•Cautions budding tech entrepreneurs on trust economy

•Says reputation of law firms aiding blackmailers at risk 

By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor

Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, has said that despite facing corporate and personal blackmails, he and his integrated technology group, the Zinox Group, posted over $23.7 billion global turnover in 38 years as a business concern.

He also revealed that with this huge sum, the company did not borrow a penny from any financial institution and does not owe any, but rather had extended credit facility of over $89m to other companies.

This is also as he advised young Nigerians aspiring to do technology business to avoid corporate blackmail and focus on their innovative talents to achieve success in the ecosystem.

Ekeh said that for those who do not understand the powers of innovation, corporate blackmail may appear lucrative but that the consequences are that those who indulge in it are neither respected nor will they achieve any meaningful success at the end.

For him, those who risk more of their reputations are law firms who aid these blackmailers in writing spurious petitions or defending their indefensible machinations.

Ekeh was speaking to select young entrepreneurs who he adopted as mentees, urging them to be steadfast and trust the economy to bounce back from the 3rd quarter of 2025 irrespective of what is playing out presently.

According to Ekeh, the new fraud is corporate and personal blackmail, which he said have set back many organisations, including his.

Facing the monster

He described corporate and individual blackmail as a monster that destroys economies. “I am sure you have read in the newspapers where CEOs of responsible corporations in Nigeria are tagged fraudsters. This is the work of blackmailers, and they partner with a few blogs, engage some innocent respected law firms just for hyping, and deceive a few government officials to achieve their set objectives of destroying corporate and personal reputations.

“These negative online materials are then lifted by Google, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms so that when people search your organisation or personal names, you are seen as a crook. This is with the intent to destroy your brand and affect your credit rating globally.

Corporate Collateral

 “For instance, my Integrated Technology Group is the largest on the continent, and we have the second-highest credit rating in the tech sector as far as I have been told in the whole of Africa. What this means is that if you award us a contract of over $5 billion, we don’t need to borrow to execute because we are trusted.

 “In 38 years of tech entrepreneurship, we have had a global turnover of over $23.7 billion, and we have not borrowed a kobo from any financial institution in the world, neither do we owe any. We have delivered the biggest tech projects across Africa.  We built the Group as corporate collateral, we are trusted by all our over 35 global partners and most of them are listed in Fortune 100. We do our best to promote a trust economy.“HITECH