Wednesday, March 08, 2017
Moving Beyond the Gravitational Pull of Racism - Donald V. Watkins
https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10212181318470334
Moving Beyond the Gravitational Pull of Racism
On Sunday, I announced that London-based petrochemical company, PTFPlusOne, Ltd., has inked a deal to acquire Masada Resource Group, LLC, my Birmingham-based waste-to-energy company. Since this announcement, I have received an avalanche of congratulatory messages and private inquiries about my future plans.
After the acquisition is complete, I will join PTF's senior management team and become an equity member in the company. I will also join PTF's board of directors.
These moves will give me a chance to work directly with PTF's very talented multinational executives. It will also expose me to a network of powerful international alliance partners as PTF advances and protects its sustained competitive advantage in the oil, chemical and hydrocarbon industries.
What is more, I will be geographically closer to my energy services company in Windhoek, Namibia (West Africa). In July 2012, this company was awarded a petroleum exploration license by the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy. In 2016, the company announced the discovery of a massive reservoir of unrisked oil and natural gas within its licensed territory offshore. The company is proceeding with the geotechnical work program necessary for the commercial extraction of these natural resources.
Life in Alabama
Having grown up in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s and 60s and having lived and worked in the state as a civil rights attorney during the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, I have been exposed to the harshest forms of racism all of my life. I lived through the periods of rigidly enforced racial segregation, massive resistance to desegregation, racially motivated lynchings and murders, beatings, church burnings and bombings, and so-called "integration". None of these chapters in Alabama's history has been comfortable for people of color. All of them have held down the oppressors, as well as the oppressed.
In Alabama, every major policy decision in state government and business is viewed through the prism of race. Many of the state's public and private institutions are set up to advance one race at the expense of another one. In Alabama, the time-honored solution to the state's racial problems is to simply ignore them.
In Alabama, positive change only occurs at a very infrequent and slow pace. Too often, the state is moving in a reverse direction from the rest of the developed world.
A New World
The Masada-PTF acquisition is a very good deal from a business standpoint. It also presents an opportunity to move beyond the gravitational pull of Alabama's racism.
I enjoy competing in the global marketplace of business ideas. I like it when the success or failure of my business ideas is based upon the quality and price of my goods and services, and not the color of my skin. I love working in countries that embrace paradigm-shifting technologies, regardless of the color of the person who develops and implements them.
I am the CEO of a multinational company who enjoys direct and frequent interaction with the CEOs of other energy companies. I can find this in abundance in the new world. In Namibia, for example, my oil company's headquarters is located in the office building adjacent to British Petroleum's headquarters.
I want to be a full participant in the global stream of commerce. I enjoy business ownership, with its never-ending challenges, ups and downs, and occasional successes.
It is also a wonderful experience whenever I get a chance to shatter the negative racial stereotypes held by many Americans (both black and white), a lot of white-owned businesses, and government agencies toward black owned/managed businesses. We have done this in the fields of law, banking, insurance, and now, energy.
Finally, Masada has afforded me a unique platform to move beyond the gravitation pull of racism. The Masada-PTF deal is my bridge to a new world. Along with my soon-to-be British, Dutch, Irish, and German team of business alliance partners at PTF, I look forward to marching toward a promising future with the best and brightest minds in the international energy world.
Donald V Watkins
London-Based PTFPlusOne, Ltd., Inks Deal to Acquire Masada Resource Group, LLC - Donald V. Watkins - Mar 5, 2017
https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10212146083469481
London-Based PTFPlusOne, Ltd., Inks Deal to Acquire Masada Resource Group, LLC
On March 1, 2017, PTFPlusOne, Ltd. (www.ptfplus.com), announced an agreement in principle to acquire Masada Resource Group, LLC (www.masada.com). PTF is a London-based petrochemical company. Masada is a Birmingham, Alabama-based competitive and responsible provider of proven and environmentally friendly waste-to-energy technologies. I am the chief executive officer of Masada.
Masada's core technology, the CES OxyNol process, converts ordinary household garbage into fuel-grade ethanol using acid hydrolysis. It also produces other commercial products, including gypsum, lignin, industrial carbon dioxide, and ash residue. Masada's wholly owned technology affiliate, Controlled Environmental Systems Corporation, Inc., holds nine domestic and sixty international patents for the CES OxyNol process.
PTF's acquisition of Masada is based upon three primary factors: (a) the business synergies between PTF and Masada, (b) PTF's unique opportunity to acquire Masada's innovative waste-to-energy technologies, and (c) the demonstrated legal and superior marketing expertise of Masada. PTF believes that the addition of Masada's intellectual properties and market development activities will substantially expand PTF's international market footprint and economic value.
Masada affiliates have worked with over 300 local government entities since 1978 to develop extensive business development and infrastructure operations in the environmental services, cable television, telecommunications, and electronic security industries. Today, Masada is a proven leader in the waste-to-fuel industry.
In 2015, Masada was a recipient of the Governor's Trade Excellence Award, which recognizes Alabama-based companies for excellence in exporting goods or services. Masada's work in Sub-Saharan Africa was featured in the July 2014 edition of the London-based International Finance and Legal Review, a prestigious subscription publication for European and African business leaders.
PTF's existing business segments produce a pre-curser of caprolactam through the recycling of plastics and SECA standard bunker fuels for the shipping industry. PTF's acquisition of Masada will advance and protect the company's sustained competitive advantage in the oil, chemical and hydrocarbon industries.
PTF will acquire 100% of Masada in a transaction that involves a cash payment to Masada and an award of equity in PTF to certain Masada stakeholders who will continue working in the business. I will join PTF's senior management team and board of directors upon completion of the acquisition transaction.
PTF's acquisition of Masada is subject to shareholder and board approval, as well as regulatory consent in the United States and United Kingdom.
I am very proud of Masada's core team of world-class vendors, its strong international partners, and its dedicated and talented professionals who work tirelessly to strengthen Masada's worldwide brand. Even in the face of false allegations by those who have opposed Masada's growth for malicious reasons, our executive team and partners have remained strong, focused, and committed.
Masada's voyage to this destination has been long and hard. During our journey, Masada (a) survived the 2005 death of my close personal friend and Masada co-founder Daryl E. Harms; (b) successfully navigated the Great Recession of 2008; (c) successfully "passed" an unprecedented number of third-party compliance and due diligence reviews; (d) developed and grew a small Birmingham headquartered waste-to-energy technology company into an international industry leader, and accomplished this achievement in record time; and (e) grew and maintained Masada's sustained competitive advantage in the global marketplace. In this regard, Masada has no "peer".
It has been a tremendous honor to serve Masada, its shareholders, stakeholders, senior management team, strategic partners, key external vendors, and supporters during this magnificent voyage. Their display of loyalty and support in the face of adversity has been heartwarming and energizing.
Finally, Masada is the only African-American-led waste-to-energy technology company that has consistently competed for and won major contract opportunities in the tough international alternative energy marketplace. I sincerely thank my deceased parents, Levi and Lillian Watkins, and all of the visionary and inspiring teachers in our small all-black K-12 school on the campus of Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama who encouraged us to: (a) explore a world beyond the borders of the United States, (b) not allow our enemies to define who we are, (c) stand up to those who oppose our growth, and (d) believe in the triumph of the human spirit. I also thank Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, and Rosa Parks for teaching me how to "love" my enemies.
Donald V Watkins
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