Nigerian firms must look beyond local contracts to build global firms — Adekunle

Nigerian entrepreneurs must move beyond winning local contracts and deliberately use strategic corporate partnerships, trade platforms and institutional ecosystems to build businesses capable of competing with global multinationals, Ayeni Adekunle, founder and chief executive officer of BlackHouse Media (BHM), has said.

Adekunle made the call at the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce (NSACC) breakfast forum held in Lagos, on Thursday, where he argued that Nigeria’s biggest competitive advantage lies not only in its market size but in the intellectual capital of its entrepreneurs and professionals.

He said structured relationships with large corporations could provide indigenous businesses with the scale, operational discipline and market access required to transition from small local operators into internationally competitive companies.

“My vision is for local Nigerian and African companies to be so empowered and visionary that they can compete anywhere in the world,” Adekunle said.

He pointed to BHM’s evolution from a modest communications startup in Lagos into an international public relations and technology consultancy with operations in London and Edinburgh as evidence of what Nigerian businesses can achieve when they build capabilities beyond their immediate market.

According to him, African businesses should stop viewing partnerships with large corporations merely as opportunities to secure supply contracts and instead use them as platforms to develop intellectual property, strengthen systems and create solutions that can be exported to other markets.

“I travel around the world, and I see that we are not less intelligent than anyone elsewhere; what we need is…