It is extremely frustrating that in less than a month there were 3 accusations and possible defamation threw at me.
I had always stay quiet for things like this as I do not want to aggregate any matters. This time, it is too much!
This is not for you to judge, but for those who wants to know the story and the truth, this is what had happened….
In 2017, I was approached to assist a Forex broker to open their retail traders market. Knowing my strength and position as an educator, I accepted their request on the condition that I will take charge of the education syllabus and business development of their required markets. However, I will not front and conduct the Forex training myself, thus bringing in a partner, a Forex trader who wish to build a brand name in the Forex trading industry.
The ultimate purpose : to create a community of profitable traders by educating the retail forex traders properly, as many of them had been scammed by the brokers or the trainer. By doing so, we can do more charity work for the poor, especially in the area of education. That is why I had setup my own NGO project since 2013.
After some sessions with the boss and sensing his delima and sincerity, I agreed to assist him. The deal is this : the education department, headed by me and supported by my partner (who is the forex trainer), will be a separate entity and I report only to the boss. It will not be a department under the Forex Broker and the funds brought in will be in a separate holding account. The traders will be handled by the original support team from the broker as we focus on getting the traders educated. The broker will organize, plan and execute accordingly to the requirements of the Education department.
After a few weeks of intense discussion and brainstorming with the boss, GM (can sense from initial first meeting that she does not like the idea) and other key management and support personnel, it was agreed that we will launch the projects according to what was discussed, including the compensation for my efforts, which will not be a monthly remuneration but a handsome share of the business. They have also agreed that all expenses incurred by my partner and myself, for the projects discussed, will be 100% funded by the company. Spreadsheets of budgets and timelines for the projects were discussed and agreed in the board room, with the boss and GM, together with my partner, the Forex trader.
The base agreement were as follows :
- The Education Department is a total independent entity, totally separate from the Broker business
- I will only report to the boss and get directions from the boss
- The Forex broker will support with admin, operations and marketing as they want to save cost for this new entity thus sharing resources
- The charges for Visa and Master card funding option to the broker is 100% absorbed by the broker. It was later changed to the trader having to absorb some of the fees, which led to the decision for us to help clients collect their funding and pass to the broker so that they save on the exchange rate and credit card funding charges
- The accounts of this department will be a separate set of book keeping so that we can monitor the progress
- The accounts is to be submitted to me every month, at the end of the month. To save resources, the boss asked the accounts department of the broker to assist in this project. (The accounts were never submitted as required and till date, I only see 2 updated, the first one in Feb, after 6 months of the project)
- The projects and promotions that were discussed will be launched accordingly to what was agreed and the Education department has to ensure that the broker side have prepare their operations well to tie in with our project. So the operations team have to work with my department to ensure the project time line are always in sync
- The initial required invested amount is XXK and it is agreed that the broker will finance this first
- Upon reaching the KPI, this department will be set up as a separate business entity and will have its own team, P&L and operations base
- Under no circumstances will I report to anyone as I know this industry best and that was assured from day 1
Putting together a team, we launched some Facebook campaigns and things were moving well for the first 3 months. We were bringing in hundreds of new clients to them within a few weeks. There were of course some minor changes as we adjust the strategies and events. An educational event was done in Malaysia with only a small handful of their clients, even though one of the sessions was a free one. This brought a lot of curiosity and got us seeking for some answers.
We followed the plans and expanded overseas, first stop in Bangkok (as I have own current business and setup in Bangkok). Everyone was very excited to penetrate into a new market, leveraging on my current business setup and database. The first trip, with one preview, was pretty fruitful and the company honored their obligations by paying for the accommodation, marketing, air tickets and venue, but did not give us our overseas allowance as approved in the project budget. We did not pursue much on this small matter as we were focusing on building the reach out for the market. We then did another 2 previews in Singapore and Malaysia to complete one round of marketing efforts, with the current database that my partner and me has on our records. The company was in fact leveraging on our past database to launch their business. With 3 successful runs of the previews.
The boss, in this period, started to embark on his crypto project and asked us (the Education Department) to now report to the GM, Ms Lxxx of the broker, saying that he needs a few weeks to focus on the project. As much as we are not happy of this change of reporting, we did as instructed so that the activities can still run as planned. During this time, the agreement, was drafted and sent to us. Both my partner and me were extremely furious as the agreement was totally off from the initial terms and conditions discussed and we asked them to be changed. The GM keeps telling us that this was what the boss told her and I have to tell her to check the initial discussion minutes that we had in the boardroom and keep to that agreement. To conclude, till date, the agreement was never changed despite our numerous request to get it done accordingly to what we had agreed.
In fact, on the first official trip to Bangkok, the company did not pay the full amount to the hotel for the venue and accommodation expenses, which by right they have agreed to. The GM then requested me to make payment first on behalf of the company, stating that the account person was on leave and cannot make payments to the hotel. My partner had strongly advise me against this action as he expects that this practice of me paying for the company first will be a continued practice by the company (which happened exactly throughout the next few months by the company asking us to use the course expenses and funding collected on their behalf to pay for the project expenses).
On numerous occasions, at the operational office of the broker and other venues, the management of the broker (now represented by the GM as the boss had diverted his attention to go into the Crypto markets) met me and my partner. We have constantly brought up this issue of continuing to support the retail traders of the broker in their trading journey through our education syllabus which was the original idea of this this project was created. The issue of the budget required for the project were raised up almost in all the discussion sessions and the instructions were to use the course expenses and trading funds collected from the first 3 'events' to fund all expenses related to this project. So technically after the first trip to Bangkok, all the expenses in Bangkok, Singapore and Malaysia had been paid using the course fees and trading funds collected on behalf of the company (which was approved and allowed by the company) on the many occasions that there were shortfalls I had advance the payment using my credit card.
As we were preparing for the second launch in Bangkok, the company, represented by the GM, suddenly said that they do not want to do events anymore. We then asked what will happen to the participants that had signed up for the Education program that we launched and she said she will get back to us after she seeks the opinion of the boss (which is extremely strange, as we were suppose to report and communicate with the boss directly)
After a longer than expected delay, we were told to use the course fees collected from the first 3 events (our understanding for the first 3 events are the actual workshop) to fund our marketing and operations of the project if we want to deliver the workshop. Not wanting to ruin our reputation, both my partner and me decided to continue with the project as we saw the potential in the Thailand market. She also requested to be paid 1/3 of the monies collected for the project (the course expenses), citing that the company is paying for the expenses.
The GM later argued that the first 3 events she meant was the first 3 previews. Both my partner and myself had explained numerous times that her understanding and ours had differed greatly and that her understanding is totally not logical. Anyone who has been in events will know that the event always mean the actual workshop as the sessions before that were called previews or sales workshop.
At that point, we had already assisted to collect the trading funds and course expenses from the interested students. We were then told to use the course fee expenses collected (which is suppose to be our trainers fees, since the company is not giving us a remuneration for doing work on their behalf). When we announce that these fees collected were not enough to fund the future projects, they then asked us to use the trading funds that we collected on their behalf (from the Thailand students) to fund our own marketing, air tickets and other expenses, instead of the company funding all the marketing and operational cost of the project that the company had initially agreed to do.
At this point in time, we had done 3 previews and collected the cost expenses from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia students. We, the education department agreed to collect trading account funds for our Thailand students, as many of them do not own credit cards and they are able to save on the high transactions fee if they were to do it on their own. We did not collect this funds for most of our Singapore or Malaysia students as most of them have credit cards.
These amount collected was about 7K USD.
For those of you who had been doing events and seminars, please advise if it is logical and possible to be spent on for 3 previews and 3 actual workshops in 3 countries with only USD 7000 budget (includes all air tickets, accommodation, venue, F&B expenses, marketing etc). We had agreed in the boardroom that the marketing cost per preview is USD 2000. Leaving us only USD 1000 for air tickets, accommodation and venue. Both my partner and my understanding that the funding and course expenses collected for the 3 'events' means all the previews and actual workshops for the first 3 events in 3 countries (Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia) will make more sense as the company is not investing a single cents for us to deliver the actual workshop and coaching that we have promised to the students.
When the 3 'events' ended, we submitted the accounts of revenue and expenses (we agreed to do it at the end of the first run of the project, which is after 29/3) and the GM then makes noise that it was not submitted regularly (which in the initial discussions, this was supposed to be done by the accounts department of the Broker and not us. I had kindly help them to do the book keeping for 3 months! The accounts department had always delay getting the flight tickets and accommodation etc)
If the company pulls out halfway and is not paying a single cent to fund the project, does it makes sense that the company request to take 1/3 of the courses expenses (which is actually for us to cover our own expenses to market and assist the company to educate their retail traders, and we are not being paid a single cent for our efforts)?
While it is normal to have changes in business decisions, is it right for a company to decide to pull out from a project when students have paid? There was no conclusion and direction as to how the company wants to handle these students. So to protect our reputation and not disappoint these students, my partner and me decided to continue to do marketing to bring in more students and also funding to the broker, so that the original intention of the project continues and we deliver our promises.
Along the way, I transferred the funds collected for a student that we had collected on behalf of a Thai trader and after 2 weeks, the funds were still not credited into the trader’s account. Finally, they credited the amount to the trader’s trading account, only to withdraw it a few hours later, citing that they had the agreement with me! There was never such an agreement!
Moving on, I had managed to link a project for my partner to speak in Singapore, on 10th April. I had requested for the Broker to sponsor for the venue (which is within the jurisdiction rights of my appointment as the Head of Education). I linked the organsier to the GM of the Broker as they have many concerns, one being that the broker’s license is still expired, since late 2017. Both my partner and me were aware of this issue and were promised that it will be a little while more before the license will be renewed. We had continued to represent the broker having the trust and faith that they will get it done. In the months that followed, we had been asking for updates of this issue, only to be told that the company’s is still under audit, which in this business, means a big issue. As the 10th April event approached, I had forcefully requested the GM to provide proof that the license had been renewed so that the 10th April event can carry on as planned.
The GM, suddenly, on the Saturday before the 10th Oct event, sent an email to state that I had been terminated. This is an interesting matter as I had never been on the payroll of the broker, contract staff (the agreement was never amended and signed). I immediately called the organizer to notify him that we will not longer represent this broker due to this issue. We had agreed that my partner shall now speak as an individual and not represent the broker to avoid any issues. The GM, suddenly, called the organizer and said that the event on 10th April will be handled by her and the broker instead, causing a great confusion to the whole matter. And she also request that the fees that we collect on that day be banked into another Singapore company bank account instead, which has totally no relation to the project.
The GM, also came down to the event on 10th April to make noise on the matter of the accounts. Despite us explaining many times that the expenses of Run 1 of the project (Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, ending on 29/3) had been paid by the course expenses fees that we had collected and some of the trading funds that we had collected on behalf of the Thai students, with instructions from the broker, she demanded that we give back the amount that she had tabulated, without the Broker paying for the expenses of the project, after the 3rd preview. My partner, in very nice tone, explained to her that it is totally not fair and asked her to seek the boss opinion on how much the Broker is willing to subside the expenses (we had spend a little more than the expected budget as agreed in the boardroom meeting)
A few days later, the broker sent an email to their mailing list, stating that I had misconduct on clients’ funding. This is absolutely ridiculous, as the monies collected for their client’s funding as been used as the company’s investment into the project. They had credited the amounts into their client's trading account, thus acknowledging this arrangements. They had stated that they do not wish to invest more cash and had asked us to use the monies collected to pay for the expenses of the project.
There are a lot more other details, which has little or no relation to this subject matter. I state my piece. Judge if you want to, comment what you want etc. I can only say : I make the greatest mistake in Business, trusting too much and doing work without an official agreement.
My intention is clear from day 1 : : to create a community of profitable traders by educating the retail forex traders properly, as many of them had been scammed by the brokers or the trainer. By doing so, we can do more charity work for the poor, especially in the area of education. That is why I had setup my own NGO project since 2013.