with regulation particularly anti-money laundering and terrorist financing.

Functions of a Fund Administrator

provide investment administration and fund internal change management
business analysis and support for regulatory changes
portfolio valuation including asset pricing and verification of securities independent pricing, handling securities and instruments held within funds
calculation and communication of Net asset Value(NAV) daily and annual tax figures and liaison with tax and accounts auditors. Investigate and reconcile valuation issues
corporate actions – confirmation and reconciliation of stock issues/splits, dividends, name or trading symbol change, mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcy, liquidation, spinoffs, etc.
calculation of fund income, tax, distributions, expense accruals and payments
maintenance of books and records, fund accounting, performance evaluation and reporting.
production of financial reports, statements and audit liaison covering local GAAP and IFRS
preparation of ad hoc and special reports for shareholders
opening and control of fund bank accounts
reconciliation of the broker, custodian, bank and investment manager statements
transaction and processing, securities and cash reconciliations, settlement of daily purchases and sales of securities, collection of dividends and interests and reconciliation of counterparty data between investment managers, custodian banks, prime brokers, transfer agents, custodians, etc.
preparation and filing of regulatory body reports
pricing of the funds’ portfolios
ensure compliance with anti-money laundering and reporting requirements
supervision of the orderly liquidation and dissolution of funds, etc.

For more information about fund managers and to invest, please see our funds pages .

Investment Funds and Fund Accounting

info@hetogrow.com (Henry Okoli) — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 20:54:49 GMT

UK Authorised Funds: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)

Investment fund accounting is important for investors in mutual funds including individuals, pension funds, family investment funds as well as institutional investors like Hedge Funds and Private Equity funds etc. The purpose of fund accounting is to correctly record transactions, monitor related custodian accounts in order to accurately evaluate a fund's portfolios and calculate Net Asset Value (NAV) including unit price of each holding whilst ensuring compliance to applicable regulation. The operation of UK Authorised Investment Funds is governed by comprehensive legislation. This article highlights the regulatory and reporting framework with emphasis on key technical considerations for for-profit funds. Non-profit organisations are outside the scope of this blog.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) UK promotes high-quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment and enable users of accounts to receive high-quality and easily understandable financial information that’s relevant to their needs.

The Investment Association (IA) [previously the Investment Management Association (IMA)] is the trade body that represents UK investment managers. The IA shares the FRC’s aim of high-quality financial reporting and has been recognised by the FRC for the purpose of issuing SORPs for UK Authorised Funds. The IA have noted that - the recommendations of the SORP are not an alternative for referring to the relevant regulations and FRS. The SORP should be read in conjunction with the FRC Statement “SORPs: Policy and Code of Practice”, any rules and regulations relating to authorised funds that are in force, and the law relating to these matters.

The Association of Solicitor Investment Managers (ASIM) exists to encourage the provision of high quality investment services by solicitors for private clients, trusts and charities.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorises and recognises Investment Funds that are structured as collective investment schemes (CIS), before they can be promoted to retail investors in the UK. Authorised Funds, also known as Authorised CIS, can take one of the following legal forms:

authorised contractual scheme (ACS) – aka tax transparent fund established as a co-ownership scheme or a limited partnership. Normally structured with a number of sub-funds, with own investment managers.
authorised unit trust (AUT) – unit trust that can be offered to the public.
investment company with variable capital (ICVC) – aka open-ended investment company (OEIC) is an umbrella mutual fund where investors put their money into a master fund that then reinvests other funds.

A CIS must also be classified based on marketing strategy, as one of the following:

undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities scheme (UCITS) – fund that that complies with EU Directive that allows a fund authorised in one EU country to be freely marketed in other EU states.
non-UCITS retail scheme (NURS) – doesn’t comply with UCITS directive but approved for UK retail investors.
qualified investor scheme (QIS) – funds subject to less rules because they are only available to experienced investors with higher appetite for risk and meet certain qualifying conditions.

Authorised Fund

Authorised Funds are investment schemes where unit holdings are approved by the FCA to be promoted to UK public whereby contributions from several investors are pooled in a professionally managed portfolio with the aim of spreading investment risk and generating decent return for investors. The instrument constituting the fund may provide for different classes of unit. However, where this is the case the assets and liabilities of the authorised fund remain as one pool and are not separately owned by any individual unit class.

In SORP 2014, the IA defined Authorised Fund as

A unit trust scheme which is authorised by an authorisation order under section 243 of FSMA - Financial Services and Markets;
An open-ended investment company (OEIC) incorporated by an authorisation order under regulation 14 of the OEIC Regulations ; or
A contractual scheme which is authorised by an authorisation order under section 261D of FSMA.

What Are Investment Trusts

Investment trusts are companies that pool funds from small investors with limited appetite for risk, who benefit from the employment of a professional fund manager to invest the pooled funds in a diversified portfolio of securities, thereby spreading the investment risk in a wide range of other funds/securities to gain income and/or capital growth.

The unit investor benefits from economies of scale, regarding admin and dealing costs. Transaction costs include fees and commissions paid to agents, advisers, brokers and dealers; dealing charges, stamp duty, charges to buy/sell, levies by regulatory agencies and securities exchanges, transfer taxes and duties. Direct transaction costs do not include any difference between the quoted bid and offer prices or internal administrative or holding costs.

Some investment trusts are called “fund of funds” and their objective is to invest in other investment trusts. Investment trusts have several special features that make them unique. A good starting point for an individual looking to save money for the future is a stock and shares ISA . The individual savings account (ISA) is a “wrapper” for a range of investments. It is called a wrapper because it has a protection threshold for tax on capital gains, dividends and interest. Returns on investments in ISAs are tax free subject to a yearly limit set by the government.

Other kinds of collective investment vehicles like unit trusts and open-ended investment companies (OEICs) where investors can invest or withdraw from the fund on an ongoing basis; also offer similar risk diversification benefits.

Fund performance - Past vs Future

In considering an investment strategy to buy in to, it is very crucial to note that past performance is not a measure of future performance. Although it may indicate fantastic return to date on an investment strategy, it doesn’t necessarily mean that future performance will be just as fantastic. Nothing is certain about the future. In fact, you should never buy an investment trust purely on the basis of past performance. It is absolutely important to always consider other factors including the trust’s operating costs, the level of risk, your own risk appetite and investment objectives, the type and size of the trust, etc.

Fund Accounting, NAV and Period Financial Statements

Also known as investment accounting, this is the maintenance of the financial records for a portfolio of investments like securities, commodities, property or mix of asset classes held in an investment fund. Accurate records must be kept of all the activities of the fund to facilitate fair valuation of instruments held by the fund and proper evaluation of changes in value.

The Fund Accounting framework is directed by the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP). The objective of the SORP is to provide recommendations for the preparation of the financial statements of all authorised funds. In addition to providing standard interpretations of accounting standards and other legal and regulatory requirements regarding authorised funds, the SORP establishes principles for determining the nature of items of income as revenue or capital for the purposes of both distribution and taxation. SORP applies to the annual and half-yearly reports of all UK authorised funds.

A complete set of periodic financial statements should contain:

Statement of total return
Statement of change in net assets attributable to unitholders
Balance sheet
Statement of cash flows
Notes to the financial statements

The statements above should be presented with equal prominence. There is no prescribed order in which they should be presented; however, the statement of total return and the statement of change in net assets attributable to unitholders should be presented on the same page, thereby providing unitholders with a summary of the principal features of the fund’s results for the period.

Comparative information for last year should be shown for all items in the annual financial statements, unless permitted otherwise.

Key Fund Accounting Considerations

Net Asset Value (NAV), Equalisation, Tax Implication, Bond Amortisation.

Net Asset Value (NAV) Cycle

NAV is the value of an entity's assets minus the value of its liabilities. In Fund Accounting, NAV is calculated per unit of ownership (NAV per share) based on the closing market prices of the securities in a fund's portfolio. For withdrawals to be made, the fund manager must calculate the value of each unit held by investors (NAV per share), i.e., NAV calculation divided by total units (shares of ownership) issued. NAV/share = total (assets - liabilities) / number of issues shares. This changes regularly overtime and is not the best measure of a fund’s performance hence should not be relied upon as basis of investment decision.

Decision to invest should rely more on total returns, personal investment appetite, investment strategy of each fund, diversification of investment profile, capital protection, tax exposure, income payment frequency, consider reinvestment of surplus income and capital growth vs. withdrawal based on your risk appetite.

The NAV process ensures that investors share the gains or losses equitably. The NAV cycle tracks funds inflow, issuance of shares, funds outflow for investments and related costs, NAV calculation and withdrawals.

Equalisation and Tax Implication

Equalisation is a process used to ensure that income distribution from a fund is the same for all shareholders, regardless of when the shares were purchased. When a fund pays income, the shares are said to be ex-dividend (ex-div or XD), which means excluding dividend, hence the unit price falls. New investors after ex-div date are clustered together as group 2 shares. Pre-existing shares are bundled as group 1 shares.

Shares bought after ex-div date during distribution or accumulation period may include accrued income and are said to be cumulative dividend (cum-div), hence with higher unit prices. The Distribution Period is the period from one ex-div date to the next and could be monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly, depending on the strategy of the income distribution fund. Accumulation Period relates to funds that don’t distribute profit but rather accumulate profits periodically during which the income is added to capital of the fund. Dividend/distribution payments are made just once, typically on the annual accounting period date.

If an investor sells their holding in a fund on the ex-div date or during the ex-div period, their details will remain on the unit holders register and they will receive dividend payment. However, if sold before the ex-div date, the new investor’s details will be added to the register of shareholders on the next update before XD date and the new owner will be paid the dividend. Dividend distribution for the period is determined by calculating the revenue, deducting direct costs and other expenses, taxation and making such other adjustments as the authorised fund manager considers appropriate and in accordance with FCA rules.

At the next payment date, all unitholders will initially be entitled to the same dividend receivable per unit. However, the NAV calculation process allows for adjustment for part of the income payable to group 2 shares. The amount is treated as return of capital into the fund. This is because part of the payment is income accumulated from the date of purchase and the rest is partial return of the amount paid for units bought at higher price during the cum-div period. This partial return on the first distribution or accumulation of income after a purchase, is known as capital repayment or an equalisation payment for capital sum included in distribution/allocation of income for a unit issued, sold or converted during the accounting period in for which that income allocation is made.

A corresponding adjustment may need to be made on disposal of the investment. This process equalises the per unit income payable to group 2 shareholders with that payable to group 1 shareholders that participated in the last ex-div event. After the new ex-div date, group 2 become equalised with group 1 shares. This may have an impact on the tax position of investors as it is regarded as a non-taxable capital return for UK tax purposes, except for units held in tax wrappers like ISAs. The income part is subject to usual income tax. The equalisation (or capital repayment) part will have capital gains tax implications as it has to be deducted from the purchase price of the holding when calculating capital gains tax.

Bond Amortisation

This should not be confused with Amortised Bond where the principal is consistently paid down with accrued interest over the life of the loan like a mortgage.

Amortisation refers to the spread of a payment or the cost of intangible assets like patent, goodwill, copyright or research/development capitalised expense, over a designated useful life, by making planned charges to income over that time period. The technique is also applied to paying down a loan or mortgage, over a predetermined term and reflect current/declining value of the loan over time.

IAS 38 states that - intangible assets (identifiable non-monetary asset without physical substance) should be amortised on a systematic basis over their finite useful lives, in line with paragraph 97. However, according to paragraph 107, where there’s indefinite useful life, the intangible asset shall not be amortised.

Bond Amortisation relates to bonds purchased at a premium or discount. When a bond is sold at a premium, the credit balance in the Premium on Bonds Payable account is amortised and written off to interest expense over the life of the bond. In line with Golden Rule of Accounting, every debit entry must have a corresponding credit entry and vice versa. Hence, in the bond investor’s book, similar offsetting entries are posted. Bonds bought at discount will have significantly higher interest income than those bought at premium to par value. The premium or discount on held to maturity bonds will not be recognised as capital loss or gain. It will be recorded as amortisation/adjustment to interest income generated by the bond over the life of the bond.

What is the smartest thing to do before starting a business in Nigeria?

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 15:15:42 GMT

Business Startup - 3 Cardinal Success Factors

Good question. However, the answer is not so straightforward.

I guess the best summary I can suggest is Do Your Homework . This will help you develop a good understanding of what you are getting into. Above all, make sure you plan to provide a service or product that people really need. And Have an Exit Strategy . Business success in not wishful thinking. If you don’t have a detailed plan to succeed then you have inevitably planned to fail.

There are several business ideas that you can invest in Nigeria but which of them really suits you. Doing your homework will help you identify your best options.

Even after doing the smartest thing in business, you’ll still face the difficulty and risk of unforeseen circumstances. Some of them will be man-made, others will be consequence of natural events. That’s why the answer to your question is not so straight forward.

Success doesn't just happen. It is the outcome of a process driven by 3 key factors

Belief - passion, interest strong persuasion and desire to succeed, etc.
Be Hardworking - doing all you must to succeed, getting better at being efficient and effective, learning; and developing new skills to do things better, in the process. This results in innovation, satisfied customers and profitability, etc.
Be Dedicated - strong focus on your dream, refusal to quit or be distracted especially in difficult times (a good business plan is useful is such situations) providing the best possible quality to stand out from the rest. Continuous affirmation to yourself of your strong desire to make it. Reaffirmation of your belief in yourself, your dreams and need to be diligent.

It is said that when preparedness meets opportunity, then success is inevitable. My boss and mentor says it differently - when expectation and preparedness meet opportunity, then success is inevitable. He says the difference is that you must expect to succeed. Its expectation that gives character and substance to the above factors.

This is the summary of my experience with HetoGrow solar power bank .When we started in Nigeria, the plan looked good and the future seemed bright. But new government came in and unfortunately, their policies have made things exceptionally difficult in Nigeria, with adverse impact on lots of businesses; many of which have closed down. Yet, many others have been very successful. Weare still in business because of Belief, Hard-work and Dedication. Belief thatNigeria is full of opportunities and still remains a viable market to investin. We are determined to provide good quality products that are relevant forthe country and we continue to work to achieve the desired level of successdespite the challenges.

Inconclusion, I think you will agree that the outcome of doing your homework is being prepared and ready. For avoidance of doubt, by this I mean doing your research, writing a detailed business plan, demonstrating excellent understanding of your market and having an exit strategy. I think that’s the smartest thing to do. Do you agree?

Let me add a quick twist to your question. The flip side of it is, what’s the smartest thing to do when you make it ? I suggest a double-barrelled answer

Sustain your success. Don’t blow it.
Look for someone to help and mentor. Notice the verb - look. It is an action word that suggests a deliberate and thoughtfully executed action. My point is, don’t just help anyone you feel like or that asks for your help. That will be a waste or inefficient use of the resource(s) extended. Help someone that DESERVES to be helped. The verb - Deserve, is the reason why the word Look, is cardinal. If done correctly and successfully, your success will be repeated several times over. And that’s when you’re really successful.

Imagine how great Nigeria will really be if a truly remarkable success story is repeated over and over again by different people. We must stop building strong individuals. Let us put an end to corruption and focus on building strong institutions, strong communities and a very strong society for everyone. That is the real smart thing to do. I trust you agree!

Nigeria-China Currency Swap

info@hetogrow.com (Henry Okoli) — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 15:16:28 GMT

Difference Between Renminbi and Yuan

Nigeria and China signed a three-year extendable bilateral currency swap agreement speculated to be worth RMB 15 billion vs NGN 720 billion (circa USD 2.5 billion). Well, the deal is actually between the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Yuan transactions.

As a currency swap deal, at the end of the term, the the OTC-type agreement can be extended and/or varied by both parties. Otherwise both countries can just exchange their currencies back, at swap fx rate that reflects swap interest rate per the agreement.

The Renminbi agreement signed on 27 April 2018 is designed to facilitate international trade relations between both countries so that Nigerian traders who import goods from China can pay in Yuan rather than US Dollars. And Chinese traders/investors in Nigeria can equally transact in Naira.

Chinese Currency: Difference Between Renminbi and Yuan

China’s currency has two major names - official and unofficial. The unofficial name also has other variants generally used for social banter and other informal purposes.

Renminbi (RMB) is the official name of the Chinese currency and it means "the people's currency". It was introduced at the founding of the Communist People's Republic of China in 1949. This is the name equivalence of Nigeria’s official currency – the Naira (NGN) which was introduced on 1 January 1973, to replace the British Pound Stirling at the rate of 1 Naira to 10/- (10 shillings, also written 10s); which in turn was equivalent to half of 1 Pound. So, 2 Naira was equivalent to 1 Pound Sterling (NGN1 = GBP2) on 01 January 1973. As at June 2018, it is circa NGN 495 - 500 to GBP1, a clear reflection of Nigeria's misfortunes and mismanagement by successive governments.
Yuan (CNY) is the name of a unit of the renminbi currency. Yuan means Dollar silver currency and goes back over 400 years. The Nigerian equivalence in terms of currency unit is Kobo. 100 Kobos is equivalent to 1 Naira.

It is important to know the difference between Yuan and Renminbi, and when to use them.

Trying to explain the transactional usage of the Chinese currency regarding the difference between Renminbi and Yuan compared to Naira (sign: ₦) and Kobo, is a bit tricky. For instance in Nigeria, for 1.50 you can say 1 Naira fifty Kobo. In the UK its 1 Pound fifty Pence. And in the USA they its 1 Dollar fifty Cents. For China, it seems both RMB and CNY can be used interchangeably but the most widespread international usage is Yuan.

Locally, the symbol for CNY is ¥ and its commonly represented by the Chinese character "元", pronounced "Yuan". Locals often call the Yuan "kuai", also often called kwai. Other names are "mao" or "jiao" which refers to a tenth of CNY.

My Chinese friends have explained the difference to me but I still consider it somewhat confusing especially the informal names. Apparently, Renminbi is mostly used for official purposes including books and other written forms. On the other hand, Yuan is used more informally in social settings when chatting. Similarly, Kuai is mostly used by locals for informal banter. So, for written transactions you can have RMB1.5. For normal social banter its Yuan or Kuai, as in, 1 Yuan 5 Jiao' or '1 Kuai 5 Mao'.

Implication of the Yuan-Naira FX Swap Deal

A huge proportion of Nigeria’s imports are from China and the ratio to total importation is projected to grow steadily. This currency swap will reduce the downward pressure on Nigeria’s FX reserves. The immediate impact is appreciation of the value of the Naira particularly against the USD due to the sharp fall in its demand to pay for Chinese imports. Albeit in the short term. Longer terms implications may well have unexpected consequences. For both Chinese and Nigerian businesses, there’ll be less exposure of third party currency risks.

For Nigerian traders, there should immediately be a shorter transaction lifecycle if the authorities at the CBN can put an end to the bureaucratic and bribery inducing practices. The transactional costs should also be cheaper for businesses.

Nigerians that travel to China should have their wits about them to avoid a rip-off particularly as regards fake Chinese currency notes and coins. Safer to withdraw cash from ATM’s inside banks and get enough change from the bank for petty transactions. Avoid using large denomination for petty cash transactions like transport fares and snacks, use card payments and bank transfers where possible but always confirm the bank details are correct before effecting payment. For avoidance of doubts, get a guide/translator and ensure transactions are in English and receipted. As there are now significantly more Chinese living in Nigeria, this advice is also applicable to them as well as other foreigners living in or travelling to Nigeria . Both parties will be well advised to imbibe local cultures and learn the major languages at the very least.

Concerns about Renminbi-Naira FX Swap Deal

The key points of concern are that this deal is only good on face value for short-term liquidity management. In the long term, it could ultimately hamper growth of local Nigerian firms. We’ll be watching and participating with keen interest.

Nigerian manufacturers who use a lot of Chinese input will benefit immensely but we hope they won’t go on holiday on this deal. It is only a short-term measure. Invest wisely!

Why Are Most Nigerian Graduates Unemployable?

Tue, 08 May 2018 17:05:43 GMT

How To Prepare For a Job Interview And Get a Job

Some graduates are exceptionally brilliant and it is evident when you talk to them. However, that’s not really enough to get a job. You must prepare well for an interview if you want to get a job. That simply means that you must be able to demonstrate that you are employable. Practically, you must prove that you can do the job.

It is pertinent to note that if you can do the job but fail to communicate well during interview, you’re not likely going to get the job. So, best to specially prepare for every job interview. Do your homework before you attend an interview, including how you present and conduct yourself during the interview. Below is a selection of some of my experiences @HetoGrow with many Nigerian under and postgraduates. Most are genuinely nice people but lacking is many ways.

The first important thing to know is that if you’ve been invited to attend an interview, that means they think you can do the job. So they want to know more about you. You have a great opportunity to go and sell yourself to your potential employer. Don’t blow it.

The second thing to bear in mind is that you are not the only one that wants the job. You have tough competition. Don’t waste time praying to get the job. Prepare to get the job. You’re not the only one praying to get a job. Why should God answer your prayer and not other people’s? The employer’s only prayer is to get the best candidate that can solve their problem. Yes, the reason they are interviewing is because they have a problem they think you can solve. Can you?

Also, getting a job is often a game of numbers. Don't just apply for one and then fold your arms. You must apply for as many as are available. The more you apply the greater your chance of getting a job.

To be able to demonstrate that you can solve the employer’s problem you must first understand what they want and be able to explain how you can solve the problem. To have a stronger chance of getting the job, go the extra mile and show that you can add value in other parts of the business. That means you must first understand the role being interviewed for, the company’s business, industry and their competition. Basic information about this will already be on the job specification under Company overview, Department overview and Role description . Don’t just rely on that, go the extra mile and do some research on the company. I used to go to the company address ahead of time and imagine myself working there. I would also seek out people that work there and tell them I’d been invited for an interview for xxx role in yyy department and I wanted to research the company before attending the interview. So I would ask – can you please tell me what the daily routine is like in the department and company generally. The response was always positive and encouraging because they were all pleasantly surprised I went that extra mile. Some promised to put in a good word for me. Naturally, when I got the job we became good friends. So, you have to dream it, believe you can get it, then make it happen by going the extra mile.

A Typical Job Spec

The last section of a job spec would normally specify what the employer is looking for: Key Competencies - skills, experience, qualifications and knowledge required. I used to aggregate job spec for roles I want to apply for and do a section-by-section analysis to find the common factors and key skills required. The reason was to identify skills employers typically ask for which I didn’t have. I would then do a comprehensive research on those skills to develop a decent knowledge of them.

Typically, I would find:

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work well with others and develop team spirit
Can-do attitude. Planning and organizational skills; executing priority actions on-time
Pay attention to details. Multi-tasking skills. Results orientated with a clear focus on execution and delivery.
Analytical mind-set with good understanding of advanced spreadsheet (MS Excel), presentation (MS PowerPoint) and database (MS Access) skills. Note that different spec will list specific tools and functions required for the job
Job-type experience with a solid understanding of products/business of the company.
Educational and professional qualification
Relevant experience on similar job-type

Gaining Practical Experience

I would normally rank these skills set in order of priority for my research. Skills I didn’t have would rank highest so I could dedicate more time to acquiring them quickly. For practical experience, I would find people that have the experience as described above, and ask them to tell me what they did daily and how. It helped me understand the working environment and I would immerse myself in that environment, in my mind.

One such example is how I developed working knowledge of Excel pivot table, conditional statements and macros. I was okay with writing basic conditional statements but had no clue about the other two. What I did was to dedicate few hours a day to it. I simply opened up Excel on the PC, went into the Help Menu and searched pivot table. I studied the notes so much that I started setting up various scenarios of my own and using pivot table to analyse them. I did the same thing for the other two. And I acquired other skills along the way. At other times, I attended courses that were directly relevant to what I was looking for. At interviews when the issue came up I would tell them what I did to develop the knowledge, citing specific example of functions, to demonstrate that I had practical knowledge of what I was talking about. And it served me well.

10 Reasosn Too Many Nigerian Graduates Are Unemployable

There are several reasons why most (note the word MOST. Not All) Nigerian graduates are unemployable. The most important of these is responsibility. They fail to take the responsibility to make themselves irresistible to employers. They expect you to pity them and give them a job. And if you make the mistake of doing that they end up wrecking your business – and still expect you to pity them. Many (note the word MANY. Not All) expect you to train them and pay them at the same time. They generally don’t quite appreciate how competitive the market place is. Jokers!

Some specific reasons they are unemployable include:

The country is messed up by corruption and terrible leadership
The universities are rather static, producing half baked “hand out” graduates
The students are just lazy. Most tend to prefer short cuts rather than burning the midnight oil. When I was a student, I studied to know stuff so well that I could teach other students better that the lecturers taught us. I also had an interest in applying what I learnt to everyday life. Students nowadays don’t test and apply what they learn in school.
Poor communication skills. Oral and written communication is so bad I often have headaches conversing with many graduates. There’s gross lack of understanding and application of basic grammar and language structure. Many don't know when to use present, past, future tense let alone past participle or future perfect tense. Many can’t distinguish between “there” and “their”, "his" and "he’s", "been" and "being", "I'm" and "am" "hear" and "here", etc. When you see such poor language on CV’s, applications or proposals, chances are you’ll bin them.
Most are unprepared for work. They just want to get a job, lazy about doing nothing and expect to be paid more than their employers.
There’s also so much “I know someone that knows someone” mentality; so they think they have right to get the job and expect to be treated specially.
Graduates are grossly ill prepared for interviews. They end up not giving a good account of themselves. Someone was asked - “which is better: social media or twitter?” He said social media. When asked why he said “social media is more flexible than twitter because it allows you to write more and upload more pictures” Hahaaa…! Can you believe that?! Another person was asked if they had an email account and they answered yes. When asked if its a savings account or current account they said savings. Hahahaaaa…! I leave you to guess if the respondent was a male or female. I couldn’t believe my ears. The test was designed to find people that would be humble enough to admit their weaknesses and ask for guidance on the job. And to help make a fair assessment of training and development needs. When asked if they had any questions for the interview panel, vast majority said no. That’s a terrible response. The Job interview is not a mono directional viva voce. It is meant to be a discussion. Invitation to ask questions should never be declined. Its an opportunity to sell yourself by asking technical or social intelligent questions about the job, the business, competition, technology in use, corporate culture & dress sense, etc. You can ask questions that enable you to showcase skill/talent you haven’t been opportuned to, which you have and feel may be relevant to the job or beneficial to the employer.
Employers recruit because they have problems they need graduates to solve. Most students don’t understand this so they don’t acquire and develop those extra skills
Far too many are too comfortable with asking for help rather than earning it. They are far too comfortable taking rather than earning. Far too dependent rather than aiming to achieve independence and self sustenance.
There’s also the annoying comment or expectation that “God will do it”.

Whilst I have specifically highlighted reasons why many (note the word MANY. Not All) are unemployable, I would like to categorically emphasis the fact that a recognisable number will do well if given the chance because most are exceptionally hard working and have a deep hunger for knowledge and ability. We also have some that are remarkably brilliant and talented. Unfortunately, you’ll find most of them abroad where they are applying their talents to develop their host countries whilst Naija continues to wallow in abject penury. All because of one simple reason – total failure of national leadership amidst a vast array of natural and human resources that should make it possible to pave Nigerian roads with the finest gold ornaments. Oh what a shame?!

I love technology and I promote quality solar power banks which I think are particularly important in Nigeria to keep mobile gadgets powered up. Power banks are great tools that can help you take advantage of the internet to do your research and be well prepared for your job interview.

Hope you find my tips helpful. When you get a job please come back and share the good news here. Hope you'll buy me a cup of coffee when you get your first pay ��. I wish you all the best!

Entreprise & Capital Management Consultancy

Pay Off Credit Card Debt in 6 Steps

Taming the Credit Card Beast: Your Guide to Freedom from Debt

Actions You MUST Take Now

1) If you have more than one credit card or loan

2) Determine the minimum amount you must pay on each credit card monthly

3) Pay extra into your credit card account immediately after your direct debit payment clears

4) If you have multiple credit cards with different interest rates, set up standing order payment for the minimum on each card

5) Understand the interest rate structure of each credit card

6) If you are struggling, call your card provider and talk to them honestly

7) This EXTRA step is for you if you have multiple debts and are struggling to keep up with all your commitments

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Top Solar Power Bank FAQs and Resources from HetoGrowShop

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AI, Web3, and the Future of Work and Employment

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Web3

AI and Chatbots

How AI and Web3 can Transform the Future of Work

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Recover & Restore Lost / Missing / Deleted Files after Windows 10 Upgrade

Windows 10 update deleted files - Fixed

Introduction and Definition of the Problem

Solutions to Data Recovery after Windows 10 upgrade

Step 1 – go to C: drive and check Windows.old folder.

Step 2 – go to C: drive and check Temp, Temp_Migration, Users folders, .INP files.

Step 3 – two options to restore .INP backup files from reformat by Dell data backup and recovery software for Windows 10.

Option 1 – Use Dell PC factory recovery software

Option 2 - Use Dell Migration Restore Utility App - MigRestore

What is Prime Brokerage?

Functions of a Prime Broker

What Investment Product Deals are Brokered?

Delta One Structured Products

Structured Credits

Functions of a Prime Broker

Securities and Cash Financing.

Custodial and Securities Clearing Services.

Capital Introduction

Risk Management

Concierge Services

Fund Administration and Transfer Agency

What is Fund Administration?

Functions of a Fund Manager

What is Registrar / Transfer Agency Service?

Functions of a Fund Administrator

Investment Funds and Fund Accounting

UK Authorised Funds: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)

Authorised Fund

What Are Investment Trusts

Fund performance - Past vs Future

Fund Accounting, NAV and Period Financial Statements

Key Fund Accounting Considerations

Net Asset Value (NAV) Cycle

Equalisation and Tax Implication

Bond Amortisation

What is the smartest thing to do before starting a business in Nigeria?

Business Startup - 3 Cardinal Success Factors

Nigeria-China Currency Swap

Difference Between Renminbi and Yuan

Chinese Currency: Difference Between Renminbi and Yuan

Implication of the Yuan-Naira FX Swap Deal

Concerns about Renminbi-Naira FX Swap Deal

Why Are Most Nigerian Graduates Unemployable?

How To Prepare For a Job Interview And Get a Job

A Typical Job Spec

Gaining Practical Experience

10 Reasosn Too Many Nigerian Graduates Are Unemployable

Welcome to the New HetoGrow Experience!