LEAP Africa & Partners Support Nigerian Businesses on Balancing Growth & Profitability at 12th Annual CEOs Forum

The vision of every entrepreneur is to be very successful and a key leader in the industry. Growth, when successfully managed, will deliver sustainable result not only for the entrepreneur but also for the economy and society. This was underscored by Ralph Ozoude, Managing Director, United Parcel Service (UPS) in his opening remark at the 12th CEOs Forum sponsored by UPS, Sterling Bank, Interswitch on Thursday, June 1st, 2017. With such an inspiring story of how UPS (United Parcel Services) a private messenger service has grown into a global supply chain management solutions provider in 110 years, Ralph took participants through the life-cycle of the organization’s journey.

The theme was on “Managing Growth for Profitability” with discussions centred on topics of corporate governance and leadership in business sustainability, people management for operational success, financial planning and management and marketing and innovation moderated by Folu Ayeni, Vice Chairman, Tantalizers.
There is a strong linkage between these four elements, drawing from by the plenary session led by a team of experts and entrepreneurs. Excerpts of Prof Fabian Ajogwu one of the youngest SANs in Nigeria and Principal Partners of Kenna Partners discourse on Corporate Governance and Leadership in Business Sustainability:

“You can run a company provided you have the right connection & working relationship in the company. A lot of people say I am the owner to my company and do not understand the true meaning of ownership. Ownership is the right to destroy. You cease to own the company and be accountable to the co-owners as need arise. Capital has no heart or emotion, it goes to where it sees investment.”

Corporate governance is regarded as the exercise of power over the organization and accountability and compliance with the laws you set and the dominance of corporate governance is conflict of interest. There are other reasons such as passive shareholders, weak internal control, ineffective management or information system, legacy issues and regulation risk.

There must be a clear distinction between what the law says and what actually happens, so it would not be that when trouble comes we go and check the laws. For organizations to remain sustainable and outlive their founders & creators, they need to be run properly, you need to understand the ownership, linkage between accountability”.

He gave strong recommendations of LEAP Africa book on Defying the Odds, which examines various organizations on the complexities of ownership, leadership and sustainability.

While Tara Fela-Durotoye emphasized functions of having an active board and its impact in her business in terms of managing risk, accountability, strategy and maintaining growth. She stated that one of the key advantages of having a board is that you will be forced to be accountable.

“I started my business with 15,000 and House of Tara is now a multi-million naira business. If you want to build a business that will outlive you, you need to be accountable to a Board. In the past, it was my company. I set my goals if I achieve them or not, I am okay.

When it comes to growing your business, your board network can work to your advantage. For instance, if board members go outside the country, they share our stories in these countries and present opportunities in these countries to us. If you open up your finances to them, they always help you identify where you can grow.”