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Poor succession planning is leaving many Nigerian businesses vulnerable to collapse after the exit of their founders, prompting business executives, legal experts and corporate governance professionals to convene next month to examine measures for improving business continuity and leadership transition.
The issues will be discussed at the C-Suite Exclusive Masterclass Succession Blueprint Summit scheduled for August 19 and 20 in Lagos, where participants are expected to focus on succession planning, governance structures and strategies for sustaining family-owned and founder-led businesses.
The discussions come amid continuing concerns over the long-term survival of privately owned businesses in Nigeria, many of which contribute significantly to employment and economic activity but operate without formal succession arrangements.
Convener of the summit, Ezekiel Isidahomen, said the programme was designed to address what he described as one of the major reasons businesses fail after the departure of their founders.
“The essence of this programme is to ensure that no Nigerian business folds up because of the issue of failed succession.”
He cited figures attributed to the Lagos Business School indicating that only about 22.2 per cent of Nigerian businesses have succession plans in place, leaving many enterprises exposed to governance disputes and operational uncertainty.
“Those ones are at risk, we have seen many businesses folded up because of family disputes, board versus management, management versus family. So these are the issues we want to resolve at that summit,” he said.
According to Isidahomen, succession challenges extend beyond Nigeria, with many African businesses struggling to remain operational beyond the founding generation.
He said fewer than 3 per cent of African businesses survive into a third generation, attributing the trend largely to disputes involving business owners, family members, boards and management rather than market conditions.
He added that stronger governance and clearly defined succession structures could improve investor confidence by reducing uncertainty over leadership transitions.
“When they are sure there is stability, when they are sure there will be no issues of clash between family and management, people will like to come and invest,” he said.
Isidahomen said the summit would focus on practical solutions rather than theoretical discussions.
“It’s not actually a training; it’s a solution. We want to provide a solution room,” he said.
He said discussions would cover succession planning, business continuity, digital legacy and access continuity, protection of directors under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, and measures to reduce disputes involving business owners, boards and family members during leadership transitions.
The summit is expected to feature presentations by legal practitioners, academics and corporate governance professionals, including Senior Advocate of Nigeria Hannibal Uwaifo, Pan-African University lecturer Nkem Chima, Depreciation Securities Limited founder and Chief Executive Officer C.S.U. Anyanwu, Barr. Johnson Ishie, among others.
