Business owners are constantly in a struggle to attain sustainable business growth. Entrepreneurial magnate and Chairman First Bank Nigeria Limited, Mrs Ibukun Awosika in a speech during the 254th anniversary of Red Star Express Plc held October in Lagos, identified strict adherence to vision and core values to be the secret to attaining sustainable business growth.
According to Awosika, business sustainability is an approach that creates long-term stakeholder value through the implementation of an outstanding business strategy. This business strategy must be able to consider every dimension of how a business operates.
She further stated that companies should frequently re-visit their vision and ensure that the business is still on track with impeccable ethical business practice in order to succeed in business. The business’s ethics should not be compromised either if a high level of integrity is to be achieved
Having thousands of people in her employ, Awosika acknowledges the value of employees as she suggests that proper employee development and open minded approach should be areas of focus for the company’s longevity and growth. In an interview with Punch, she addressed business owners and said;
“You must understand that you are not indispensable to your business because you are not God. You are not the most important person in your business, the guys who work for you are as important as well. You must learn to respect them and the value they bring into your business. You can’t pay them peanuts and pay yourself all the money”.
In the business world, change is constant therefore business owners must be ever ready to adapt to changes. Mrs. Awosika shares the same opinion saying that business owners should keep evolving at the right pace. This, as she pointed out, requires; self-awareness, self examination as well as a deep sense of innovative strategy to help the business stay ahead of trends.
In her words “the issue of building business that will stand the test of time is critical, and the fundamental factors to sustain it must be thought of. You must have a vision of what you want to build, and where you want to go because if the business is all about now, it would not last.
Again, your vision must be able to adapt and respond to situations of change. Visions have changes and can be updated in order not to be wiped out. Also, when building a business if you do not invest in training of the people, making them vision sharers, somewhere along the line, it shows up. You must also build within the right value system and model in order to build sustainability”.
In a nutshell, to attain sustainable business growth;
- Have a vision that is susceptible to change
- Re-visit your vision from time to time and adjust accordingly
- Have a business strategy
- Acknowledge the value of your employees and train them to become your vision sharers
- Adopt business ethnics that cannot be compromised
- Be ever ready to evolve.
