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Pictures
from the Past ---1990---
“Western Association of Equipment Leasing Member Gordon Roberts,VP,
FirstConcord Acceptance Corporation, sponsor of the WAEL Golf Tournament,
congratulations W.R. Johnnie Johnson, President , M.T.I.Leasing, Inc
on winning the ‘Longest Drive’ Award.” 1990 WAEL Monterey Fall Conference
----- Johnnie Johnson, CLP, from Kuwait My best to all you readers of Leasing News. I miss the opportunity to see all of you regularly.
As previously reported in Leasing News, I am now situated in
Kuwait, and have been here for a little over 3 years.
I am the Chief Operating Officer for The International Leasing
& Investment Co. We do transactions worldwide, including large
ticket leasing and project finance.
We also provide consulting and advisory services on financial
issues. The company is owned by a consortium of financial
interests which includes the Islamic Development Bank (Islamic equivalent
of the World Bank) as a major shareholder. All of our transactions are structured under Islamic financial rules,
which has been both a very interesting learning experience and a challenging
change. All in all, I have really
enjoyed my time here, and notwithstanding the current regional situation,
have found it a very pleasant, enjoyable (and safe) place to live.
Unfortunately, since coming to Kuwait I have not had much
opportunity to practice for a repeat of the "Longest Drive"
award. Kuwait actually has a
couple of golf courses--but they are a little different from what you
and I are used to. The tees are
sand --- the fairways are sand --- and the "greens" are sand! The first time I played here, I knew immediately that it was going
to be a different game. I was
handed a little square of artificial turf, and told "...hit your
tee and fairway shots off this..."
The fairway "rough" consists of lizards and rocks (come
to think of it, so do the fairways -- but the rocks are little...).
The "greens" (actually brown in color) are very well
groomed sand -- in fact there is a full time attendant at each green
to make sure the sand surface is perfect after each group plays through. Even after the perfect grooming, however, putting
is definitely a different experience.
The ball acts a LOT different than on grass. Next time you end up in a sand trap, try putting in the trap, and
you will see what I mean. But
progress is being made, and a real grass course is under construction
here in Kuwait. Other parts of
the Middle East also have grass courses, and in fact a major international
golf tournament was just completed a few days ago in the region.
So if you ever visit the Middle East, don't be afraid to bring
your clubs...... W. R. Johnnie Johnson, CLP Exec. Vice President/Chief Operating Officer The International Leasing & Investment Co. P. O. Box 3716, Safat 13038, Kuwait Phone: 965-244-0368 FAX: 965-246-3190 E-Mail: johnson@ilic.net Leasing News for over a week tried to get a comment /up-date
from Gordon Roberts, Centerpoint Financial, Denver, Colorado.
We even asked his wife Pat to intercede. She reported back that
he was “too busy” to respond. Editor |
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