Dennise Williams, Staff Reporter
HILL
AUBYN HILL, former head of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) and current chief restructuring officer of Air Jamaica, is preparing to move on with his life.
The featured speaker at the Mayberry Investments Monthly Investor Forum on Wednesday at the Knutsford Court Hotel is starting his own business.
"With my assignment at Air Jamaica as an unpaid chief restructuring officer coming to an end, people are asking me what are you going to do next? Well, I am starting my own business Corporate Strategies Limited."
With his team at Corporate Strategies to be headquartered at Duke Street, Mr. Hill will do what he does best fix companies with problems, advise people how to negotiate for really good contracts and assist entrepreneurs to create business plans and access financing.
CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING
"Corporate Strategies Limited is set on four legs, not two so you have to balance, or three that you might slip, but four that are solid."
The first leg is corporate restructuring something Mr. Hill is well known for. "I am on my fifth restructure and Air Jamaica is the only one that I am not in charge of.
"Right now, I am a consultant who works with the board and executive chairman, Dr. Vincent Lawrence.
"So I am without executive authority, which is a great place to be. However, I will tell you that restructuring is an exciting thing to do.
"And corporate restructuring usually happens when there is a problem. I think my experience and the experience of my colleagues and partners will show that we know how to restructure a business or a career."
PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING
The next leg of corporate strategies is process re-engineering. Mr. Hill explains what this entails. "Your company is running well, but you need to change direction because competition is coming or the region is changing. So how do you rearrange the processes in your company to stay ahead and be a winner? We will help you with that."
Mr. Hill and his team also offer advice and assistance to entrepreneurs.
"We will help you with a business plan and help you find money when they need it. We will even help them refine their ideas and make them more workable and wealth producing."
And the final leg of Corporate Strategies is to offer advice and counsel to senior executives. Of course, Mr. Hill knows of what he speaks. Upon his departure from NCB in November 2004, he collected almost $150 million as part of his ex gratia payment.
He says, "Since people have heard about my new venture, I have had amazing calls from those executives who are being tapped to head of an organisation, or big portion of a company. Because when you get the offer, euphoria sets in. You call your friends; you call your wife or your girlfriend (and I hope it is either one and not both) and you get excited and common sense goes out the window.
"A year and half later, things change and you are down to
reality and all you have left is your contract, but you never gave much thought to your contract.
"I have some advice to offer on such a situation, because I have negotiated a few contracts for myself and I have not done too badly."
And so Mr. Hill will be practising what he preaches
creating wealth for himself, his partners and others through entreprenuership.
