Notes: Slide from the Fundraising – Grant, DFIs and Government Tekedia Live of last week (PDF, password below) Tekedia LIVE Tuesday | 7pm-8pm | Product Design & Packaging – Kemisola Oloriegbe | Zoom link Thursday | 11am-12noon | Review – Ndubuisi Ekekwe | Zoom Link Saturday | 7pm-8pm | Review – Ndubuisi Ekekwe | Zoom Link Review […]
Why Do Top Companies Across Key Sectors in Nigeria So Often Fail To Retain Key Salaried “Intrepreneurs” Beyond Five Years?
A couple of things started me thinking today about Nigerian Medium-Large and Large Companies (for want of a better description). I don’t want to put an EBITDA, Net-worth or employee head-count scale on it because they vary so much from sector to sector, and the challenges in the Nigerian Market are not the same as companies of the same value in many other markets globally.
The first thing was, I read a LinkedIn post by Ayodeji Balogun, CEO of AFEX Commodities Exchange. This post made references to McKinsey and Company, and a Harvard Business Review article of 2017, which in turn references a PWC report of 2014.
A quote from this HBR the article states:
‘The chief executive role is a tough one to fill. From 2000 to 2013, about a quarter of the CEO departures in the Fortune 500 were involuntary, according to the Conference Board. The fallout from these dismissals can be staggering: Forced turnover at the top costs shareholders an estimated $112 billion in lost market value annually, a 2014 PwC study of the world’s 2,500 largest companies showed. Those figures are discouraging for directors who have the hard task of anointing CEOs—and daunting to any leader aspiring to the C-suite. Clearly, many otherwise capable leaders and boards are getting something wrong. The question is, what?’
The next thing I began to think about is my own ‘LinkedIn’ community. This generally contains the top 3-5 individuals by salary, who are in different executive leadership roles in Nigeria based companies that cross a range of sectors in my career ‘spectrum’
Core Sectors would be various FMCG Manufacturing Sectors, Ingredients and Raw Materials, Engineering Services, Telecommunications, Data Transport/Storage Infrastructure Providers, ISP/Tier 1 Peering, Renewable/Alternative Energy.
These people generally are not direct sources of opportunity for me, but often yield signposts which are prospects to my next ‘piece of bread and butter’.
High churn in this very important part of my network generates a lot of (unpaid) work for me. Keeping it current is critical. When I come off the opportunity trail, contacts with these signposts often translate to business prospects or strategic partnerships with my client or employer.
So if one of them chooses to, or is caused to move on, I will notice. I will also have intimate grasp of trends as a collective phenomenon.
Some key players have perceived trends in lead talent sourcing for the Nigerian Market, both inside and outside of Africa. Perception of talent outside of Africa tends to separate Developed Market Talent Sourcing – US, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand for example, from Emerging Market Talent Sourcing – India, Brazil, Pakistan and the Middle-East for example.
Then there are Foreign Africans, versus Indigenous Talent.
Many postulated that cost is a factor.
Nevertheless, a recent article by Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe, which detailed the top ten or so, salaried leaders in Nigeria, illustrates that the group has individuals reflective of ALL of these sourcing strategies!
While there may be slants to and away from one strategy or the other, there is a uniform problem with these post-holders having a shelf life exceeding five years, unless an executive investor.
Human Resources is generally one of the lowest cost centres in manufacturing and infrastructure-intensive business. It is important that Nigerian Medium-Large and Large Companies concentrate cost-saving exercises on areas where they will make most impact on Cost of Production – namely ingredients, raw materials, production consumables and spare parts subject to short replacement cycles.
As for the top 3-5 Human Assets by cost, the impact on the fortunes of the company will be on the added value they bring to the table, not on whether they saved, or paid a premium of 10 million naira per year on the contract.
These are the people that are brought in and paid a salary to lead a company, and its people on Innovation, Transformation, Repositioning, Diversification, Acquisition, Strategic Down-sizing and other types of major change as part of a continuous process of Corporate Evolution in dynamic cycles of CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT.
These are the ground breaking ‘Intrepreneurs’ and the Project Champions of the company’s most defining projects.
Continuity here is a currency for stability.
Yesterday, I just bade a ‘good luck for the future’ message to one of Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwes’ mentions.
So:
WHY DO TOP COMPANIES ACROSS KEY SECTORS IN NIGERIA SO OFTEN FAIL TO RETAIN KEY SALARIED ‘INTREPRENEURS’ BEYOND FIVE YEARS?
Week 6 Session
Notes: None. Tekedia LIVE Wed | 7pm-8pm | Telecom Business and Infrastructure – Engr Austyne Duru | Zoom link Fri | 7pm-8pm | Workplace & Teams – Vera Ng’oma | Zoom Link Saturday | 11am – 12noon | General – Ndubuisi Ekekwe | Zoom Link ` I made this video after a tweet by the […]
Week 3 Session
Notes: none Tekedia Live Wed | 7pm-8pm | Telecom Business and Infrastructure – Engr Austyne Duru | Zoom link Fri | 7pm-8pm | Workplace & Teams – Vera Ng’oma | Zoom Link Saturday | 11am – 12noon | General – Ndubuisi Ekekwe | Zoom Link I made this video after a tweet by the founder […]
How Nigerians are making the country proud through promotions, awards
The relentless Nigerian spirit came to the fore as this week closes with Nigerians topping the ladder in all of their endeavours both locally and internationally. First, a Nigerian girl, Ruth Inomina was commissioned in the US Military as a Second Lieutenant. This was made known via a LinkedIn post by another Nigerian who was celebrating the outstanding achievement of the young lady. According to the post, the newly commissioned officer is a US Marine. The US Marine Corps is the elite, rapid response branch of the US Armed Forces whose various units are at all time prepared for a wide range of actions from humanitarian to combat missions. The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations with the United States Navy as well as the Army and Air Force. The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.
Another Nigerian,Dr. Ifeanyi Obi, had been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in Construction and Technology. The Nigerian scholar, who has an affiliation with The American University of Cyprus., made this known on his LinkedIn page celebrating how he defied a prophetic statement to go into academics climbing the ladder so quickly. Obi has also built an App, “Obi Soft” which is used to measure the sick building syndrome in Residential Apartments. Obi holds a PhD in Architecture and Construction Management. He teaches Building Components and Structures, Architectural Programming, Digital Design Presentation and Mathematics for Architects.
It was the Nigerian day again at the just concluded Tech Times African Influencer Award as Nigerians dominated all the categories carting away available awards. It was the Nigerian entrepreneur funding chief, Tony Elumelu, who first put the country on the list of winners claiming the platinum award with 5,838 votes out of 7, 266 votes for the category. The rain of awards continued with the Canadian based Nigerian Computer Science professor, Rita Orji, clinching the Top Voice Award with 4,817 votes closely followed by Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, who polled 3,292 votes while Nada Nayhi, a Moroccan LinkedIn influencer, had 2,640 to come third in the category. In the CEO award category, Kola Oyeneyin topped the list with 8,886 votes to lead Darsha Chandara and Toyin Sanni who had 6,475 and 2,808 votes respectively.
For the Company Executive awards, Lady Shayo Imologome, Oluseyi Olanrewaju and Maryam Abisola Adefarati shone brightly with 6,435, 5,157 and 3,354 votes in that order. The LinkedIn Nigerian achievers content creator, Samuel Aboki led the duo of Stephen Angbulu and Faith Nwaobia to clinch the Content Creators award category.
The trio of Mohammed Ibrahim Jega, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Samuel Ajiboyede were the Nigerian Entrepreneurs who emerged in the Entrepreneurs category with 5,502, 5,005 and 3,022 votes accordingly. For Health and Medicine, two Nigerians, Dr. Cassandra Akinde and Ola Brown, had the Kenyan mHealth Founder , Dr. Cathy Mwangi, separating them occupying the first and third positions respectively. Akinde had 2,948 to lead Mwangi and Brown who polled 2,803 and 2,222 votes. In the HR/Recruiter category, it was a purely Nigerian affair with Taiwo Dayo-Abatan who had 10,774 votes leading two other compatriots, Kemi Onadiran and Yemi Faseun who polled 8,590 and 2,087 votes in that order, Sam Adeyemi, a longstanding life coach and who pastors the Daystar Christian Centre was the winner of the Life/Business Coach category. He had 5,571 votes to lead Gbenga Adebambo (2,337) and Lanre Olusola (1,725).
The Tech Times Africa Influencer Award is Africa’s largest and most prestigious accolades for the most influential personalities in the African LinkedIn community. The Award is designed to identify and recognize those outstanding personalities and project their achievements to the African society and the world at large.