By ABDULLAHI Rabiu, Kano
CHIEF Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Karl Teriola, has said that the Service provider is determined to bail out Millions of Nigerians from the shackles of poverty so as to become successful Millionaires within the shortest possible time as part of it’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS).
Teriola maitained that the reason why they were making a Public offer of their Shares was to bring in as many Nigerians as possible to becoming part of the owners of the Company.
He gave this insight in Kano, during an interactive session with prospective investors and members of the public.
In his words: “We are going public for one reason and only for one reason. We want Nigerians, every common Nigerian in every part of Nigeria, to have a share in the wealth creation that MTN is going to take us through in the coming years , 20 , 30 and in the next hundred years”
The excited Chief Executive explained that they do not want to give a chunk of MTN Nigeria to a few large institutions, adding rather that, ” We want as many people as possible to holds shares however little you can afford. That is why we are going on road shows all over the country”
He added that,” Kano being the commercial capital of the North, with a very large population, it is only natural that this should be the very first stops of our first day of the road show to communicate to the people what MTN is all about,.
He indicated that their mission, during the show was to explain to the public and Nigerians in general, “How to subscribe to the offer, what the benefits of the offer are, the digital subscription process, the bonus we give after one year and really about the strength of MTN as a company, its governance potential and the quality of the management team”
He said that the journey of the offer had been on the table since 2019, adding that, “It is something that we have been working on for quite a while. We were listed by introduction on the stock market by May 2019. We needed the economic conditions to be right, we needed a few things like the renewal of the license and spectrum to be behind us before coming to the market.
“All of them have come together and of course, the Security and Exchange Commission has to give us the authorization which we got just as the beginning of the week. That is why we are taking off at this time”.
He expressed delight at the turnout at the road show, describing the whole experience in Kano as fantastic
“We had an extremely highly financial literate customer base … very pertinent questions were asked and really, we had a very intelligent mix of a crowd of guests” he said
He expressed appreciation to the people of Kano for taking time off their busy schedule to spend with MTN Nigeria,
Speaking at the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer Central Security Clearing System, Jalo Waziri said MTN Nigeria’s offer is unique and revolutionary in terms of the structure and innovation even as he admitted that MTN Nigeria is the company with the highest revenue in the market today .
While stating that they offer subscribers of the network a unique opportunity to own the company, he implored the people of Kano to seize the opportunity to improve their presence and ranking in the stock market..
Speaking, the Chief Executive of Nigeria Exchange Limited Mr. Temi Popoola declared that today the stock market was stronger and better run that ever.
He explained that the reason there were lesser confidence in the stock market today was because of the crisis in the market, some 12 years ago, even as he lamented that the crisis was enabled by the regulation environment which was very weak at the time .
“That has changed materially today. So at that time, the intermediaries, the stock brokers, the regulators, the companies that were being brought to the Exchange, the regulation at that time was really week and it led to the crash and broke investors’ confidence”
“I think it is important to realize that today that sort of environment cannot repeat itself. The regulation by the apex regulators is extremely strong today, the market is extremely well governed today and the Exchange itself has actually taken the issue and business of regulation very seriously by setting up a separate company, NGX strictly for regulating the market”
