RE:RE:Q&A Reflections: Plant 2 ConstructionHello Ciao,
I have no doubt you have hit the nail on the head.
I was waiting to hear the promised CRM database reports for the 2020 year and also the just completed Q1 results - nothing was offered.
This could also be shared in the next newsletter. We will watch for that. If it is not shared voluntarily, we can follow up with a direct request.
To be fair, Mr. Veloso has never run a sales oriented production operation, successfully or otherwise. He founded Verde (former Amazon Mining) in 2005 and took on the CEO role as a 24 year law student graduate with essentially no business experience (internships and work experience terms aside). For a couple of years he focused on raising capital which culminated in the 2007 IPO. He then oversaw (form the UK?) the gold exploration activities engaged by subsidiaries in Brazil, approving drilling and assessment plans and the expenditure of millions of dollars, with no production, revenue or profit expected or realized. Failing to locate a single ounce of commercially exploitable gold in any of the 3 or 4 deposits they had acquired, and as an inexperienced lawyer entering into consulting and exploration contracts he thought he could cancel on short notice without penalty (he lost that one in court) he was fortunate to come across the Cerrado Verde project and ride the wave of Potash interest through to 2012, when the bottom fell out of this market.
While he deserves all due credit for keeping the Comapny going and achieving the opening of the mine and production facility in 2018, he has no hands on prior experience running a profitable, growth tracked enterprise with millions of dollars in annual and repeat sales, cost of sales, marketing, distribution and corporate administration. If he had applied to be the CEO of Verde in December 2018, I assume his resume would not have gotten betond the NO EXPERIENCE discard pile. He is now very much learning on the job, which as a highly inteligent and ambitious young man he has the potential to learn quickly, especially if he is fully cognizant of his strengths and experience weaknesses and seeks the appropriate assistance to ensure his, and the Company's success.
Unfortunately the 2 hours of contemporaneous video record captured yesterday, and the hours of similar record from prior sessions, appear to show a self defensive individual frequently revisiting past anecdotes from his limited and narrow experience to avoid any accountability for the limited results of his leadership actions as Verde's incumbent CEO (and now Board Chairman to boot). As a formaly trained and qualified lawyer, I would have at least expected him to have demonstrated a reasonable comprehension as to what fiduciary responsibility entails (both in law and from a personal integrity perspective), especially as it pertains to directors and officers of a Canadian publicly traded organization, which he has been both for 15 years. From my screenview, this did not seem to be anywhere in sight, but that is just one shareholder's personal assessment.
What do any of the 40 plus other participants watching the Q&A yesterday think - perhaps my viewpoint is misguided or lacking some key missing information? I welcome your comments, critical or otherwise.