NASD to depeen market patronage with new portal

Poised to deepen the Nigerian over-the-counter (OTC) market, NASD OTC Exchange has concluded arrangements to launch Enterprise Portal for the capital market by first quarter of 2018.

Presenting NASD Enterprise Portal (NASDeP) to stakeholders in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, NASD Plc, Bola Ajomale, said the enterprise portal is designed to address the non-availability, and lack of information on corporate enterprise, and their performance in capital market.

Ajomale explained that the portal presents structured information on performance, operations and investment opportunities in growth and value enterprises to enable investors make appropriate investment decisions.

He affirmed that in terms of service delivery, the Enterprise Portal obtained a SEC Nigeria ‘no-objection’ to diversify into the service in November 2017.

Furthermore, he said the capital market is under represented with the amount of activities that is going on in the capital market space, especially regarding private equities, adding that there is a lot of private equities activities in the country.

He noted that independently a lot of companies are raising capital with lots of transactions going on in the capital market space, which are not in the public domain.

Citing South African capital market, Ajomale said due to sufficient information, the market contributes 32 per cent to GDP, while Nigeria is still far behind.

However, he explained that there are activties going on in the market, which is not documented, adding that the portal would provide solution by capturing accurate information.

According to Ajomale, NASDeP is segmented into Enterprises, Due Diligence Analysts, and Accredited Investors.

It also provides a central database of private investment opportunities and investor pools.

“Through the NASDEP, we provide growth-oriented enterprises with access to patient capital and strategic partnerships,” Ajomale said.