Business leaders and strategists have raised the alarm over the fragile foundations of many African enterprises, warning that the continent’s growing wave of business innovation could collapse without deliberate succession planning, governance structures and cross-industry collaboration.
The warning came at the Convergence Africa Summit held in Abuja on Thursday, organised by the CEOs Portal under the theme, “Transgenerational Connection: Architecting Generational Capital Across Industries.”
The summit brought together Dr Paul Alaje, fashion entrepreneur Mai Atafo, senior advocate Mrs Olabisi Soyebo, SAN, and traditional ruler HRM Oba Akintoye Adeoye, among others.
According to a statement issued by the organisers on Friday, the Convener of the summit, Patience Olusuyi, told participants that profitability alone cannot guarantee the survival of a business, arguing that too many African enterprises remain dependent on the energy of a single founder rather than the reliability of enduring systems.
She said, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but across Africa and emerging economies, something significant is happening: we are witnessing the rise of ambitious founders.”
Olusuyi maintained that Africa was witnessing an era of unprecedented entrepreneurial growth but warned that the true measure of a business would not be its immediate gains but the institutions and systems it leaves behind for coming generations.
She added, “But beneath that growth lies a deeper question—one that cannot be ignored: Will what we are building outlive us? Because profitability is not permanence. Growth is not sustainability.
“And attention is not strength. Too many of our enterprises are still built on personality, not structure.
“Too many are dependent on the energy and soul of a single founder, rather than the reliability of a system. Too many are designed to succeed in the present—but not to endure into the future. And that is why we are here.”
In his keynote address, Strategist and Performance Consultant, Dr Niyi Adesanya, admitted that Nigeria may not yet be fully prepared for the demands of transgenerational wealth creation but urged business leaders not to wait for perfect conditions before acting.
“The best time to plant a tree is yesterday. And the second-best time is today. So no matter what, you have to be ready,” he said.
Adesanya added that even those who considered themselves ready must remain alert to change, noting that shifting trends and new data constantly render old assumptions obsolete.
Justice Mabel Segun-Bello of the Federal High Court argued that cross-sector collaboration had become the new currency of business survival, noting that modern enterprises can no longer afford to operate in isolation.
“The world is moving away from industry isolation. Now we’re moving on to industry collaboration,” she said, citing telemedicine and tech law as examples of sectors already thriving through strategic convergence.
“So across the ecosystem now, it is integration that is the main thing. That is the main currency of business today. It’s the main currency of organisational sustainability,” she added.
The Convergence Africa Summit is an annual initiative of the CEOs Portal aimed at fostering cross-sector collaboration and long-term wealth creation among African entrepreneurs.
