An international business man, Prince Bode Adetoyi has described lack of succession plan as the bane of most Nigerian and African businesses.
Bode said this at his 50th birthday celebration recently in Lagos.
The CEO of Hi- Nutrients International Ltd, told his audience how he started from the scratch before attracting Neovia, a leading global brand in animal nutrition.
Neovia, an Agro-allied company with headquarter in France had on 18th of June 2018 announced it had acquired majority stake in Hi-Nutients, a premix market leader in Nigeria.
The acquisition subsequently positioned Neovia to develop and introduced Wisium’s portfolio to a promising new market.
According to the Bode, an alumnus of Harvard Business School, many African businesses don’t grow because the owners hold to them 100% even when it is obvious they needed partnership or merger with other global brand to move on.
“It is only in Nigeria and Africa you see business owners holding on to their businesses until it dies a natural death,most african businesses hardly outlive the owner,this is because of lack of succession plan and over protection of business even when it becomes obvious there is need for partnership or acquisition.
“When I founded Hi Nutrients,a company that specialises in production of Premixes, vitamins, and minerals for dairy cows and aquaculture in 2004, I told myself that this is a company that will grow to become a global brand some day and outlive me, I thank God the dream has come to pass today,” he said.
The industrialist also harped on the importance of record keeping and integrity in business, saying it was the main attraction for Neovia when it was looking for an inroad into the African market.
“Always keep proper records of your day to day business activities, when you buy petrol into your car, keep the receipt, even when you buy recharge card keep the recorded because these are the records that would show anyone how accountable you are. It is also important you make integrity your watchword, this is your social capital and it is more than money, trust in business world can get you capital”, Mr Bode reiterated.
The high point of the event was the launching of a book authored by the celebrant in which he chronicled his life journey in the last 50 years, from a poor background from Otun Ekiti to become an international businessman.
In the book titled, “The Entrepreneur “, he explained the principles of building a successful business in an environment that is not so business friendly.
