Dr Robert Ogirri brings nearly 30 years of experience in manufacturing and supply chain management. He has served in leadership positions at both local and international companies, such as Cadbury, Kraft Foods, Mondelez, Nosak Group, and Ladgroup. He offers practical guidance on how leaders with traditional operational expertise can harness artificial intelligence to drive growth and accomplish key business goals in this interview with ARINZE NWAFOR
Numerous business leaders regard the current business climate as the most challenging they have ever encountered. In your view, what is the most urgent national issue impacting the industry today?
This is quite interesting because, across the ages, everyone tends to believe that their own decade was the toughest. However, the challenges we face now are much more diverse and have a more immediate impact. The world today is a global village, and events in any part of the world can easily affect your operations. No one is an island.
Take Nigeria, for example. Industries here face the dual challenge of confronting both black swan and grey rhino risks. So, how does one manage improbable and unpredictable events, alongside probable, high-impact situations? A business owner today must be highly adept at being adaptable. Key drivers of difficulty today include insecurity challenges, power disruptions in the absence of a clear energy strategy, and inconsistent policies. Then you have shifting consumer demands and dwindling purchasing power, all of which are impacts of the issues mentioned above. Businesses are left with high inventories and lower outputs. Capacity utilisation is therefore low, making it much more difficult to absorb costs. It is tough.
In what ways have these national challenges influenced how businesses approach strategy and leadership?
Long-term planning has essentially gone out of the window. We now must make decisions based on short-term plans and continuously evolve. The thinking now is essentially about execution, the operational effectiveness of strategy. Leaders have to be hands-on and willing to drive quick turnarounds. How do you manage a global supply chain that can be impacted by a single tweet from a powerful head of government, for example, on tariffs, or by the outbreak of war? Consequently, a well-crafted strategy must be regularly measured against key performance indicators that continuously leverage the core purpose and strengths of the business.
How has your experience with multinational firms such as Cadbury, Kraft, and Mondelez, alongside local companies like Nosak Group and Ladgroup, influenced your approach to leadership?
I often describe it as a journey that takes you along a well-paved highway, which eventually connects to a rough, uneven terrain before you finally reach your destination. My early years with multinationals gave me a deep appreciation for structure – things like systems, processes, compliance, and operational discipline. You are exposed to world-class manufacturing standards where continuous improvement is a daily philosophy.
I would say those experiences shaped my foundation. I learned what “best-in-class” truly looks like and what it takes to get there.
On the other hand, working with indigenous companies sharpened my adaptability and strengthened my resilience. That was where I learned to apply global standards within local realities, often navigating significant constraints while still driving performance and growth.
Over time, I grew into a leader who leads with both head and heart. You know what has to be done to reach best-in-class levels, and you drive the change passionately, essentially creating the right environment and culture to ensure our indigenous companies are able to stand out, even within our emerging markets.
Inflation, currency fluctuations, and global disruptions have significantly affected supply chain and logistics. How do you think leaders should address these challenges?
Earlier, I mentioned black swan events. Great leaders do not just respond to disruption; they anticipate, prepare, and then respond decisively. There is a need for disciplined focus on risk: understanding potential impacts, assessing probabilities, and building mitigation plans before a crisis unfolds.
I must say this: no matter how capable a leader may be, their credibility can be quickly undermined if they fail to take adequate steps to manage foreseeable risks. Many businesses have suffered major losses in recent years due to currency fluctuations. In several cases, what appeared to be operational setbacks were fundamentally foreign exchange losses that had not been sufficiently hedged or planned for.
I recall a period during the wave of Structural Adjustment Programme implementation. The companies that performed best were those that invested in backward integration and strengthened control over their value chains. The lesson remains relevant: resilience is built intentionally. Productivity cost savings must be emphasised to enable the business to have the necessary buffers to absorb shocks.
Leaders today must take a deep, honest look at their operations. They must ask poignant questions, like ‘Where are the vulnerabilities?’ Which functions are most exposed to currency risk, supplier concentration, or global shocks? These weak points are always the first to feel the strain during disruption.
The default response can no longer be workforce reductions. Sustainable resilience comes from improving productivity and driving structural cost efficiencies, not from short-term cuts that weaken long-term capability. When organisations embed productivity-focused savings into the business model, they create the financial buffers needed to absorb shocks and remain competitive in uncertain times.
How can manufacturing excellence contribute to enhancing national competitiveness, particularly regarding productivity and cost efficiency?
When I facilitate sessions on this topic for Executive MBA students, I emphasise that manufacturing excellence is the foundation for competing globally; it is not optional. It represents the true end-to-end integration of supply chain operations. It aligns strategy with execution across three critical dimensions: transactional transformation (business process improvements); technical transformation (systems and tools); and workforce readiness (quality, cost delivery, safety, morale, and developing outstanding leaders).
A clear example is how we have leveraged Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing tools to optimise costs and develop our people. In many developed countries, equipment operators are no longer just “machine operators”; they are now technical operators. They maintain equipment, manage quality, oversee processes, and drive continuous improvement on their lines.
This shows why excellence must be built from the bottom up. To truly improve productivity and reduce costs, training cannot be reserved for management alone. It must reach the shop-floor operators. They are the ones who drive results first.
Goods are increasingly crossing borders with ease. That is why consumers are demanding higher quality at lower cost. To be competitive, we must start today by ensuring our people understand that there are no ‘small tasks’. Every role, operation, and assignment must be done right the first time.
How can organisations build and retain strong teams amid the challenges of talent migration and widening leadership gaps?
A report from the Centre for Global Development indicates that the cross-border movement of highly skilled professionals has declined for the first time since 2020, falling 8.5 per cent year on year as of 31 August 2025. Even so, about 2.4 million highly skilled individuals still changed countries. The drop essentially reflects key decisions by certain countries to limit access.
I believe that we must focus on the key attributes of our youthful population and invest in building a healthy culture in our organisations that rewards innovation and creativity. Collaboration cannot remain just a slogan on our values board. It must be strengthened across the organisation. We have to embrace new technology and new ways of working and expose our employees to them. This, I believe, would help in retaining our top talents. One reason I stayed long in my earlier career was that my inputs were recognised and acknowledged, and I knew I was in the talent pool. I was being developed as a future leader, and this was an exciting journey for me. We have to focus on our best hands and deliberately equip them for future roles.
How can leadership, strategy, commercial, and supply chain functions be aligned to effectively deliver core business objectives?
It starts with clarity of purpose. Every business must clearly articulate its core mission. It should not just be written in documents; it should be consistent in speech and action. This is where integration starts. One of the biggest challenges in any organisation is when core functions believe they can follow their own ‘course’ and still achieve the business objectives. There are no functional paths that should deviate from deriving their essence from the overriding goal of the business and its vision. We used to hold a monthly ‘Integration Management Review’, and it was truly helpful. These meetings allowed us to map processes across functions, identify overlaps or gaps, and ensure that every activity was well aligned with achieving company-wide objectives.
Another approach I would recommend is to avoid tying a portion of your reward solely to individual performance. You should tie it to the performance of the business and other functions as well.
That is a way to create incentives for collaboration. I have been able to drive collaboration and growth by ensuring all functional goals are intertwined. That way, everyone understands that success is collective; that sense of “we are in this together”.
Quality, Environment, Health and Safety are often perceived merely as compliance functions. However, there are indications that they can serve as a core organisational strength.
QEHS has gone beyond mere compliance. It is now considered a strategic tool for organisations that aim to be world-class.
Take sustainability, for example. It reflects how a company manages its environment, its people, and its processes. The world today scrutinises whether businesses handle waste responsibly, avoid exploitative labour practices, and optimise energy use. These are all integral to health, safety, and sustainability. We have seen major automobile companies recall vehicles for failing to meet emission standards. Those are the business consequences of neglecting QEHS.
As a country and as companies, we cannot ignore these standards and focus solely on servicing customers. That is no longer enough. Quality has moved beyond the product itself to include packaging, sourcing, and even ingredient traceability.
Experts in QEHS can directly drive growth and productivity by identifying recurring business gaps and implementing practical, sustainable solutions.
Now, look at the recent actions by the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency. It shut down several companies for failing to treat effluent and wastewater properly. Beyond regulatory penalties, these closures result in lost revenue and reputational damage. These are consequences that could have been mitigated with proactive QEHS leadership. Now do you see why QEHS is a core strength?
Technology and artificial intelligence are transforming industries worldwide. How can leaders with traditional operational backgrounds adapt and engage effectively with this shift?
Change is the one constant every leader must reckon with. From the agricultural and industrial eras to today’s technology revolution, those who fail to evolve are left behind.
We now live in an age of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and robotics. It is difficult to justify, for example, any serious organisation still operating without an Enterprise Resource Planning system at the heart of its processes.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, once said that “AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on.” That is not an exaggeration; it is a warning and an invitation.
Forward-looking leaders should already be exploring how to embed AI across their operations: on the factory floor through human-machine interfaces that can predict faults and optimise performance; in sales and marketing through tools that analyse patterns, anticipate consumer behaviour, and guide strategy. Across Rwanda, drones are now being deployed to support healthcare delivery and agricultural productivity. Africa cannot afford to stand on the sidelines while others press ahead.
The 21st‑century leader can no longer think or act with a traditional mindset. AI literacy should not be optional. Governments ought to consider integrating AI education into school curricula to prepare the next generation not only to use these tools but also to build and govern them.
Which key leadership lessons are most applicable to today’s generation of managers?
In my 30-year career, I have had three guiding principles that have always influenced how I work and lead. I came across them early in my journey, and they have remained my compass ever since. I call them the three A’s: Accountable, Aggressive, and Adaptable.
I see accountability as taking full ownership of your actions and responsibilities. It means being someone others can trust and look up to, leading by example, and keeping integrity at the heart of everything you do.
Be aggressive. This is not about hostility; it is about being driven and determined. It means staying resolute in the pursuit of your goals. Never backing down when challenges arise. Whether it is hitting a sales target or ensuring a project is completed on time and within budget, you remain focused on results and see things through to the end.
When I talk about adaptability, this is what keeps you relevant and resilient. It is about staying quick and flexible. Open to new ideas. You learn from mistakes, keep improving, and embrace opportunities that will help you innovate. You anticipate challenges, manage risks, and always stay one step ahead. Adaptability is what keeps momentum alive.
