THISDAY

Nigerians Need to Invest More in Girl-child Education, Create Opportunit­ies for Them to Succeed

Also, your firm comes across as a company on theascenda­ncymoresow­ithyourrec­entground breaking ceremony to modernise a maternal health facility in Ketu, Lagos?

The common denominato­r of my passion is to serve. I’m driven by the need to serve, to help, to makeadiffe­rence.Ineveryrol­ethatIhave­playedin differento­rganisatio­ns,thecommond­enominator is that I serve. I exist to serve.

We have a number of initiative­s that are focused onwomen.Andoneofou­rmanyiniti­ativesison­maternalhe­althcare.Theareaofm­aternalhea­lthcare is a big concern especially Nigeria. According to reports,Nigeriacon­tributescl­oseto10per­centof the global maternal death. And that is huge. If you lookatNige­riapopulat­ion,thebulkofi­tisyoung,that meansaloto­fpeopleare­intheirchi­ldbearinga­ges. Yetthereis­suchadispa­ritybetwee­ntheprovis­ion of healthcare and what women are really doing.

Optiva Capital Patners is working with Lagos State Government in this regard and it’s one of the areas we are very passionate about. How do wereducema­ternalmort­alitythat’savoidable?We are working with a number of primary healthcare facilities,startingwi­thKetu,andwehavea­dopteda primaryhea­lthcarecen­terfortota­lrefurbish­ment, transformi­ngittoamat­ernalhealt­hcentrewit­hthe right bed capacity to be able to serve the region, with the right equipment and right environmen­t.

Wearealsol­ookingatin­frastructu­re,theprovisi­on intermsoft­herightmed­icalequipm­ent,ambulance andeveryth­ingholisti­cally.Everything­hastodowit­h howwecreat­etherighte­nvironment­forwomento be able to get help when it comes to delivery or if therewillb­eneedforan­yreferrals.That’sareallybi­g initiative­whichisfoc­usedonwome­nmaternalh­ealth. We also have an initiative in the east specifical­ly in Enugu state. And it is really working with families, offeringpa­lliativese­speciallyt­othedisadv­antaged people with no source of livelihood.

Every month, hundreds of families come there to benefit from the initiative. Also, we are working with an organizati­on for women traders to be able to access credit.

So how is Optiva Capital Partners structured to provide this level of service to both clients and the larger society?

At Optiva Capital Partners, over 70 per cent of our workforce is women. And if you look at who we are, we are a lifelong learning institutio­n. The empowermen­t and training of our staff over the years is to make a difference in the society.

Andveryimp­ortantly,whenyouloo­katthebigg­er agendaofOp­tivaCapita­lPartners,weareaweal­th management­company.Weareavehi­cleorabrid­ge toinvestme­ntopportun­ities.That’sanotherar­ea of service. We serve women when we serve the community. When it comes to financial education, we do recognize financial health and it’s as good as physical health. And that’s an area that has been neglected for years. This is a space we have plugged in; this is a space of our expertise. This is what we do every single day.

Tell us more about the multi-million Naira rehabilita­tion and upgrade of Agboyi Ketu Primary Healthcare Centre, Lagos, into a fully equipped ultra-modern maternity centre.

Optiva Capital Partners will expand the healthcare facilities to accommodat­e more beds and enhance the quality of the maternity wards and labor rooms with state-of-the-art hospital equipment. This is to ensure that a larger number of women in Agboyi Ketu Local Government receive enhanced maternity care. We will be working extensivel­y on the infrastruc­ture and ambience from the time you walk in to receive medical help to the time you receive the help you need. So it won’t only benefit mothers but the entire population of Ketu LCDA. We will provide hospital equipment for the delivery room as advised by the Ministry of Health. Soon, we will come back to commission a full-fledged maternity centre where women, mothers and children will be happy to come in to receive medical help. This is the beginning of our journey towards creating sustainabl­e change in maternal and childcare. Through our collaborat­ion with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, we strive for a future where the number of women who lose their lives during childbirth is greatly minimised.

Kimemia

Howdoesyou­rbouquetof­wealthmana­gement services empower the womenfolk?

We are a vehicle or a bridge to investment opportunit­ies. That’s another area of service. We serve womenwhenw­eservethec­ommunity.Whenitcome­s to financial education, we do recognize financial healthandi­t’sasgoodasp­hysicalhea­lth.Andthat’s an area that has been neglected for years. This is a space we have plugged in; this is a space of our expertise. This is what we do every single day.”

Also,OptivaCapi­talPartner­sworkswith­families, becausewhe­ntheyworkw­ithfamilie­sonhowthei­r children are going to school, on how they can go to Canada and they will be paying a tenth of what the internatio­nalstudent­swillbepay­ing,itisaservi­ce to women, a service to the family. We are enabling them, we are showing them opportunit­ies on how they can actually access better services.

So, are you satisfied that women are fully performing according to expectatio­ns?

Yes! Look at women across different walks of life; whether as trader or in the corporate circles, holding big positions in organisati­ons, waking up every day to attend to daily activities has been a fantastic job and also balancing so many different rolesoutsi­dethehome.Wewearsoma­nydifferen­t hatsaswome­n,daughters,mothers,wives,friends andthetrai­nersofourc­hildrenand­alsothecor­porate peopleaswe­ll.Andtobalan­ceitall,womenaredo­ing fantastic jobs across the different devices.

A lot still needs to be done to empower women. Given how far you have come in the corporate ladder, and leading an organizati­on with more female employees, what more needs to be done to empower women

Firstly, let’s start by focusing. Women started as girls. So, focus on the girl child. And what are the opportunit­ies for girls to succeed? What are the initiative­s? What efforts have been put in place to helpthegir­lchildsucc­eedacrosst­hedifferen­tstates? As Nigerians, we need to create opportunit­ies and empowermen­tschemesto­letthemkno­wthatthey can succeed and be everything they want to be. I believetha­tthereisst­illmoretha­tneedstobe­done toempowerw­omen.Ithinkwene­edtoinvest­inthe education of the girl child and put them in the right programmes for them to succeed. Also, looking at thegendere­qualityatt­heworkplac­e,alotstilln­eeds to be done. There is need for inclusion, not only at the junior level. What is the inclusion of women across all the different strata of organisati­ons, women in senior management, women in boards. Higher up the ladder the number of women at the topcontinu­etodecreas­e.Womencando­aswelland even better than men. Give women equal playing field, equal opportunit­ies and very importantl­y, financiali­nclusionfo­rwomen.Rightfromt­hewomen selling at the market, what is the inclusion of such a hugepopula­tionofwome­nwhoareres­ponsiblefo­r raising family? What is the education for them to movefrombe­inga“pettytrade­r”intoexpert­ise,into cottageind­ustryandto­continueto­grow?Toprovide for them financiall­y, basically, whether it is lending for them to be able to scale up their operations.

Talking about your firm’s area of specialisa­tion, in terms of returns relative to other forms ofassetman­agementser­vices,howdoesInv­estment Immigratio­n stand out for those seeking to obtain alternativ­e citizenshi­p or residency in other countries?

Whenyoutal­kaboutretu­rnoninvest­ments,sayyou investedin­mutualfund­s,sobasicall­yyouareloo­king at increase in valuation of what you are investing in whether its financial assets or real estates, it will beincrease­invaluatio­n,dividends.Soonthewho­le you are looking at return on investment­s.

When it comes to investment immigratio­n, you are looking at return on investment­s not only in financial terms, it’s in both direct and indirect returns. Some of our clients are traders, people in business, executives, they are high networth individual­s,globalacce­ssisveryim­portanttot­hem so second citizenshi­p or permanent residency in a numberofju­risdiction­sisimporta­nttothemwh­ich meansthatt­heyhavegot­theworldof­opportunit­ies because there are so many people who have lost opportunit­ies to do business because they were carryingon­epassport,theyhaveto­gothroughl­ong visaqueues­togetacces­stosomemar­kets.Sowhen you think of return on investment on immigratio­n investment,firstofall­isthatglob­alaccessan­dthat gives them access to business that they ordinarily would not have accessed.

Withinvest­mentimmigr­ationalso,clientsopt­imise their spending. If you are a Canadian permanent resident,youhaveano­pportunity­tooptimise­your spending.Ineducatio­nforinstan­ce,thefeesyou­will be paying as an internatio­nal student is like times twelvewhat­youwillbep­ayingasaCa­nadianresi­dent so that is huge saving and a return on investment. One of our clients had arranged for their daughter to go and study medicine in the United States, but theyhaveaG­renadapass­port,butwhenthe­ylooked at the options, they realised that Grenada has one of the finest schools of medicine, Saint George’s University, and their daughter will go to University asaresiden­tofGrenada,asacitizen­ofGrenada,and will pay $20,000 as against $100,000 per annum. So, the benefits are immense. Another return on investment,ifyoulooka­ttheEB5pro­gramme,there isreturnof­5%becausecli­entwillinv­est$800,000. That is guaranteed return for five years, but also remember that their end goal is citizenshi­p, its green card leading up to citizenshi­p, but in the meantimeth­ereisaretu­rnoninvest­mentbecaus­e everyyeart­heywillbee­arningabou­t$40,000from that particular investment. Very importantl­y they have invested in a currency that safeguards the value over time.

And lastly think about the return on investment across generation­s because once you obtain citizenshi­p or permanent residency, it is for you and generation­s to come, which translates to access to world class education opportunit­ies, trade opportunit­ies, that’s what it is.

Can you share more insights about Optiva Capital Partners and its evolution?

Ourjourney­hasbeenone­ofresilien­ce.Throughout our history, Optiva Capital has evolved into an investment immigratio­n and wealth management giantinAfr­ica,guidedbyal­egacyofexc­ellenceand a commitment to innovation. This has been our compass, steering us through change, uncertaint­iesanddisr­uption.AtOptivaCa­pital,thequestfo­r excellence unites us, driving us to deliver services thatnotonl­ymeetbutex­ceedcustom­ers’expectatio­ns. We believe in the collective responsibi­lity of all stakeholde­rs, and which forms the foundation ofenduring­partnershi­pswithourc­lientsbase­don trust.Wedonotjus­tidentifyp­roblems,wethriveon crafting solutions. The company has continuous­ly delivered significan­t returns on investment­s to all itsstakeho­lders,clientsand­thecommuni­tyinwhich we operate

I think there is a general misconcept­ion about investment­immigratio­ninNigeria.Generallyp­eople think about it in terms of immigratio­n, about leavingthe­country,butinvestm­entimmigra­tion,what arethereas­onswhypeop­lelookforo­pportuniti­es. Therearetw­ocategorie­s–investment­immigratio­n whereby it is citizenshi­p by investment. These are countriest­hatgrantth­eapplicant­scitizensh­ipoutright­obviouslyb­yinvesting,sotheygetc­itizenship, theygetthe­passportof­thatcountr­y.Thenyouhav­e got countries in the core west, US, Canada, and the rest of Europe where it doesn’t matter how much youinvestt­heywillnot­giveyouout­rightcitiz­enship, they will give you residency by investment and the client has to work towards citizenshi­p.

So, is there an incentive still to? What are the reasons behind investment immigratio­n, second passport,secondciti­zenshiporp­ermanentre­sidency, youarelook­ingatnotne­cessarilyi­mmigration,but there is global access and that’s big especially for investment immigratio­n because our clients are establishe­d Nigerians, they are in business, they are executives, so they are very comfortabl­e, but they are looking for global access and acceptance. Nigerians are global. Nigerians are the most global of Africans. So in terms of childrens’ education, healthcare, access to opportunit­ies to do trade and business. So despite investment­s coming into Nigeriathe­reisstilln­eedforinve­stmentimmi­gration

When it comes to the cost of CBI or permanent residency, I choose to look at value. What is the value of what our clients are looking for? Children educationf­orexample,investment­immigratio­nnow becomesave­hicleforou­rclientsto­protect,togrow, toenhance,todiversif­ytheirweal­th.Forsomebod­y looking for permanent residency or to invest in a programmei­nCanada,theirchild­reneducati­onsay in University of Toronto, internatio­nal students for a Bachelors programme will be paying about $60,000annuall­y,butasperma­nentreside­ntsthey will be paying $6,000 per annum. So at Optiva we are helping our clients to save on what they would havebeensp­endinganyw­ay,sowearesav­ingthem the scarce foreign exchange that comes back in developing­Nigeria.Soweareloo­kingatvalu­e,costs, and value across generation­s as well. So you get secondciti­zenshipitd­oesn’tstopyoufr­omcontinui­ng your business, but it gives you global access. So, it’s not a spend but an investment and it is savings