Scaling A Nigerian Business

MAY 14, 2013

 When the owner of a Nigerian business dies, most of the time, the business dies with him. Nigerian businesses generally tend to revolve around the founder and his being around is necessary for the business to survive. That’s why there are so few big businesses in Nigeria. Companies are limited by the attention span and management bandwidth of whoever founded it. For a business to scale, it has to be run like a war. The general/founder is focused on the frontline. When he wins, he hands it over to a competent general to fortify and build the position. He then moves on to attack the next territory. What happens in Nigeria is that the founder gets bogged down managing the fortification process. Sometimes, his ego does not allow him hand over control to someone else. But that’s the only way to scale. You cannot deal with all the details by yourself, and if you try, you limit the size of your company.  By Mark Essien