Eleven years ago, Clive Oshry’s father Aaron came to him and his older brother Michael with an idea. Oshry the elder was a lawyer; he felt their hometown of Edmonton might be ripe for its own foreign exchange company.
After all business in the oil patch looked to be on the upswing; lots of Alberta companies were starting to do business abroad and the only competition would be from the big banks, which did not seem all that keen on transactions that might be as small as $5,000.
Clive, who turned 40 this past January, and Michael, 42, were entrepreneurs in the making. Clive had started a camera store at 19 when he was still a student at the University of Alberta and Michael had created his own bustling coffee shop.
They jumped at the chance, says Clive. The fact that neither had much experience in the intricacies of foreign exchange was not an impediment. The thing that counted most was the business plan, the way they would carve out a niche in an underserved market and then build the company, he says.
The result is Globex Foreign Exchange Corp. The company now has 22 offices around the world, 210 staff and this year will do tens of millions of dollars in business. Clive and Michael are co-presidents. Its highly successful niche is providing service so personal that each client feels Globex is its own internal foreign exchange department.
“We don’t just handle transactions for them, we also help educate and advise them,” says Clive. “When they start with us, many don’t understand that foreign exchange involves risk.
“You can get everything right with a foreign contract – the pricing, the bidding, producing and shipping the goods – and then wind up losing money because of changes in exchange rates.”
Globex prides itself on delivering the same level of personal service to all its clients, big or small, corporate or private individuals and is willing to take on transactions starting at $5,000 and then heading north of $5-million, he adds.
What sets Globex apart from the competition is its team, Clive says. “Our team is what I am most proud of. All of them have this commitment to excellence and to lifelong learning.
“It is our culture that has led to our success and my brother and I plan to keep it that way, no matter how large we grow.”
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