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Could you tell us precisely what the business of Medalion Limited is all about?
Medallion is a group with three divisions, Medalion Marketing, Medalion Music. In fact, Medalion Marketing is not only involved in the organization and management of exhibitions, but also in direct sales, promotions and distribution of new products  at the trade fairs. At present, we have concluded arrangement to enter into partnership with foreign exhibition Management Company that would enable us go into the design, fabrication, rental and out right sales of state of the art mobile exhibition pavilions and display materials.

You seem to be so optimistic about the company performance, tell us who are on the board of medalion?
The company right now has a five member board that cuts across the geopolitical regions. We are well represented, including both individuals and corporate investors. However, I am not at liberty at this point to disclose them to you now. Most of them have experience in the business that the company engages in.

Could have mention how many years you served Datacorp as Managing Director?
I served Datacorp precisely nine years, almost a decade if I may say. I was the pioneering managing director. Actually, I was also running an outfit called Fingers Consult limited, where Datacorp metamorphosed.

So, what expertise would you bring to bear on Medalion as the number manager, sitting atop a prestigious organization like this?
What I would say now is that I have certainly been making things happen in the past, within the nations trade fairs sector; with innovations and improvement on existing standards. However, aside from experience locally, I have enjoyed the priviledge of attending world class exhibition outside the shores of Nigeria in china, Malaysia, Taiwan, Germany, among other developed countries. What I have learnt and acquired would be brought to bear on Medalion limited into the dominant position in the sector in Nigeria.

 In all this, how much money has the company invested in mobile exhibition equipment?
On this aspect, I would confirm to you that we have earmarked to spend N100 million in the next 24 months. Meanwhile, we have ordered equipment worth N50 million and they are due to arrive this month or next. These include most importantly security equipment, biometric technology, where we now use smartcard for access control into the trade fair arena. We are also bringing in metal detectors so that exhibitors and visitors would feel safer when they are coming to trade fair. With these facilities, exhibitors and visitors no longer have wear tags in and out of the fair. We are going to install state of the art technology capable of tracking exhibitors and visitors as they come and exit from arena. We are also introducing processes to contain and extinguish the menace called hawking at the fairs, because the space for people to hawk would be taken by exhibitors’ booths. In addition, the issue of having people sleep over at the arena would not be allowed again. At 7.00 pm the security operatives would evacuate people on the ground. And the issue of pavilions being vandalized and burgled at night would also be a thing of the past. Again, the facilities this time would also be improved as these equipment are coming with their own toilets, lighting and fittings, and other conveniences to ensure that the fair meets the barest minimum standards. infact, when you come to an exhibition in the next one year you wont believe that you are not in western country. We would revolutionarise the system in Nigeria.

We heard that Medalion has won seven franchise for Trade fair management in Nigeria, what would you say about this?
That is certainly true. Yes, this is as result of our records of accomplishments and performances in fair business, the following Chambers of Commerce have granted us exclusive franchise for the management of their Trade Fairs, respectively. These chambers are Port Harcourt Chambers of Commerce (PHACIMMA) for four years, which is from 2007 to 20011, the Kwara Chambers of Commerce (KWACCIMA), for three years, and that is from 2007 to 2009 and Ondo State Chambers of Commerce (OSCCIMA), for three years which is from 2007 to 2009. others include Odu’a Chambers of Commerce for two years, 2007 and 2008, the Abuja Chambers of Commerce (ABUCIMMA), for four year, 2008 to 2011 and Kano Chambers of Commerce for two year 2007 to 2008.
The franchise is of mutual benefit and because we are investing hugely in the sector ad we want to be sure, there is enough business to sustain that investment. Thus, based on this we approached the various Chambers of Commerce that have given the mandate to organize these fairs by the federal ministry of commerce though NACCIMA, to give us long term franchises instead of short term. This is to ensure that we plan towards not just improving equipment, but also the venues.
On this part of the Chambers, long term franchise would also enable them to have access to regular funding. As you probably know, most of these Chambers of Commerce in the country are non-profit organizations. However, by collaborating with Medalion, they have the assurance that in the next one or two years for instance they are going to have N15million or N30million. And with the in-flow of funds, they could plan and execute the programmes for the year and even hire quality Director General and other personnel to run the chamber efficiently and profitably.

As an expert in the Trade Fair business, how do you see the Trade Fair sector in Nigeria?
Well, trade fair is a big business, also an avenue to attract direct foreign investments, but the country is not yet harnessing the full gains of trade exhibitions, and that is what Mdealion is trying to tackle. We realized that we could not do this alone without involving foreign technical partners. We are looking for more especially banks and other corporate investors who would want to inject funds towards ensuring growth, development and profitability in the business, in order to make trade fair sector contribute meaningfully to economic prosperity for Nigeria. In analysis the industry, we discovered that most exhibitors often build  temporary exhibition stands with planks at N4,000/sq meter: an estimated 55,000 square  meters of land space is usually allocated annually at all the trade fairs, 30,000 exhibitors at the six international exhibitions and about 25,000 meters at the other local specialized fairs. At the rate of N4,000 /square meters a sum of N260 million is spent annually on construction of these temporary wooden pavilions, because these planks and plywood used for construction are basically not re-usable, they are sold off as scraps at 10 percent of their cost. On the process, a staggering sum of N230 million is lost and wasted on construction of Trade Fair pavilions. Aside from the loss on construction as explained, these wooden pavilions lack the basic facilities and do not meet international standards. this also discourages most foreign companies from participating in our trade fair as the ramshackle stands gives it an impression of a makeshift market. For instance, within three years, that is between 2003-2006, that we got involved in the organization and management of ticketing and passes, the franchise rose by staggering 300 percent. At the Lagos Intl trade fair, it rose from 7million to 18milion kaduna fair rose from 2million to 8million, while Enugu increased from 2.5million to 10 million. These figures indicate that in the next five years, tha gate franchise for such international  trade fairs would increase  by over 300%. With an annual projected growth rate of 25% in the number of exhibitons being organized in the country, we would expect that over 36 trade fairs would be organized annually by 2011. Also using the same projected rate, the value of all the combined trade fair by 2011 would be in excess of N1.5 billion.

Why did you choose to partner with Chinese instead of germans?
China as a country is doing well, and the world is moving to china. This is a country produces 118,000 engineers yearly. China generates technology, they are constantly innovating, developing, duplicating and improving on the technology they have eith borrowed or developed for instance, if you have been to Canton Fair, computer hardwares, aircraft and shipbuilding fairs, general goods manufacturing, machinery all in china, you would be amazed at how far the Chinese have gone in technology advancement. While in China recently I even discovered many American companies have production plants in china. So if the American seek out the Chinese, who am I? However, I am not marketing the Chinese to anyone

What is your position on sale of Lagos International Trade Fair Complex to (LIFTC) by BPE to Aulic Nigeria Limited?
To be frank, I am one of the people who is very gladdened by the outcome of the bid. It is a welcome development because the company that won the bid paid N40 million. I heard from authoritative sources that Aulic has developed a master plan to transform the facility to international standard by introducing world class facilities and exhibition halls. I foresee that in the next three to four years, the LITFC would take a new shape, and this would give us opportunity to walk in there and stage exhibitions at any point in time. Therefore, it is a good development and Nigerians, especially stakeholders in the sector are watching.

What are the plans of Medalion Limited in the next future?