• At NIM lecture, experts give tips on building lasting businesses

Simeon Mpamugoh

If you were a youth in the mid-1980s and early I990s, you probably would have heard about brands like Kingsway Stores, Bata, a footwear company known for Cortina shoes, Berec Battery, Dunlop Nigeria and Nigeria Textile Mills.

However, things took a different turn when many of these brands began to shut down and divert to other areas. Today, many of them have not been replaced in the minds of many Nigerians. Even those handed over to local business people who could barely handle a small shop have collapsed.

The challenges of building institutions dominated discourse at this year’s distinguished lecture of the Nigeria Institute of Management Chartered (NIM) held recently in Lagos.

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With the topic, “The Challenges of Institutional Building: A Personal Experience,” the lecture was delivered by Mr. Moruf Kolawole Ayanwale, chief executive officer/group managing director, Centrespread Grey, an advertising agency. It took place at Management House, Chris Abebe Auditorium, Idowu Tailor Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

President of the institute, Prof. Olukunle Iyanda, said that it was one of the institute’s interventions to give members a platform to address a significant contemporary issue in national governance and leadership, as well as to catalyse good management and the resultant economic development and wellbeing of Nigerians.

He added that the institute had chosen to address the challenges of building strong institutions rather than strongmen, noting that if the existence of strongmen in large numbers were crucial to development, Nigeria would have ranked within the 20 most developed countries of the world.

He observed that strong and enduring institutions take time, commitment, sincerity, and determination to build, and could not be built overnight within the tenure or even the lifetime of a single strongman.

Iyanda said that strong institutions contribute more to development than strongmen because institutions were immortal while men were mortal.

READ ALSO: Beyond restructuring: The need for strong institutions

He said: “Strongmen die, while institutions often get stronger with age and are not animate beings capable of having hidden agendas that contradict declared common objectives.

“They ensure greater continuity and are less susceptible to individual manipulations and idiosyncrasies. It is not a surprise, therefore, that practically all developed countries are those governed by institutions and concepts, such as the rule of law, rather than rule of men,” he said.

He stressed the importance of integrity in management and called on the members of the institute to stamp integrity in every cause they are engaged in.

He also attempted to interrogate why people go into establishing a business:

“Is it to build an institution that would outlive you or have something to hand over to a child? If you hand it to a child that

is not prepared, the whole thing would crumble. That is what is happening in many concerns in the country. It is better to enlarge your management rather than personalising it.”

The guest speaker, Moruf Kolawole Ayanwale, took the audience through his journey in life and how he started life in the streets of Mushin.

He said that it was not uncommon in those days for thriving businesses or shops to immediately cease to exist following the demise of the owner.

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“In fact, I can count hundreds of successful businesses that were closed after the death or incapacitation of the owner, with disastrous effects not only on the lives of the immediate and extended family of the owner, but on the economy of the locality.

“I have learnt valuable lessons and gained incredible insight about the interplay of passion, determination, purpose, goodwill, tenacity, management and many others in building a sustainable institution,” he said.

He attributed the success of Centrespread Grey, which he started at 27 with a long-term friend, to love and passion for the job.

“Our passion and interest in our skills made us venture into business management without the requisite skills. We also knew that managing an organisation would require experience, knowledge of management and corporate administration, which we did not possess from the onset. We needed input and direction from experienced minds in business and corporate management.

“We constituted a board under the chairmanship of Dr. Olawale Cole, and other eminent professionals across different fields of corporate endeavours. This process imbibed in us the quality of accountability. So, as owner-managers, we had people we were answerable and responsible to. Those who had responsibility to call us to order when we got carried away from the agreed goal set for us by the board. This served as the masterstroke we needed. And corporate guidance, business direction and knowledge we garnered during those times remain one of the pillars of our success.

“Those who knew the Nigerian economy and business landscape in the early 1980s and 1990s would remember that, in those years, the economy was still largely dominated by global conglomerates, and businesses, such as Dunlop, Bata, John Holt, Leventis, UTC, etc.

“For the advertising industry, that was also the boom era. There was intense competition among most brands. The growing middle class and their access to increased disposable income with its attendant growth in consumption and purchases meant brands had to do a lot of communication to persuade the consumer to patronise their services or buy their products.

“The first thing we did despite our lean income was to recruit experienced hands. We hired top performers who had the aptitude to do great things and placed them on higher salaries than ours. We had staff in our employment earning twice our remuneration. We believed strongly that adequate compensation, a conducive work atmosphere and a motivated workforce were essential to achieving the goals we had set for ourselves as an organisation. We went all out to ensure we delivered.

Centrespread started getting noticed and started churning out award-winning campaigns that are still today regarded as iconic in the industry.”

He also dwelt on the trappings of success, how the company navigated through tough times, expanding the future value of the business, and succession planning.

He regretted that he didn’t recruit a human resource officer first at the inception of the company: “Considering what I know now, if I were to start Centrespread all over again, I would have recruited an HR officer first because they ensure corporate strategy and governance.”

He noted that the reason many companies have left the country might not be too far from corruption.

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“We joke with the word ‘corruption.’ Once our integrity is questionable, those companies that perform to the best global practices will leave, and will not come back because they are answerable to their stakeholders back home. The day we have sophisticated Nigerians running government, things will change. As it were, Nigerians are more sophisticated than the government.”

He also provided some tips for new business owners: “Keep your eyes on the ball. Stay true to your vision. Accountability drives focus. Recruit right and appropriately. Be resilient and build for the future.

“Always evolve with the times, restructure when necessary, take necessary decisions, however difficult, don’t compromise on quality, and stay professional.”

A past president of the institute, Mr. Akinbayo Adenubi, debunked the notion that Nigerians cannot plan for their businesses to be taken over by insiders or outsiders.

He commended Centrespread Grey for starting the change with the structure of the company headed by his daughter.

Participants at the event expressed sadness about the prevailing circumstances in Nigeria’s history, where warehouses are being turned to churches in industrial estates.