Nigeria’s forex market has seen immense growth in recent time, with more investors itching to veer into the market. In this interview, George Stylianou, chief marketing officer, ForexTime Ltd, a broker in the highly competitive market, reveals to ODINAKA MBONU factors that are driving the market growth and how his firm strives to support client with numerous value added services. Excerpts:
What influenced ForexTime (FXTM) to veer into Nigeria’s market space rather than any other African country?
There are several reasons why ForexTime decided to invest in Nigeria over other African countries. Nigeria as a nation has really benefited from the trade liberalisation policies that have been applied by the government in the past 10-15 years, and this makes the country a more attractive destination for foreign companies to invest in. We have also seen a huge appetite from investors to learn more about forex trading and add this to their investment portfolio, which means we have a solid foundation to grow our business on. Finally, and very importantly, we have a talented and passionate local team who are exceptional at providing one-on-one support and education to our Nigerian traders.
Why do you think Nigerian traders are so interested in forex trading, and what makes them such good traders?
Nigerian traders have a great attitude and their interest in learning is unsurpassed. They are also quite advanced in their knowledge of financial markets, which puts them in an ideal position to be successful traders. I think Nigerian investors have also seen how the country’s wealth has grown over the past years and decades and they now want to take control of their own personal wealth. Another reason for its popularity is that forex trading is an investment that requires only a small amount of up-front capital and you can do it part time, around job and family commitments. This makes it more appealing for a wide variety of investors.
What distinguishes you from other brokers?
ForexTime was built on the foundations of providing exceptional customer service and everything we do is centred on maximising the trading experience for our clients. What sets us apart is that we listen to our clients’ expectations and demands and base our future products and services on what we know they want and need. We have designed a range of tailored products and different accounts that reflect the individual trading needs of our clients. These include the Swap-free and Cent accounts, as well as ECN Zero, Amanah and Fixed Spread accounts.
Your firm seems to find education a very crucial key in unlocking opportunities in the forex world. Intimate us with the scope of those seminars.
Our experience has led us to understand that education is critical to being a successful trader, which is why we consider it of utmost importance. We host a variety of special education seminars across Nigeria cities and the content of these events changes depending on the audience, but it is always primarily centred on ensuring traders understand the fundamental details of how the forex market works, how to prepare a trading strategy and how to get the most from their investment. Just like anything in life, to be a successful trader takes time, practice and skill, which is why we also like to develop a community atmosphere amongst our traders so they can learn; not only from our experts, but also from each other.
Do you have any special services or offers that are only for Nigerian traders?
In addition to the 200 percent rebate that I mentioned earlier, we have also recently launched a special 30 percent bonus that is unique to ForexTime traders in Nigeria. This means that when a trader makes a deposit they receive an extra 30 percent on top of their deposit. This offer is available for a limited time and is open to both new traders and existing clients of ForexTime. However, clients cannot participate in both offers at the same time.
What are the challenges the company is facing in Nigeria in terms of operations and responsiveness from traders?
The challenge of expanding to new regions is always recognising the different ways of doing business in a new environment, but ForexTime benefits from the skills and expertise of our local team, who have been crucial to our success in Nigeria. For this reason, we have encountered relatively few challenges in expanding to Nigeria and, now that the GDP recalculation has placed the focus on Nigeria, I expect even more foreign companies in a variety of sectors will look to Nigeria for expansion opportunities.
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