Despite the abundant human resources and huge potential the nation’s business space offers individuals and investors, only 23 businesses doing business in Nigeria are said to be crossing the $1 billion revenue mark, annually.
Special Adviser to the President on Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, made the disclosure at the First Bank’s ‘Nigeria Economic Outlook 2024: Current Realities and Prospects’, held at the weekend in Lagos.
Jumoke, who was one of the panelists at the event, expressed sadness that out of about 334 of such businesses in Africa that cross the $1 billion mark on a yearly basis, only 23 of them are from Nigeria.
She explained that PEBEC, through its new intervention programme, ‘Business Champion Intervention’, will be targeting and supporting those businesses since they have the ‘Osmosis effect’, and the capacity to grow the economy faster in turbulent economic period.
According to her, those businesses were selected by the revenue they contribute, the tax they pay, the export proceeds they generate and the number of jobs they create.
She added that one of the offerings the council intends to give such businesses is a bespoke service that will enable them navigate the business space, especially from the government side.
“So we are going to be targeting and supporting those businesses. We’ll reach out to them to know what the challenges are, and how we can support them in achieving maximum results.
“We believe businesses that are large have an osmosis effect. They have the ability to grow the economy faster, especially in turbulent times,” she stated.
The lead speaker, Dr Abiodun Adedipe, called on individuals and corporate organisations to leverage the growth opportunities envisaged in the 2024 budget to enhance their businesses.
While commending First Bank for providing the opportunity for its management and customers to preview the economic outlook for the new year, the financial expert however counselled participants and other businesses on the need to devise their strategies for growth, in sync with the envisaged growth.
“This has become imperative since businesses that grow less than the growth of the economy in which they operate, will always lose out, not necessarily to competitors, but to any business smart enough to take up the space,” he stated.
In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer, First Bank Nigeria, Dr Adesola Adeduntan, explained that the forum offered those in private and corporate capacity the opportunity to rethink, refresh and recalibrate their businesses to align with the opportunities available in the current environment.
“If you don’t quickly understand the direction of the government, regarding its policies, priorities and how we as private sector can be an integral part of that, and use it to build further growth of our business, then we have missed an opportunity,” he stated.
Adeduntan added that the forum would help provide insight into the economic outlook of the new year, and how businesses could leverage it to improve their Return on Investment (ROI).
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