UBA Business Series: Experts pick innovation, focus, passion as essential ingredients for building great businesses

L-R: Founder, Happy Coffee, Princess Adeyinka Tekena; TV Personality & Multi Media Entrepreneur, Frank Edoho; Group Head Corporate Communications, United Bank for Africa, Alero Ladipo; Multimedia personality, Toke Makinwa; Event Anchor, Sharon Uchunor and Head, Events, UBA, Adetola Adeduwon, during the UBA Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) Business Series.

L-R: Directorate Head, Resources, United Bank for Africa, Tomiwa Sotiloye; Founder Terra Culture and Award winning Film Director, Producer, Bolanle Austen-Peters; Multimedia personality, Toke Makinwa; Founder, Happy Coffee, Princess Adeyinka Tekena and Group Head Corporate Communications, UBA, Alero Ladipo during the UBA Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) Business Series on Thursday.

Experts agreed on Thursday at the United Bank for Africa Business Series, the last one for 2024, that building businesses that would stand the test of time requires innovation, focus, and passion.

At the event which was held at the Tony Elumelu Amphitheatre, UBA House, Marina, Lagos with the theme, ‘Profit with Purpose, Business Continuity,’ top industry leaders and entrepreneurs shared insights and strategies to ensuring business resilience and sustainability in today’s dynamic economic environment.

Founder, Terra Kulture, Bolanle Austen-Peters, Chief Executive of Asadtek Group Limited, Ghana; Dr. James Asare-Adjei; Award winning TV Personality & Multi Media Entrepreneur, Frank Edoho, Celebrated multimedia personality, Toke Makinwa and founder of Nigeria’s pioneering indigenous premium coffee brand, Happy Coffee, Princess Adeyinka Tekena, share their business journey and gave pointers on how businesses could stand the test of time.

Bolanle Austen-Peters who is also a lawyer, film director, and producer, spoke on the need for small and medium scale businesses to define their purpose, build a workable framework and have a team that shares in your vision.

She said, “I can never overemphasise the role that purpose plays in your business. There is the need for business owners to set clear goals and achievable targets. From Day one, I started with having an organisational structure like what we have in banks, complete with legal structure, a board of Directors, administrative Officers, and all.

“The truth is that if you do not have a framework for your business, you may just be another business from the street. Putting together a structure shows that you are in for serious business, and people will treat your business as such.”

James Asare-Adjei from Ghana, pointed out that apart from being innovative and having integrity, MSMEs need to identify areas that they can excel at and work towards building it.

“As business owners, you need to take advantage of the market available to you, and ensure that you add value at every point,” he added.

For Frank Edoho, passion remained an essential ingredient that drives business growth.

“Passion is very important, as business owners, you should stick to your guns and learn from what others are doing and add it to your experience to make your business better,” he said.

“One of the things I did to grow my brand was that I was focused,” said Toke Makinwa, who recalled her humble beginnings as a banker and later a broadcaster.

“I kept the right attitude and surrounded myself with people who are team builders. These are winning strategies anytime,” she added.

Princess Adeyinka Tekena, who is a beneficiary of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Grant, said the $5,000 grant she won in 2015, helped to build her business from ground up and the business has been thriving for over 10 years.

She pointed out that tenacity, determination and financial discipline have been some of the factors that have contributed to the growth of her small business.

UBA’s Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Alero Ladipo, who commended the participants for sharing valuable insights explained that with regular capacity building programmes, UBA focuses on empowering other business owners to build sustainable businesses.

“At UBA, it is not just about banking, we are also passionate about helping our customers to grow thriving businesses, and that is why we do this on a regular basis,” she said.

The UBA Business Series is a regular seminar/workshop organized by the Africa’s global bank as one of its capacity-building initiatives, where leading business leaders and professionals share well-researched insights on relevant topics and best practices for running successful businesses, especially in difficult business challenges.

United Bank for Africa is one of the largest employers in the financial sector on the African continent, with 25,000 employees’ group wide and serving over 45 million customers globally. Operating in twenty African countries and the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France and the United Arab Emirates, UBA provides retail, commercial and institutional banking services, leading financial inclusion and implementing cutting edge technology.