Tunde Gbewesa made attaining the millionaire status look so simple. Gbewesa, the Chairman of Wise Integrated Partners Limited, WIPL, an investment club that has over the last three years been busy multiplying the funds of its members in blue chip stocks and other rewarding investments.

Gbewesa belongs to the new breed of Nigerians who have been mobilizing investors in an organised fashion to exploit the advantages inherent in stocks, bonds, treasury bills and short to long-term corporate goals. He enthused on the encouraging response the initiative has been generating.

Gbewesa noted that trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock even cynics who hitherto foot dragged on accepting a body like the WIPL and investing in the capital market have been embracing the new initiative and reaping bountifully from their investments.

WIPL took off with 10 members who contributed N 10,000 each. The investment base was jacked up to N15, 000 in January 2005. As membership rose to 25 persons in mid-2006, contribution was increased to N25, 000. The amount is expected to rise to N50,000 each this year. Interestingly, WIPL's membership comprises 80 per cent of retrenched Wema Bank staff and the traditional ruler of a town in Ogun State .

In the last three years, investment clubs have recorded an unprecedented growth in Nigena. Mr. O'Malley, an Irish and founder of The Investment Club Network, TICN, is credited with the upsurge. O'Malley brought TICN to Nigeria in 2003.

TICN In the real sense is not a club, but an organisation dedicated to investment education around the globe. According to O'Malley, TICN merely assists in the formation of investment clubs by opening an on-line trading account and serving as their experienced advisor. With over 350 clubs currently under its roof the world over, TICN's Nigerian operations started in November 2003 with four clubs. The clubs today have collectively invested over N 100 million in the Nigerian capital market, while exploiting opportunities in other markets.

Gbewesa admitted the WIPL idea sprang from his reading of TICN's activities in Nigeria . And the only direction the club has been looking since then has been up. Its investment in GT Bank has brought in over N2 million; Ashakacem, about N1.2 million. As would be expected, not every investment can be profitable. The club lost some undisclosed sum initially to investment in Nigerian Breweries and Access Bank.

The two stocks are, however, beginning to payoff. For instance, Access Bank whose public offer sold for N2.90 per share in 2005 peaked at N9.55 per unit on 14 February 2007. Another popular investment club is the Moneywise Investment Club, MIC, which is sponsored by Media Partners, publishers of Moneywise, a leading personal finance

Newspaper. MIC is open-ended as members contribute varying amounts of money based on their financial capabilities. Contributions range between N2, 000 and N100, 000 at regular intervals of choice. The club's fund Manager calculates the worth of every member and disseminates the information' to them.

"It is mandatory that at the end of the month, you must save 10 per cent of your revenue, apart from your tithe, to buy shares. That is part of teachings we give them and it has become so permanent in their lives that many of them have been able to save to buy cars and to build their own houses. That way, they don't squander money," Makinwa enthused.

Mr. Ayo Arowolo, Editor-In-Chief of Moneywise, emphasised the liberal disposition of MIC towards admitting new members, which explains the low contribution base. MIC holds a monthly forum for registered members, during which they are exposed to different principles of investing. At such meetings, successful investors are available to share their strategies with members and field answers to questions from them. Knowledge gained can be used by members to make intelligent investment decisions. Media Partners also administers other clubs, while it has just introduced a service tagged Moneywise Stock Filter through which it assists portfolios.

MoDenaro Edge Financial is another organisation which serves as corporate administrator for investment clubs. As the investment awareness spreads, companies and Churches are encouraging their members to form investment clubs. For instance, the Kingdom of Light Ministry, a Church, operates three registered investment clubs – Wide Savings, whose 21 members contribute, at no fixed amount, every month for investment purposes; the Wise Sense Club, which comprises 30 members and the White Gate Club with 1 7 members.

Membership of the clubs seems to be a class stratum. Members in the first category contribute between N50, 000 and N100, 000, medium class members in the second category between N 10,000 and N25, 000, while the White Gate club is for low-income earners who can play the game with between N1,OOO and N1O,OOO.

Pastor Samson Makinwa, General Overseer of the Church, is himself a successful entrepreneur. His Techno Group of Companies has a subsidiary, Techno-Quip Limited, which manufactures equipment for making products like soap, Cosmetics, candle, chalk, paints and confectionery.

Makinwa, a winner of the National Productivity Merit Award in 1996, as well as the Africa Industrialisation Award from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, UNIDO, began his campaign with the Samson Makinwa Wealth Initiative, SMWI, through which he has been preaching the philosophy of wealth creation. Makinwa's investment clubs' monthly pool of resources is invested in the capital market, mostly.

The clubs receive training and advice on investments from TICN, which is popularising the concept through the Churches. Makinwa asserted that many of his Church members have, indeed, joined investment clubs with a view to purchasing shares from the stock market. To bring an appreciable number of members into the net, he has devised a scheme.

"It is mandatory that at the end of the month, you must save 10 per cent of your revenue, apart from your tithe, to buy shares. That is part of teachings we give them and it has become so permanent in their lives that many of them have been able to save to buy cars and to build their own houses. That way, they don't squander money," Makinwa enthused.

A report in the 26 December 2005 edition of Moneywise revealed that II investment clubs invested N38.4 million in the stock market in 2005 and earned N9.1 9 million as returns on their investments. The figure represented a 23.9 per cent return, compared to only a 1.63 per cent returns for the Nigerian Stock Exchange for the same period.

The investment club Concept is really simple. When a group of like-minded individuals contribute their idle funds and then invest them collectively in shares in the first instance, with room for diversification in money market investments, real estate and business generally, depending on the investment preferences of members, an investment club is said to be formed.

Coming under the TICN supervisory fold requires the formation of a group of between 10 and 19 individuals into an investment club. The members contribute a minimum of N15, OOO per month. The money so contributed belongs to the club. TICN will not invest on behalf of the club or give investment mandate in any particular stock. It will, however, provide the club with the necessary tool and education for making intelligent investment decisions. Market analysts believe some investment managers pander to the whims, for financial gains, of certain quoted stocks and purposely direct their clients to buy such stocks, even when they are suspect. Adequately educating members and leaving them to make their own wise decisions, remarked one analyst, apparently explains why many investment clubs outperform the market and investment managers of repute.

The beauty of joining an investment club is that it does not require prior knowledge of investment and it is open to everybody. But experts advise that an investment club should be operated as a limited liability company.

The easiest way to form a club is to simply look around for friends, associates or colleagues with a common burning desire to change their financial well-being. A typical investment club consists of members from diverse backgrounds - students, nurses, doctors, etc whose common cause provides for them the opportunity to interact at a personal level.

Even couples are free to join the same investment club. While individuals can join as many as they desire, it is often advised that they restrict their club membership to three for easy and full participation in the scheme of things.

The management of investment clubs is in the hands of members. Usually all the club members are directors. Clubs are expected to open a bank account while signatories are appointed on rotational basis, usually after every six months.

Members are at liberty to demand for the club's bank statement and decisions are taken in democratic manner. In fact, contributions by clubs hardly stay long in the bank, as they are almost immediately invested. Investment analysts believe that running a club can be as creative as possible, as the club has to take care of administrative expenses, open accounts, educate and train members.

Most clubs encourage members to remain for a maximum of five years, after which they could decide whether or not to continue. In most cases, they continue. But if a member wants to leave the club, the total value of the club's investment and profits are calculated and the results divided by the number of members to arrive at the exiting individual's worth. This uniform calculation applies to situations where contributions are at par.

Where contributions range differently, ratios are applied, as they, of course, are applied to Profit sharing. To ensure success, most clubs usually research into companies whose shares they intend to invest in. Members are assigned to research into specific companies and thereafter, place a tab on such companies for updates and developments. Since most clubs stay together for a minimum of five years, they usually like to invest in growth companies that, at the time of purchase, are selling below their true worth. Some clubs adopt a strategy of designating members of the club as experts.

In specific stocks with responsibility to track whatever happens to that company, The result is that members become knowledgeable about a particular stock that they can guess accurately certain corporate actions, like dividend payment and bonus issues, regarding such companies. Clubs conduct fundamental research to ascertain that a company would not be out of business unexpectedly. Most successful clubs keep good records of their business transactions. Members are expected to adhere strictly to rules and violators are punished. Clubbing is so seriously taken that defaulting members on monthly contributions, and even late coming to meetings, are fined specific sums of money. Successful clubs encourage members to contribute extra money to enable them attend workshops and seminars on investment.

The result is that members of most vestment clubs in the country now attend annual general meetings of quoted companies where they ask quality questions that put management of such companies on the edge.

Mr. Ola Emmanuel, a financial fitness practitioner and publisher of Oak magazine, reasoned that no one readily associates with somebody who has nothing to offer. According to him, financial knowledge is what makes the difference between a poor person and an affluent one. Emmanuel remarked that wealth creation and financial fitness are part of the total package that has been delivered to us.

Whatever the level of investment education, risk, taking remains a difficult task to contend with. It is not uncommon to find investment clubs that could not stand the test of time. Some investors who joined investment clubs with the hope of making quick money ended up frustrated and disappointed, as the clubs are .not meant for speculators.

Experts believe that certain events and natural disasters cannot be predicted with ease, even with the best of tools. Arowolo noted that different groups of individuals have come together to form investment associations. Many more are springing up. While some have done very well, others have run into difficulties.

To ensure a continuity of investment clubbing, operators, are canvassing for a harmonisation of the investment horizon, strategic positioning through networking and the introduction of investment clubs In secondary and tertiary institutions to enable the youth imbibe early savings culture.

Already, Mr. Ayeromara Peter, an investment expert, is engaged in the spreading of investment education in schools, clubs, corporate organisations and institutions. Investment clubs in Nigeria have now been seen as a revolution.

The concept of investment clubbing is not entirely new in Nigeria . In 1971, some Nigerians, including Olu Falomo, Bashorun Moshood Abiola and other friends, launched an investment club called 'Investment 1971 to support their personal investment efforts and strengthen their bond of friendship. Their regular contribution then was as low as £5. Today, the club pays a dividend of up to N 180,000 per annum.

Over 30 years ago, a group of 10 people also came together to form Ten Investment Association Limited, TIAL. Then, the group, a mix of students and workers, pooled together N5, OOO as start-up capital for the venture. They also took loans from banks to acquire shares. Three years after formation, TIAL's members began benefiting from bonuses and rights issues. Their investments also appreciated. Membership of the group, led by Professor CO. Olawoye, has risen to 17. TIAL is worth between N250-N300 million. Each of its 17 members currently collects a dividend of N300, OOO per year.

In2002, a stockbroker, Mr. Biodun Okundalaiye, General Manager at Kinley Securities, in conjunction with some friends formed The Investment 2002 Club. Members of the club currently contribute N5,000 each monthly for investment purposes.

Femi Michael, an accounting graduate who works in Lagos, said he was impressed by the foresight of the likes of Professor Olawoye who, though retired over two decades ago as the Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Lagos ; is reaping the fruit of his earlier investments.

Last year, Michael sold the investment club idea to some childhood friends and Church members in his home town in Ondo. Consequently, they registered Arpeggios Ten Ventures. Each of the 15 pioneer members contributed N 1 000 per month from April 2006 till last month when the amount was raised to N2, 000. By the end of last year, Arpeggios had invested Nl35, 000 in buying stocks. Michael is targeting an investment worth N360, 000 in stocks by the end of this year. To Michael, Arpeggios' total value would have increased by 50 per cent, amounting to a total asset value of about N742, 500 in only 21 months.

Peter Adesina Babalola, a former pastor with the Living Faith Worldwide, also set up the Millionaires Club in 2004, a different hue of investment clubbing, after he quit the pastorate. Babalola organises seminars and workshops for fees ranging from N500 to N1000 per participant.

The Millionaires Club encourages people to buy shares and provides training in financial literacy and intelligence. Babalola buys shares for members of the club, who are mostly students of tertiary institutions, corps members, teachers and other civil servants in Ondo State . In addition, he publishes a weekly journal, Money Sense, which is on sale to members and non­members alike, for N50. The club has been his main source of income since 2004.