‘70% Of Nigerian Family Businesses Still Die After 1st Generation’

The dean of the Lagos Business School(LBS), Professor Chris Ogbechie has said, only 30 per cent of family businesses survive beyond their first generation.

Ogbechie stated this during his welcome address at the Lagos Business School Family Business Conference which was held in Lagos.

According to him, family businesses all over the world are faced with unique challenges, saying this has inspired the LBS to come up with an initiative to foster conversations surrounding the peculiar challenges faced by family-owned enterprises.

He said: “despite their contributions, statistics show that only about 30 per cent of Nigerian family businesses survive past the first generation. This highlights the critical need for tailored support to ensure their longevity and continued success.

“These statistics underscore the resilience and enduring legacy of family businesses in our society. However, they also highlight the need for continuous learning and adaptation to ensure sustained success in an ever-changing business landscape.”

The director of the Family Business Initiative, Dr. Okey Nwuke said, many family businesses have gone out of business owing to a vast array of issues, saying about 24 million family businesses in Nigeria contribute up to $200 billion to the national economy.

In her keynote address, the founder of the Chair Centre Group, Ibukun Awosika highlighted the need for a family business to clearly articulate its vision.

She noted that the survival of family businesses across generations primarily depends on structures built to enable the business to outlive the founding fathers.

She also advised that family businesses should allow successors to run with their ideas without necessarily being bugged by pre-existing templates of their predecessors.

Speaking further, Awosika stated that, for family businesses to stand the test of time, they must embrace the right values. She also cautioned that families must critically examine their individual talents to determine how these talents would be deployed to various aspects of the businesses.

The first panel session was moderated by partner & head, Strategy & Markets Sector, KPMG, Segun Sowande. It featured speakers across different generations of family businesses which included the Group managing director of Saroafrica, Rasheed Sarumi; the managing director of Construction Kaiser Limited, Igbuan Okaisabor; the chairman of Peace Mass Transit Limited; Samuel Maduka; the executive director of Emzor Pharmaceuticals, Uzoma Ezeoke and the executive director of SIMS Nigeria Limited, Ikechukwu Eyisi.

They discussed ‘Navigating Succession Dynamics in African Family Businesses: Balancing Tradition and Innovation.’

The second panel session was tagged ‘Insights on African Family Business: A Candid Conversation,’ moderated by the director of the Enterprise Development Centre, Nneka Okekearu.