Asaba Group Holdings, Victor Edozien: The Prince of Steel Nigeria-American businessman, Victor Edozien, has quietly built a $400m portfolio in the American automotive manufacturing industry. He towers elegantly as Nigeria’s image builder in the global community. MANUFACTURING plants across the United States of America have faced steady close-downs as businessmen move their operations to Asia and Latin America to reduce cost and optimize profits. This has led to high unemployment and dislocation, leaving industrial centres such Detroit in ruins. If the situation is to be resolved however, it will be due to brave souls such as Nigerian American investor and business personality, Mr. Victor Edozien, whose string of plants are keeping thousands of people in jobs and last year returned a healthy $400million turnover. Edozien’s Asaba Holdings operates manufacturing, consulting and lifestyle businesses and has operations in five states in the US. Its portfolio companies include the AG Manufacturing Inc, which is an Electrical and electronics sub-assembly manufacturer for the automotive, marine and military defense industries; the SET Enterprises, which is a major provider of steel processing services to the automotive industry and the Asaba Group which offers strategy consultancy to the automotive industry and the US Air Force. The companies operate manufacturing plants in Michigan, Illinois, Alabama and Indiana. ‘We have a portfolio turnover of $400m last year and our goal is to

Asaba Group Holdings: LaserCoil receives order for laser coil cutter New Boston, MI - LaserCoil Technologies has received an order for a LaserCoil coil-fed blanking system from SET Enterprises, a processor of flat-rolled metal primarily for the automotive industry. The 2100mm-wide dual-head system, featuring two 6kW lasers, is being installed at the company's New Boston facility, where SET processes blanks for the automotive industry. "LaserCoil’s solutions give SET the ability to provide their customers with superior blank quality in all grades of advanced engineered materials," says Victor Edozien, chairman and CEO of SET. "This capability is critical in an increasingly dynamic automotive industry that is transitioning to support advanced high-strength steels and aluminum alloys. The capability and flexibility of LaserCoil's system, in combination with SET's operating experience, gives us the manufacturing agility and responsiveness to rapidly meet our customers' most complex metal processing needs. "In addition to the advanced processing capabilities provided by the LaserCoil hardware, their control system and laser blanking operating system software allow us to maximize our blanking efficiency. Our lines will deliver solutions to our customers in a fraction of the time required by traditional blanking." An additional benefit of the software programming capabilities is the ability to maximize raw material usage and reduce scrap. As automotive OEMs increase the use of

Asaba Group Holdings: Wharton Fellows Uncover the Next Big Thing CEOs and other senior executives know better than perhaps anyone in their organizations the need to stay current and prevent the kind of inertia that can hold their companies back. The problem is finding the time for a rigorous learning experience when day-to-day demands require their constant presence. “This is the challenge Wharton Fellows: Master Classes and Networking for Senior Executives was designed to meet,” says Jerry Wind, Wharton marketing professor and faculty director of the innovative program. “In three-day Master Classes, we visit and learn from some of the world’s most innovative companies, meeting with the leaders who are at the center of the action.” Most recently, the Fellows’ three days were spent in New York, where they learned about open innovation from one of the Museum of Modern Art’s chief curators and the president of the ground-breaking advertising agency Victors & Spoils. During a visit to the headquarters of Bloomberg, the former mayor and founder of the company Mike Bloomberg spoke to the group, explaining who the company’s competition is today, and who they’re watching for the future. “It’s not easy to find programs like this that not only make you think, but change the way you think.”