Tweet
Claudette Crooks - a new securities brokerage and a new way of mastering money
Dennise Williams
Friday, July 06, 2007
Crooks. a brand name in the money management industry
From her first successful foray in the funds management business with Investment Masters Limited (IML) in 1998, Claudette Crooks learned a valuable lesson - no woman is an island.
And so, with her newest venture, Money Masters Limited, she has assembled a team of professionals with a collective experience of 117 years in all aspects of investment and credit management. Money Masters is a licensed securities broker that offers the traditional range of products such as fixed income instruments along with alternative investments and project financing.
"I am one of a group of strong persons," Crooks told Caribbean Business Report from her Trafalgar Road office yesterday. "Whether Claudette Crooks is there, yes or no, the company will do well."
Even so, Crooks is a brand name in the money management industry. Her career started in 1991 at Edward Gayle and Company, now rebranded NCB Capital Markets. Yet, during her time there it was never her intention to simply move up the ranks in that firm. "Even then I knew I was going in the direction of having my own business." In fact, if you call Crooks a serial entrepreneur, she will smile. "I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. All my brothers and sisters have their own businesses. You know that song from Buju Banton - 'I want to rule my destiny' - that is my mantra. I am not the kind of animal that can prod along. To know that no matter how hard I work that all I will get is a pay cheque at the end of the day is not enough."
Crooks likes the challenges that entrepreneurship brings. "To take something from zero and see it grow over 10 and 15 years into something great is what gets my adrenaline going." And it was at the University of the West Indies Executive MBA programme that her entrepreneurial spirit was honed.
"When I did my MBA in the 1990s, the emphasis was on starting your own business. So that is what I did." Crooks, symptomatic of a classic serial entrepreneur, actually started two businesses - IML and co-founded Today's Money, the seven-year-old financial information service.
Looking back, the time spent at Edward Gayle was important to the then aspiring entrepreneur. Her tenure there was during the frenetic 1990s and the subsequent collapse of the banking sector which brought about the government's rescue vehicle, the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC).
"At Edward Gayle, I learned how to manage risks - not just client risks but institutional risks. I also learned how dynamic the capital market is. During my time there, I saw the repo market develop from scratch and then balloon. Before, clients only had corporate paper and stocks as a means to grow their portfolio."
Crooks attributes much of her success as an entrepreneur to the mentors at Edward Gayle. "That experience for me was a training ground; not only from a technical but from a personal development standpoint. When you work in an organisation where you have good leaders, that allows you to develop."
Armed with her Executive MBA, in 1998 Crooks stepped out on her own into a market buffeted by one shock after the other as banks, brokerage houses and other financial institutions collapsed or required government intervention. Despite the tumultuous period, her business thrived.
"From my IML experience, I came to realise how much support Jamaicans give to entrepreneurs. It was never a case where I came from a large organisation and started a small one so no one was interested - quite the opposite. I found a huge level of support from customers."
And it helped that Jamaica was going through a government-initiated high interest rate regime.
Because of the macroeconomic environment that we faced, it was easier to grow aggressively in the short term. In fact, growth was more than I expected and I had to deal with it from what was essentially a one-man operation."
In 2002, Crooks sold IML to Guardian Asset Management. That is where her new venture, Money Masters Limited is different.
"Now, this new company is really about a group of persons with skills; in fact we are a skills bank. Of course, IML did have shareholders, but I was the principal. From that I learned to put together the critical skills so that each party has a part to play; it leads to more accountability. In fact, Money Masters has a far stronger structure than IML. We have put together the financial, operations and marketing aspects and all are shareholders in the company."
What IML and Money Masters do have in common, is the passion for money management that Crooks brings to the table.
"Everybody's goal should be to have an investment portfolio that is greater than their salary. Anything can happen with your job, so you need to have cash flow to maintain you until you find what you want to do. Once people find out what they love to do, backed by a solid portfolio, then life won't be just about a salary." And it is that approach that gives Money Masters its competitive edge. "Our focus is on the individual investor and the lifetime management of our client's financial future; we are not just interested in selling assets, we look at the full picture from the cost of capital to the structure of your mortgage." Crooks continues, "The market is heavily return driven. Whether the institution is a boutique or a conglomerate - if you give investors the returns that they require then your business will grow."
Dennise Williams
Friday, July 06, 2007
Crooks. a brand name in the money management industry
From her first successful foray in the funds management business with Investment Masters Limited (IML) in 1998, Claudette Crooks learned a valuable lesson - no woman is an island.
And so, with her newest venture, Money Masters Limited, she has assembled a team of professionals with a collective experience of 117 years in all aspects of investment and credit management. Money Masters is a licensed securities broker that offers the traditional range of products such as fixed income instruments along with alternative investments and project financing.
"I am one of a group of strong persons," Crooks told Caribbean Business Report from her Trafalgar Road office yesterday. "Whether Claudette Crooks is there, yes or no, the company will do well."
Even so, Crooks is a brand name in the money management industry. Her career started in 1991 at Edward Gayle and Company, now rebranded NCB Capital Markets. Yet, during her time there it was never her intention to simply move up the ranks in that firm. "Even then I knew I was going in the direction of having my own business." In fact, if you call Crooks a serial entrepreneur, she will smile. "I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. All my brothers and sisters have their own businesses. You know that song from Buju Banton - 'I want to rule my destiny' - that is my mantra. I am not the kind of animal that can prod along. To know that no matter how hard I work that all I will get is a pay cheque at the end of the day is not enough."
Crooks likes the challenges that entrepreneurship brings. "To take something from zero and see it grow over 10 and 15 years into something great is what gets my adrenaline going." And it was at the University of the West Indies Executive MBA programme that her entrepreneurial spirit was honed.
"When I did my MBA in the 1990s, the emphasis was on starting your own business. So that is what I did." Crooks, symptomatic of a classic serial entrepreneur, actually started two businesses - IML and co-founded Today's Money, the seven-year-old financial information service.
Looking back, the time spent at Edward Gayle was important to the then aspiring entrepreneur. Her tenure there was during the frenetic 1990s and the subsequent collapse of the banking sector which brought about the government's rescue vehicle, the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC).
"At Edward Gayle, I learned how to manage risks - not just client risks but institutional risks. I also learned how dynamic the capital market is. During my time there, I saw the repo market develop from scratch and then balloon. Before, clients only had corporate paper and stocks as a means to grow their portfolio."
Crooks attributes much of her success as an entrepreneur to the mentors at Edward Gayle. "That experience for me was a training ground; not only from a technical but from a personal development standpoint. When you work in an organisation where you have good leaders, that allows you to develop."
Armed with her Executive MBA, in 1998 Crooks stepped out on her own into a market buffeted by one shock after the other as banks, brokerage houses and other financial institutions collapsed or required government intervention. Despite the tumultuous period, her business thrived.
"From my IML experience, I came to realise how much support Jamaicans give to entrepreneurs. It was never a case where I came from a large organisation and started a small one so no one was interested - quite the opposite. I found a huge level of support from customers."
And it helped that Jamaica was going through a government-initiated high interest rate regime.
Because of the macroeconomic environment that we faced, it was easier to grow aggressively in the short term. In fact, growth was more than I expected and I had to deal with it from what was essentially a one-man operation."
In 2002, Crooks sold IML to Guardian Asset Management. That is where her new venture, Money Masters Limited is different.
"Now, this new company is really about a group of persons with skills; in fact we are a skills bank. Of course, IML did have shareholders, but I was the principal. From that I learned to put together the critical skills so that each party has a part to play; it leads to more accountability. In fact, Money Masters has a far stronger structure than IML. We have put together the financial, operations and marketing aspects and all are shareholders in the company."
What IML and Money Masters do have in common, is the passion for money management that Crooks brings to the table.
"Everybody's goal should be to have an investment portfolio that is greater than their salary. Anything can happen with your job, so you need to have cash flow to maintain you until you find what you want to do. Once people find out what they love to do, backed by a solid portfolio, then life won't be just about a salary." And it is that approach that gives Money Masters its competitive edge. "Our focus is on the individual investor and the lifetime management of our client's financial future; we are not just interested in selling assets, we look at the full picture from the cost of capital to the structure of your mortgage." Crooks continues, "The market is heavily return driven. Whether the institution is a boutique or a conglomerate - if you give investors the returns that they require then your business will grow."