Industrialists Urged to Build Businesses that Will Outlive them

By David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Industrialists in Nnewi, the industrial capital of the South-east, have been charged to build businesses that will continue to exist and provide value for money long after they have exited.

The Chairman, Board of Directors of Cutix PLC, Mr John Mbonu, who spoke to industrialists during the 19th annual general meeting (AGM) of the Nnewi Chamber of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture, said that one cannot be said to be in business if they cannot build businesses that can outlive them.

Mbonu called on industrialists in the town to seek means of improving their businesses by engaging in partnership and employing consultants who will help them build businesses beyond what he described as ‘one man show’.

He said: “You must consider growing your business to the point when it will be listed on the stock market. Nigeria does not run a stringent rule in being listed. You can pick up the listing requirements and work towards it.

“If your business cannot continue to run after you have retired, then you have not built a business. Hire good consultants to think up good ideas for you and also consider setting up a good board of directors.”

Mbonu said that the notion that partnerships do not work in the South-east is totally untrue, adding that all that was needed was to select people of like minds, while looking for partners.

Another industrialist, Chief Robert Anwatu, Chairman of Roban Stores, who also delivered a paper, harped on the need for businessmen in Nnewi to pick their line of businesses depending on their passion, rather than which business was making the highest profit.

The AGM also featured the investiture of a new president of the chamber, Mr Ifeanyi Uzodike, who took over from Mr. Linus Ilozue.

Ilozue listed some of the challenges encountered by the industrialists, saying the chamber was on the verge of solving one of its most teething problems which was lack of power supply.

“We have met with the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, and we have his promise that the problem of lack of power in Nnewi would soon be addressed,” he said.

Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, who was represented at the occasion by his deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke, expressed happiness about the steady growth of Nnewi as the industrial capital of the South-east, saying that the chamber has remained the strongest in the country.

He noted that the ingenuity of Nnewi people have always stood out, while promising to ensure full support for the chamber as the government has remained business friendly, the reason for the high influx of investors into the state.