Transcription
[music]
Hi everyone, my name is Paula Obileye, and I'm super excited today, 'cuz I've got a super human in the house. You've all heard about big successes, but what if the success story literally started from ground up? With me today is the amazing managing director, group managing director, and CEO of VFD Group, owners of VFD Bank. Yes, the VFD Bank. Mr. Nonso Okpala, with me in his amazing Ikoyi office.
Thank you so much for having me, Nonso. It's such an incredible honor to be here. Thank you.
It's a pleasure.
And thank you for accepting to interview with me because I know that you usually don't do interviews. And this is incredible for me, and I'm super excited because I get to share, you know, the whole ethos of Conversations with Paula is that we bring to you incredible people doing incredible things. And this man right here literally is the founder of VFD Bank. Mr. Nonso Okpala, please share with all of us how this all started, like literally from zero up.
Well, first, I would say thank you, Paula, for uh, coming around to speak with us. Thank you.
Um, I'm a big fan of your work. I'm a big fan of your style.
Oh, thank you.
Um, I think that, you know, and I've been having this conversation, you came way ahead of time, right? [laughter] But that's innovation and genuineness in communication and style is something that I admire a lot, and I would like to put that out there. Thank you.
It's an honor.
Um, and then your introduction is very generous.
[laughter]
Um, to a, to an extent, um, it's always, it's always important to capture history, stories, um,
Absolutely.
as they are, right? Um, the story of VFD Group is one that when I look back sometimes, I got to pinch myself to recall that it's not a dream. Um, like you said, we started from ground zero. We started with 2.5 million naira. We started in 2009. Uh, we're a group of, as impossible as it sounds, almost 30 individuals that came under the banner, yes.
Incredible.
Under the banner of setting up a company. Um, if you look back then, I think two things were quite impossible, you know, based on perception. One was, can you bring 30 people or so to come together, set up a company, run it, and within the context of running a business, stay amicable, you know, within that establishment? Um, it was difficult to conceive it, but we did it. And the second thing is, how do you build with so little, and within the context of a corporate established track record, establish an assemblage of leaders, um, identify business models that you want to invest in, and you want to scale, and do all that from a low base of 2.5 million?
Wow.
Um, for us, those were two difficult things to conceive, um, that we brought to fruition, and we made a reality of. Um, today we are sitting on a balance sheet of over 400 billion. 400 billion, let that sink in. We have interest in, um, over 20 companies. We have investment focus in five major verticals.
Amazing.
Um, the first is the market infrastructure area where we have interest in the Nigerian Stock Exchange, in NASD, which is an alternative exchange, in the CSCS.
Wow.
And we have other emerging tech, uh, market infrastructure businesses that are coming up. The second is the market operations where you have asset management companies. And we have an asset management company. We have securities trading and investment banking. Um, more will come in under that vertical. But those are companies that we are pushing to be top five in their respective sectors.
Then real estate and hospitality is very critical for us. Um, if you look at the first segment that I spoke about, the market infrastructure, market operations, one of the things that we are looking to bet in the Nigerian economy is tokenization and fractionalization. I think with a huge population like we have, and an understanding that technology will consistently make things easier, A, in fractionalizing these assets, we think that the way to make key assets available to the masses will be through tokenization and fractionalization. Uh, and so our real estate play first has a traditional sense of real estate play, but ultimately we want to identify, build key assets, fractionalize them, and make them available to the retail public. Such that an individual who has a fraction of the real estate asset in Ikoyi can use it as a collateral to access facilities and things like that.
Um, one other area that we traditionally started with is financial services, and we're still in that space. Uh, we have aspiration to acquire an insurance company. But we also have interest in AB Mortgage Bank, which we hopefully, um, soon will get the final license to convert it to a regional bank.
Wow.
And the last bit is what we are quite excited about. It's called retail technology. Um, how do we build an assemblage of retail tech businesses that can help build what we call a retail real? Nigeria's big opportunity or potential is in its population, its young population.
Mhm.
And any business model that creates the capacity to host a hundred million people, a hundred million Nigerians within a platform, be it a payment platform, a lifestyle platform, um, a market infrastructure platform,
Mhm.
would definitely provide a base for an economic renaissance in Nigeria and by extension Africa. So, those are the five verticals of VFD Group. And, um, we'll keep pushing it to ensure that every company that we have within those spaces gets to top five in their respective sectors.
Amazing. I think one of the things I take away from that response, very, very, you know, detailed response, is how your eyes are on the ball with the vision you had for VFD, evidently, sir. But I want this conversation to be very relatable to people that maybe are not even in the financial sector. So, again, from the beginning, when you had this dream, I know, you know, doing a little bit of LinkedIn, um, dig up on you, that you were the former CFO of, um, Heirs Holdings, owners of, uh, UBA, and prior to that, you started your career with KPMG. And how you literally have kept your eyes, and you can see the trajectory. You have led yourself, clearly, with a vision in mind. But how did you lead these 30 people to believe in where you were going? And how did you get them to literally follow through to where VFD sits today? What would you say is your Midas touch when it comes to leadership?
Quite a loaded question. Um, one thing we learned very early was that governance is very instrumental to running a successful corporate. And it stems from a basic understanding that when two or three people are gathered behind a business model or business initiative, it's extremely important that they understand the terms upon which they would engage.
Mhm.
And they would understand whose responsibility it is to carry out certain tasks, and how they play within the context of the company's operation. And so, very early on, we were very focused on establishing governance. Uh, at the early stage, it didn't make sense because governance in itself is expensive.
Absolutely.
But if you are to go far with a gathering of more than 30 people, um, different people invested at different levels of um, sacrifice, you would understand that governance is extremely important. And we've taken that idea from the early days, and we've morphed it into what we call governance as a strategy. And governance as a strategy speaks to how do you take that relationship between people
Mhm.
and the understanding of how they play within the company? How do you take it and morph it into something that is beyond the rule of governance, but also an active consideration of how the company can build a strategic edge for itself? And if you look at what VFD does, fundamentally we try to put resources, aggregate resources. And for you to aggregate resources, you're talking about human resources. How do you put people together behind that idea, get them motivated, and still focused on achieving it from a staffing standpoint? How do you bring investors to invest in the company and keep them committed to the company, um, through a 10 to 15-year period consistently investing in that company? How do you, um, hold and communicate your standpoint to regulators? How do you sell your ideas and your strategy, and more importantly, your innovation to regulators? Um, all these things can only be done when you have a good focus on governance, which is the interrelationship between the respective parties within the company. And to a large extent, and stakeholders outside the company.
And so, I would say the foundation of my leadership style is, is, um, found in governance. It's found in articulating way before time the framework of interaction within the organization. And sometimes people might not like the structure in itself, but it has to be communicated beforehand. It has to be very well established. It has to be consistently, um, reinforced. And that way everybody knows when he's making a decision to stick to the company with the respective benefit and remuneration that comes with it. And you would see that, um, everybody would, one way or the other, you know, interpret their ambition within the context of what the company can provide. And it has worked so far.
Amazing. So, I would like to ask you what drives you as a leader, but I think that given my, you know, everyday head, not being in the financial institution, being more of a creative, I always feel like some element of growing up or, um, your birth or circumstances around your birth also affect who you become. So, I really want to roll back to your early days growing up. How do you think growing up has contributed to what drives you as a person? First, give us a background to growing up, coming to Lagos. Were you born in Lagos? So,
Just give us a story.
So, I draw a lot of inspiration, um, from my relationship with my mom.
Okay.
Um, she was extremely enterprising. Um, the big fun, the big fun because a lot of the things that I have sort of built upon were things I derived from her. So, growing up, my mom was a teacher in a, in India College in Benin City. So, I grew up in Benin City. Um, within the compound that she was allocated in the school, she had a farm.
Amazing.
So, kid you not, we wake up, um, go to school, come back. On a daily basis, we had an obligation to the farm, apart from the domestic chores you need to handle. Um, in addition to the normal farm, you know, growing crops and plants, um, she also had a poultry. And so, I remember Saturdays we have to go into the poultry, shovel out and the dumps from the birds. Um, that was, that was some work I didn't like to do, but you know, the lesson was not lost in the process. Um, and then one of those things that really stuck with me was the fact that in India College then, they had this sandwich program that universities used to do back then to allow people that did not have a university degree to, via a part-time process, acquire one. And so, they used to use India College compound for it. I kid you not, my mom converted our living room to a restaurant.
[laughter]
Yes, ma'am. When I, when I look back and I think of it, it seems very strange because my wife wouldn't allow me convert
[laughter]
our living room into a restaurant.
I know.
But those were the, you know, unthinkable things that she did back then. And those things are not lost on me even till today. Um, it speaks to the sacrifice of enterprise. It speaks to the commitment of growing something. Um, it speaks to the ability to integrate your family into that productive process. And, um, every time I look back at all that she did, um, even at the small scale, those things are still very relevant from a principal standpoint to everything that I do operating VFD as a listed entity, as a 15-year, of 15 years of successful track record in building value of a company with in excess of 400 billion in total assets, shareholders funds in excess of 100 billion. And the fact that those early life experiences, you know, with my mom is relevant at this scale means that, um, people have the opportunity to teach their children and prepare their children for leadership, regardless of where they find themselves in life.
Amazing. You know, one of the things I mentioned earlier is that I want people to be able to see themselves through your eyes or through their eyes just looking at your life. So, looking at your life and, you know, stepping back, 'cuz you mentioned earlier that when you look back at what you've achieved, you almost pinch yourself. What parts of growing up or building this business has been the most awe-inspiring for you? What part was the hardest that you had to literally get over that you now look back and be like, "Whew, can't believe I got past that"?
It's difficult to pick one. Because it almost seems
[laughter]
it almost seems like a daily occurrence, right?
So, you see, very early on, and I, I don't think I've ever told this story in public. Very early on, we had the opportunity of doing some trades. Um, it was close to my, my wedding. And you know how it is as a young man, you've a young man and an accountant, you have articulated what your cash flow would be for, uh, through the wedding,
[laughter]
and you know, some months after the wedding. And part of the considerations that we had was to
Mhm.
Part of the considerations that we had then was, okay, fine. I have this amount of money. I'm okay. But there was a transaction that came on, and I said, okay, let's take this money to this process. And I don't know, it's one of those transactions I had with Babs, which, you know, to a large extent, you know, gives us a bond, so to speak, because we shared that experience. And so we made that investment. And that investment tanked. It didn't tank by 10%. It didn't tank by 30%. It tanked by almost 70%.
Wow.
And so, all of a sudden, I was a guy getting prepared to be married. I knew exactly what I was worth. And I had lost 70% of it just like that.
Wow.
It was, it was a difficult process, but it was also a process that spoke to resilience, but more importantly, spoke to friendship and partnership. And in business, what we found is when you do business with partners, you get to realize that relationship is extremely important. And the fact that when things go bad, you can still sit in an honest way with your partners, realize the losses as it is, and then refocus for more opportunities ahead, because there will always be better opportunities ahead. Some situations might be that when things go bad, you start to conflict and you burn bridges and you burn relationships. But if you steady course and endure the loss, better days ahead. Today, we're still friends. I'm still married. Hallelujah. We didn't lose that [laughter] process. We didn't lose the human side of doing business, and I think it is something that taught me a lot, and I think a lot of people can learn from it. There is the human side of doing business, and even when you lose, you should not lose the relationship and the partnership because they would serve you in future.
Amazing. I was going to ask you, like, you know, there's a, there's a program where this lady goes and asks around, like, what's your worst day ever? But that you just experienced sounds like
[laughter]
would have been like worst year for me. Um, just bouncing back from that. But, I want to ask, you just seem like everything you touched turns to gold, at least from the outside. So, I was going to ask, in a world where everything and everyone judges success by how much money you have, and, you know, how much, well, people tend to judge value by numbers.
Mhm.
Have you ever failed at anything? And how does it feel when you look around some of your peers, and they probably haven't achieved as much? How do you maintain these relationships? Because sometimes it does get difficult to maintain certain relationships when you reach certain points in one's life.
So, I, I think I'll put it on record that I've failed way more times than my peers.
Oh, I, oh, wow.
Because you see, you don't, you don't fail, so to speak, if you do not make attempts.
Yeah.
And I'm quite a restless mind and an extremely venturing mind. So, I have my failed situations well wrapped up. But, I also have successes to show for the lessons I've learned in times when I failed.
Mhm.
Um, speaking to relationship, my understanding of relationship with people is you look to the core of humans when you relate with them.
Mhm.
Um, there are friends of mine that our relationship is based on the fact that I see them as refreshingly honest. I see them as, um, people that will give you views that you can take to the bank. And so, regardless of what that person's situation in life is,
Mhm.
there is the value that I tie to the relationship, and those things are quite tangible. And my, my summary is that you don't look at relationship based on what the people have achieved. You look at what they've had, what they have. You look at the qualities that complement you in engaging them. Um, it's like marrying a wife based on the fact that she complements you, right? It's like having a best friend based on the fact that he understands you in a way that the world does not understand you. And so, those things are things you can tie to. And once they are tangible to you, it doesn't change the dynamics whether they are successful or not, whether they are rich or they are poor. I, I think those things stand separately from the fact that, um, you've, you are president or you're a CEO or any of those things. I have friends that have sense of humor that I, I can't ever dream of having. When you want to enjoy sense of humor, you know, regardless of whether the person is rich or poor, that sense of humor is tangible enough for you to spend time with the person.
Absolutely. One thing I want to know is I'm always curious about how people value themselves and value other people. So, in essence, I guess the question I'm trying to ask you is, what is success to you? How do you define success for yourself? And how do you look at your friends and say this one is successful or not? What is success to Nonso Okpala? There's no right or wrong answer.
I think success to me is contentment. Um, success for me is not a journey. Success for me is a state of mind. Um, from a human standpoint, you must love your skin and you must love to be in your skin, right? You must love who you are and who you see in the mirror. For me, that is the basic definition of success from the human standpoint. From a venture standpoint, whatever you set out to do that gives you that human happiness is what should define your success or otherwise. Um, so if you want to be an excellent teacher and you turn out fantastic, uh, students under your tutelage, then you're extremely successful. Because that's what you set out to do, and that's what makes you happy as a human being. Uh, most times, what we define as success is measured in material wealth, right? But it doesn't really give people that baseline satisfaction. Doesn't make them comfortable in their skin. And so, you can't easily call that success unless that's what makes that person happy. So, for me, the definition of success is rooted in my past and is creating value. And to the extent that I can create value and the value is relevant to people around me, then I'm happy, and that is my own definition of success. And that's why it's impossible to compare two people's success, you know, because
Absolutely.
what gives them that human equilibrium is what's extremely important in defining whether they're successful or not.
Amazing. I love that answer because again, I'm of the belief that people are on the earth to achieve different things, but obviously everyone always tends towards that one thing around money. And this is the life that we live in. But moving on quickly from that, there's a saying that the rich also cry. So, in a way we have, or people have a joint humanity. When people see people that have done really well financially, they tend to think that they have a better life, or people tend to think that those people have a better life than they do. So, I know that in terms of how people view you, obviously you've done really well. VFD sits 400 billion. Come on, that's successful in every language. But you being at the top of that, what you think connects you most in terms of, uh, the human side to someone out there that's literally got 2.5 million out there and thinking, can I ever become this big? What is that thing that you can, what's that baton you can pass on to the person and say that this is my sheet? Try it.
I, I guess we all have in common the fact that we wake up every morning and we go and, you know, hustle.
Yep.
Right? And I think Burna Boy says, "Even Aliko still dey hustle," right?
[laughter]
Which means in itself that we have that in common.
Journey, yeah.
We would all wake up every morning and we will start a race
Mhm.
and we will run to achieve what we set out to achieve.
Yeah.
Um, and we'll go back at night and rest, take a break, and wake up the next day and continue the race. Um, set your own targets, set your own goal, chase it, um, as much as you can, as honestly as you can, um, and sure it's not at the expense of society or the community or the people around you. But we all have that in common. We wake up every morning and we chase our goals. Some people will chase a billion, some people will chase a trillion, some people now, as it is, will chase $5. But it's all the race. It's all, it's all the hustle. And we would continue that path, and we all have it in common.
Amazing.
It takes you to your dream, then it's successful. So, that person out there that's got 2.5 million naira now and they're trying to set up something, what advice have you got for that person? Where do they start? What mindset do they need to have? Um, there's all this talk around manifestation, and you go on Instagram, and we've all become teachers, including myself, and we're telling people, "Manifest this." What part has manifestation got to do with it? I've got 2.5 million naira right now. What's the path?
So, one thing I've always told people is, is the same thing that has saved me the most. It's easier to make money when you work with people. And so, the first thing you need to do is to identify the right people.
Wow.
to work with. 2.5 million naira is small today. But, 2.5 million contributed by 10 people is way higher than 2.5 million that you start with.
Absolutely.
Importantly, 10 people contributing 2.5 million is 25 million.
Mhm.
But, the value of 10 people coming together is way more than 25 million.
Mhm.
And once you understand how everybody keys into a vision, backs that vision, and starts to contribute towards that vision beyond the money that they've placed on the table, then you've created a company. And once you've done that, all you need to do is target it towards any set objective or any set need that is established in the environment.
I love that.
And you, um, I think it's extremely important that we start to understand the power of corporates,
Mhm.
the power of setting up the company, and more importantly, the power of governance. It is life-transforming.
I love what you said, and what you said just literally takes me back to what women have been doing for years, but I have a slight issue with it, where they have this thing called susu or whatever, and they pool money together and then at one point one person takes the money and blows it on clothes. That's the bit I hate. I love the idea of everyone coming together, putting down that money, but I find that a lot of us were not financially educated except you actually stepped out and studied finance in a way. A lot of us did not actually have that financial knowledge or education to know what to do when you've got that kind of money. Is there any tool within the VFD group that can help women, um, you know, where we are able to put money together and actually create value? What would you advise women? How do women move away from collecting money and actually becoming, uh, you know, creating value across the board?
So, I, I would answer it in three ways. First is when you don't have knowledge, it's always important to associate yourself with someone that has it. So, in setting up your company, if you don't have the financial knowledge, look for someone that has financial knowledge and get that person into the fold. And that person's contribution would, beyond money, also be financial knowledge in itself. The second thing is that knowledge is now relatively cheap, right? And compared to time past history. And now you can, with the tool of, um, uh, technology, you can get knowledge on any level. In fact, the technicality of it is now something that is freely available. So, there's no excuse anymore that you don't have the knowledge. You just need to go do the research and learn and start to practice it on small scale in your life, and you'll learn more about it.
But speaking to the third part, which is my opportunity to always sell, right? Is VFD's strategic trust for the next couple of years is how what we call the shared economy, right? How do you bring people together to achieve economic objectives? How do you bring people together to buy a skyscraper? How do you bring people together to develop an estate?
Yes.
So, everything within our context and our strategy now is that shared economy. And so, for a lady who is contributing with her friends, yes, you also want to be fly. Spend the money for being fly, right? But, also put aside the money that you can engage, um, Ankur Asset Management, which is our asset management company.
Yeah.
Or, or our advisory business, which is Ankur, um, limited in itself, um, that can advise you on how to make investments. But, basically, get the mindset of money should always be put in productive purposes.
Mhm.
It doesn't mean you shouldn't be fly. But, you should also have that good 80% that is put in, um, an investment that can always yield.
Thank you so much for that. So, ladies, you heard how we can become rich. But, before I let you go, I want to ask you to share with us. I'm hoping that this video will be something that, you know, people are able to refer to as their workbook for when, and even as a marker that when they heard you speak, they made these changes to their life. So, please share with us maybe nuggets you never shared anywhere else, or even the ones that you shared with us, or maybe online or wherever else. But, here today, maybe five or as many tips as you can to get people ready, believe in their own voice, and believe. I don't know whether you believe in sort of like an inner compass directed to sharing your own words, what you think a layperson, so to speak, could use as a guide to start off a dream that they've got?
So, I think in 2019, I wrote an article called "The Pot Strategy."
Okay.
And that was the earliest attempt at putting together what I thought was the most important aspect of, um, my financial success in itself. And the pot strategy is the philosophy of saving. So, no matter how much you earn, you take a portion of that amount and put it in a pot. Um, not in the sense of a physical pot, but considering the fact that over a 10-year period, over a 20-year period, you will never touch that money. And you consistently put that money in yielding forms, in yielding investment opportunities. Um, you can partner with your friends to establish a company. You can partner with your friends to buy, uh, an asset that yields in itself or appreciates in value. And you will notice that regardless of how much you start saving and you keep investing in it, that will serve as the base for the big opportunity you will have at some point in your life. Because you see, opportunities come, but if you're not prepared to take advantage of it, you will find that you're not in a position to elevate yourself in that mindset. So, the pot strategy is keep saving, keep investing that amount because the opportunity that will give you a disproportionate return would come. And if it comes, you have to be ready. And the only way to be ready is to have that pot ready for the investment.
Amazing. One thing again I wanted to ask you is quickly share your thoughts around clarity, self-recognition, can be one-liners,
Mhm.
intention, and direction.
Too much? Should we break it down?
I, I think they all speak to one thing. Sort of. Yeah. But, um, yeah. They all speak to one thing, and they speak to purpose. Um, they speak to the fact that you must be clear as to what you want to achieve. Um, clarity brings human happiness. If you're clear on what your purpose is, it's easy for you to pursue it.
Mhm.
And it's easier for you to achieve it. And that will give you satisfaction in itself. Um, I, I, I think a lot of all that you've also mentioned just speaks to the fact that living life with a purpose, living life with the consciousness of what you want to achieve, is ultimately what will give you happiness.
Amazing. Last but not the least, what would 19-year-old Nonso say if, or what would you say to 19-year-old Nonso? Just handshaking, giving a review, or perhaps speaking and into your future, however voice, whether 19 to who you are now or who you are tonight. What I want to get here is self-recognition. Who is Nonso today? How do you see yourself? If you were writing all about you in a third-party seat, like you were writing about someone that you admired, what would you say?
I think most people would say I'm impatient. But I would say to a 19-year-old Nonso, continue to be a very patient person. And the reason is because deferred gratification is the biggest form of patience. And I think deferred gratification is the level of discipline that you need to stay focused. Right? Um, and I will go back to VFD. When we started, we stayed 10 years, well, 9 years, not taking salary from the company. 9 years not taking dividend from the company.
Wow.
Um, 9 years?
9 years.
Incredible.
Not taking salary from the company. Not taking dividend from the company. Investing in the company every year. Which is that pot strategy I spoke about. And the fact that you can defer your gratification most times allow your wealth to compound. And it has served me. And if I'm looking back at myself, I would say be more confident on that strategy because it would serve you. And looking into the future, I'm still saying the same thing. Um, be patient. Your work will yield. And the yield will serve you regardless of what you put in.
I love what you said, but I think you've been very humble with the way you've spoken to your 19-year-old self.
[laughter]
If you were talking about somebody else that's achieved as much as you've done, please let's drop the humble bit. Speak into that person. I want you, I want to hear you speak to Nonso that is a third party, like you're speaking like, you know, someone that you're really proud of. What would you say to that person?
Well, I would say your work has yielded.
Amazing.
And it has been fun. And I'm happy you did what you did.
Incredible. I love that. Because we have a habit of being nice and saying nice things to other people, and we always forget to say to ourselves.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Wow.
Absolutely. So, thank you once again for having me, Mr. Nonso Okpala. It's truly an honor to have been hosted in your very beautiful Ikoyi office, MD Group MD VFD Group and CEO of VFD Group. Amazing 400 billion balance sheet. Let that sink in, guys. You just had access to a truly incredible man. Thank you once again for having me.
Thank you very much, and I hope you had good fun.
I had good fun, and I, by the time I come out of here, I'm going to come like, "I need 2.5 million and we're going to find more people," you know, I've really learned so much. Really incredible. But before I let you go, there's this thing we love to do. Just to show that human side. We call it the quick fire, and there's no right or wrong answer. It's just to get a flavor of work relaxed Mr. Nonso Okpala.
I'm all for it.
Should we do it?
Let's do it.
Ghana jollof or Nigeria jollof?
Nigeria jollof.
Awesome.
New York or Lagos?
Lagos.
Swimming or running?
Swimming.
Staircase or lift?
Staircase.
[laughter]
Because of what we face through it today.
Absolutely.
Swimming or dancing?
Swimming.
Marriage or otherwise?
Marriage.
Yeah.
[laughter] [gasps]
Godfather or grandfather?
Godfather.
Aw, sweet.
Business or holiday?
Business.
Always.
[laughter]
What else? Afro or long hair?
Afro.
[laughter]
[gasps]
Okay. Would you do over or odds? Do you know what would you do with?
[laughter]
I know what to do with. ODDS.
Aw. Would you do over in next week? Guys, at least you got featured anyway. Thank you once again, Nonso, for having us. It's been incredible. He has to go off now to a board meeting. Thank you so much once again.
Super excited. Can I give you a hug? Is that okay?
Absolutely. Thank you so much. Let me leave your hair.
[laughter]
Thank you.