Transitioning to holding company for enhanced value, service delivery

On incremental basis, many businesses are setting up or transitioning to holding companies which are different business types that deal specifically with business assets, investments and management.

Though holding companies are more popular or pronounced among banks that have diversified assets, subsidiaries or business interests, players in other sectors of the economy are also catching the bug and this includes real estate and construction.

The latest of such real estate firms to make that transition is Sentinel—a relatively young organization that has worked its way up the ladder, building interest in real estate investment, construction, publishing, training and development.

Sentinel, at a business and unveiling event in Lagos last Saturday, presented itself to the public, as a holding company now known and addressed as Sentinel Holdings. Besides tax efficiencies, it is expected that it will also enjoy other benefits that come with holding status.

These include minimising risk, protecting profits and, with its financial strength, being able to obtain loans for a lower interest rate than its operating companies could do by themselves. It will also be able to manage and control subsidiary companies, rather than creating products or offering services by itself.

Transitioning into holding companies has become a trend in real estate sector because, according to Ekwu Emmanuel, CEO, Sentinel Holdings, moving into the financial market has become a sustainability strategy for real estate firms.

Being a capital intensive venture, this sustainability strategy has become necessary because no real estate firm with the volume of responsibility and trust, looking into the future, can succeed without funding, more so in Africa where funding has become a big challenge.

Emmanuel noted that a lot of real estate investments that went into borrowing have been crippled by high interest rates, adding that being part of the financial market remains the only step to queue into the future and benefit from real estate investments which is part of the benefits of the Sentinel transitioning.

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From a very humble beginning with zero capital, no agent investor or venture capital, Sentinel has been able to navigate the difficult business environment in Nigeria, catapulting itself from grass to grace and to glory which its management calls ‘Sentinel 3G’ (grass, grace, glory).

Sentinel is a testament to the fact that with determination one can move mountain and reach the pinnacle of growth, socially and economically. “We started out the hard way and from the lowest level. This is a business that started from a zero-capital- no agent investor nor venture capital,” Monday Ebosede, chief marketing officer of Sentinel Holdings, said in an interview on the sideline of the unveiling event.

He continued: “But because of the dream and the aspiration; the vision and direction, and the clear purpose we had, we were able to move from that grass level to grace level. From one business associate we had at the beginning, we have been able to grow the business to 3000 associates.”

Connecting people and impacting their lives was one of the cardinal visions of the company which also believes that “for you to be successful, you have to make 1000 people successful. We are in business so that we can impact lives and help people to be successful. Today, we have over 2000 happy customers who are glad to do business with us.”

With a very challenging economic condition in Nigeria as reflected in galloping inflation, volatile exchange rate regime, high energy cost and soaring commodity prices, business in the country are struggling. But Ebosede disclosed that Sentinel has an attitude to bad economic conditions.

According to him, as far as the Nigerian system is concerned, there is never a better yesterday, explaining that investors will always complain about today, but the truth is that in every economic cycle, no matter how bad it is, new millionaires are made; no matter how bad the economy is, some people are succeeding and thriving.

He advised that people need to remain focused and compete with their vision, noting that, as long as one’s vision is big enough and he is focused as to where he is going, he will succeed. “Another way to succeed is to bear in mind that everybody is not your customer and so you have to continually evolve and innovate so that you will be able to meet up with market demands,” he said.

Looking back through the seven years they have been in business, Ebosede reasoned that Sentinel has done well with its business subsidiaries which are reflections of its doggedness and integrity of management.

This was attested to by Olumide Emmanuel, CEO, Commonsense Group, who said he would not put his name behind anything that was not credible, adding, “that I am here today is because of the high level of integrity the promoters of this company have. Investing and partnering with them is a security for the future; the investment you make with them today is sending your money to work for you and you are sure of good return on your investment.

Sentinel offers business and investment opportunities through its DOC (Destination of choice) Gardens Limited which is in charge of landed property acquisition and plot sales; Sentinel Property and Design which is into construction, building and development,

The Sentinel Publishing Limited is into publishing and media. It gives people clearer vision of what they want. There is also training and development outfit which, over the years, has trained their marketers free of charge. It also offers opportunities for capital development at individual and institutional level.