By Narratives hub
The organisers of Convergence Africa and executives of The CEOs Portal Limited have said Africa’s major business challenge is not lack of ambition but poor structure and weak succession systems that prevent businesses from surviving beyond their founders.
Speaking at a press briefing on Friday in Abuja, the Convener of Convergence Africa and lawyer, Patience Olusuyi, said the initiative was created to help African businesses build lasting structures through mentorship, collaboration and strategic partnerships.
She explained that the platform was designed to bring together founders, investors, executives and mentors across sectors to exchange ideas and create systems that would allow businesses to survive for generations.
According to her, many African businesses remain overly dependent on their founders, making them vulnerable once the owners are no longer active.
She said, “The Convergence Africa was born from the realization that many African businesses are growing but very few are structurally designed to endure.
“We have ambition, talent, innovation and a lot of finances as well. But oftentimes it remains dependent on the founders of these businesses.
“We came up with the Convergence Africa to create a platform for founders, executives, mentors to come together to share ideas and then to look deeper into the question of governance and how we can build businesses that can outlive us.”
Speaking further on the theme of the conference, “Transgenerational Archiving and Architecting Generational Capital Across Industries,” Olusuyi said generational wealth must be built intentionally and not by chance.
“It means thinking about systems, structures, influence, knowledge and opportunities knitted with values that can sustainably be transferred to other generations,” she said.
“Generational wealth is not accidental. It is something you must do deliberately.”
She noted that the platform focused on sectors including law, finance, technology, fashion and real estate because sustainable businesses require collaboration across industries.
Olusuyi also said The CEOs Portal was created to address the problem of isolation among business owners and provide mentorship, access to partnerships and strategic guidance for entrepreneurs.
She said, “What the CEO Portal Limited aims at achieving is creating a platform where CEOs and founders will understand the need to stop building in isolation and embrace strategic partnership with other CEOs and founders.”
She said the organisation currently has more than 100 registered SME and MSME members as well as over 50 mentors and investors described as “captains.”
According to her, the platform is open to Nigerians, Africans and other global entrepreneurs, although intending members must undergo a screening process to assess their business vision and goals.
“We need to understand your mindset, your vision about your business, what you’re building. Is it something that is solving problems?” she said.
She disclosed that some aspiring entrepreneurs had even been advised to discontinue certain businesses and instead find opportunities within already existing ventures.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The CEOs Portal Limited, Ben Oailkloma, said the conference differed from many business gatherings because it focused on practical transformation rather than motivation alone.
He explained that masterclasses were introduced in law, technology, fashion and real estate to provide practical solutions for business owners.
“The TCA was a platform where the beneficiaries will experience a form of transformation because we’re talking about businesses outliving founders and owners,” he said.
Oailkloma said Africa was facing what he described as a “structural emergency,” adding that sectors such as real estate, fashion and technology could drive massive economic growth if properly organised.
“Real estate alone can create comfortably over 500,000 jobs annually. In Nigeria alone, we have over 20 million housing deficits,” he said.
“Fashion alone can transform the fabric of our economy.”
He also stressed the importance of technology and artificial intelligence in modern business operations, noting that many African CEOs were yet to fully embrace digital opportunities.
Also speaking, Group Chief Executive Officer of Lifestyle Assets Hub Limited, Abioye Oke, described the initiative as timely and necessary for Africa’s development.
According to him, the platform would continue expanding its collaborations across Africa with the possibility of future editions in cities such as Kigali, Accra and Nairobi.
“This is not just a nuclear platform,” he said.
“It’s a continuous conversation.”
One of the founding member of The CEOs Portal Limited, Mariama Bobo, said mentorship and networking opportunities on the platform had helped many young entrepreneurs improve their businesses.
“Most businesses fail or struggle because they are in partnership with people that are not legal agreements or documentation to that partnership,” she said.
“But if I am going into business, I need to meet a legal person to understand and build this partnership.”
