Dir. Rachel Boynton
Documentary / 2014 / USA / 100 mins / English / PG13
A good movie gives you a ticket to a secret world and Big Men delivers again and again, taking you into rooms you have no business entering. You’ll eavesdrop on meetings about oil deals worth billions of dollars and watch heavily armed militants preparing to strike. It’s a fast-paced tour through the high-powered world of African oil deals – a quest for money and power and influence that affects us all.
Bringing to life a netherworld of shifting agreements and shuffling allegiances, “Big Men” unfurls a complicated story teeming with masked militants, well-fed politicians, reassuring suits and the desperate poor. To the film’s major players, whether the development of Ghanaian oil will be a boon or a curse to the nation’s citizens seems irrelevant; when money is talking, those who have none also have no voice. Full review here.
– Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
The film’s central story follows a small group of American explorers at Dallas-based oil company Kosmos Energy. Between 2007 and 2011, with unprecedented, independent access, Big Men’s two-person crew filmed inside the oil company as Kosmos and its partners discovered and developed the first commercial oil field in Ghana’s history.
Simultaneously the crew filmed in the swamps of Nigeria’s Niger Delta, following the exploits of a militant gang to reveal another side of the economy of oil: people trying to profit in any way possible, because they’ve given up on waiting for the money to trickle down.
So what happens when a group of hungry people discover a massive and exquisitely rare pot of gold in one of the poorest places on earth? Watch your back: it’s every company, government and man for himself and everyone wants to be BIG.
POST-SCREENING PANEL DISCUSSION
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with industry experts, moderated by Dr. Lawrence Loh.
Director, Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations (CGIO) at NUS Business School, National University of Singapore
Dr Lawrence Loh is Director, Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations (CGIO) at NUS Business School, National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also Deputy Head and Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the School. Dr Loh leads the Singapore Governance and Transparency Index and the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard projects. He also steers the initiatives on board gender diversity, business integrity and sustainability reporting.
Dr Loh was lead consultant on technology policy for various Singapore government agencies. He also trained for Fortune 500 companies and international organizations in management and strategy. Dr Loh is a regular commentator on governance and sustainability for Singapore media such as The Business Times, The Straits Times, TODAY, The Edge Singapore and Channel NewsAsia as well as global media such as BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Nikkei Asian Review, South China Morning Post, The Washington Post and Xinhua News.
Dr Loh received a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His thesis on technology governance was awarded first prize in the prestigious worldwide doctoral competition in the field of management information systems.
Executive Director, Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services, Ernst & Young Advisory Pte Ltd
Saket is an Executive Director with EY’s Forensic &Integrity Services, Singapore and assists clients in the ASEAN region. He is Chartered Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Internal auditor with an overall experience of 18 years and specializes in Forensic Investigations, setting up of Anti-Bribery compliance frameworks, Anti-Fraud Controls Reviews, etc. Saket has delivered projects in 16 countries.
Saket is the Founder and past President of Bangalore, (India) Chapter of ACFE and currently a Board Member of the ACFE Singapore Chapter.
BBM, PBM, FCA (Australia), FCA (Singapore), CVA
Executive Chairman, Ardent Associates LLP
Sarjit Singh is the Executive Chairman of Ardent Associates LLP, the winner of the Best Practice Award at the Singapore Accountancy Awards in 2016. He leads the Risk and Governance practice at Ardent. He has built an extensive career in assurance and advisory services, including 16 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Prior to Ardent, Sarjit was the CFO of AIA Singapore and Aviva Asia. He was responsible for formulating and implementing the financial, investment and commercial strategies for AIA Singapore and Aviva’s diverse businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region respectively.
Sarjit currently serves as the Chairman of the Singapore Accountancy Commission’s Chartered Accountancy Learning and Assessment Committee –Foundation Programme. He is also a member of the Investigation and Disciplinary Panel at the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.
He has served on various Singapore government appointed committees, including the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) -Legal and Accounting Services Working Group. Sarjit was conferred the Public Service Star (BBM) in 2011, the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 2007, the ‘Nanyang Alumni Achievement Award’ in 2012, and the SG50 community accolade in 2015 in recognition of his professional achievements and contributions to the nation.
Registered Foreign Lawyer in Singapore, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (Singapore) LLP
Tony Grundy is an international finance and corporate lawyer with over 35 years experience advising clients located in many jurisdictions throughout the world including, in Asia, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. He has practiced as a lawyer in Asia for more than 25 years in total; from 1987 to 1994 and 1997 to the present.
Background
-Wadham College, Oxford (BA (Jurisprudence), 1977)
-Partner of Linklaters in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London (1986-2008)
-Adviser to the Capital Markets Association for Asia (2007-)
-Lecturer at Sophia University Law School, Tokyo on international legal practice (2008-2012)
-Partner of Morrison & Foerster Tokyo (2008-2012)
-Of Counsel of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (2013-)
Life & Executive Coach, a Consultant and an Independent Director
Ramlee is a Life & Executive Coach, a Consultant and an Independent Director.
Ramlee has more than 35 years of experience in international business and finance having worked in audit and leading multinational corporations from various industries.
Ramlee is a member of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (United Kingdom), CPA (Australia) and a non-practicing member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants. He also holds a Graduate Diploma in Marketing and attended the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program in 2011. He is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (The Coaches Training Institute) and an Associated Certified Coach with International Coaching Federation.
He currently serves on the board of various charities and companies in Singapore.
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