With over 30 years of experience as a management consultant, Foluso Philips is a renowned businessman and Nigeria’s foremost consultant, who has long standing achievements and contributions to the growth of the country’s economy.
A qualified industrial economist, a Chartered Management Accountant of the United Kingdom, and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Philips has under his belt, experience and expertise in finance, business management, enterprise development and macro-economic policy management.
Several sectors and personalities in the Nigerian economy have benefited from his experience in reputation management, organization development, general management, accounting, finance and costing and management systems.
He is the founder and executive chairman of Philips Consulting group, which is an industry leader in the provision of business advisory services, strategy development, training and human capacity management; corporate performance and recruitment services.
Phillip Consulting was one of the first Nigerian companies to set up shop in South Africa, after the country’s free elections in 1994. Since then, the firm has been involved in numerous initiatives between the two countries
From offices in Lagos and Abuja, Phillips Consulting delivers integrated client solutions through its strategy and operations transformation, people transformation, and digital & technology consulting practice areas.
Prior to becoming the Chairman of the company, he occupied the position of the managing director/ceo of the firm where he steered the group with offices in Nigeria and South Africa for over 26 years before successfully handing over the operations of the firm.
During his time as CEO of his firm, he launched and propagated the philosophy and concept of total quality management to the Nigerian business community.
It was also during this period that he led the first delegation and a series thereafter of business and corporate leaders to South Africa on various business, education and executive missions.
At the point of handing over active operation of his firm, Philips succeeded in rebranding the firm to render improved quality services.
Following the rebrand, the company took up a new logo with the name “Pcl” with a promise to deliver excellence through a people centric approach.
Philips noted that the rebrand signposts the new phase in the life of the firm. He described the new brand identity, as a way of refreshing the brand, whilst not taking it away from the strong reputation it has built over the years.
For him, he wanted to create an identity that would begin to separate him from the institution he has built as this would help in creating the flexibility to do more exciting things beyond the label of consulting.
In 2018, Philips unveiled Robert Taiwo, a qualified lawyer with an MBA in strategy and change management from Warwick Business School as the new managing director to oversee the activities of his firm.
According to him, by entrusting his business to a reliable hand it is personally refreshing to see his vision of building a sustainable institution that would outlive all and become a reality.
Whilst Foluso Phillips, the firm’s Group Chairman, onetime Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and current Chairman of the Nigeria South Africa Chamber of Commerce, has stepped down from the operational activities of the firm. He continues to see to the internal development of the firm’s consultants and focus on executive capacity building and mentoring.
In 2020, Philips Consulting announced it is supporting the Federal and State government initiative in addressing unemployment and creating jobs, by working in collaboration with its content partners to deliver free online training worth N75 million on specialised IT certifications to 500 Nigerian youths across the country.
The partnership was aimed at addressing the decongestion of Lagos State, development of a land port, rail and water transportation between both States, Private Public Partnership (PPP) funding for infrastructural development, a master plan for the integration of both states, and an extension of the firm’s vision by working closely with the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission.
It would also among other things enable the execution of the Joint Resident Registration Scheme (JRRS), that would assist in tackling insecurity in both states, and facilitate the completion of an on-going rice mill in Lagos that will receive and process most of the rice input from Ogun State.
Others include the expansion of a trailer park in Ogun state to help ease the Apapa traffic congestion in Lagos and the conclusion of an agreement with the Federal government to take over the completion of several Federal roads bordering the two states such as the Lagos – Sagamu Expressway which is only at 20 percent completion.
At the signing, by the Lagos and Ogun state governments, it was noted that the firm helped to prepare the agreement by both states to set up a commission that will handle all issues that are of common interest to the states.
With Nigeria’s unemployment rate soaring to a six-year high at 27 percent, the consulting firm has come up with new “micro-courses” that will drive the future of the workplace in Nigeria by democratising learning.
According to the firm, people need to know ‘ how to work’ in the ‘future of work,’ as working in a new revolution with a multigenerational workforce requires higher technical, social, cognitive, emotional, and adaptive skills.
These visions have been at the heart of Foluso Phillips right from the outset as chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).
During his time as chairman of the private sector advocacy group, NESG, he made a number of recommendations for Nigeria that were to see Africa’s largest economy expand its role in the global space. These include but are not limited to the creation of job opportunities to avoid a possible brain drain.
For him, being the largest economy in Africa by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in addition to having the largest population in the continent, a promising economic indicator for Nigeria would be that a majority of its populace are yet to enter the working age, which sets the country up to have an expansive workforce in the near future.
According to Foluso Phillips, there is little doubt about the promise of this scenario presenting its share of dangers, which might stem from an inadequate education system in the country. “The country has an imbalance in terms of access to education, with only a 30 percent rate of education in the North of the country as opposed to 80 percent in the South.
For those who are educated, Phillips warns that the current opportunities for employment fall far short of international standards, not only in terms of working conditions but also in terms of the level of technological integration that the business environment has witnessed.
“We are experiencing what the Germans refer to as a ‘youth bulge’, a situation where the youth population rises geometrically with meaning job opportunities for them. We have one of the highest youth populations in the world. This can be a blessing or a threat. High volume of unemployed youths poses threat to the nation as our young professionals are emigrating legally abroad,” Phillips said
He explained that the youths are seeking greener pastures and the country is losing quality people, who are the real ones to build our nation.
He tasked the country to come up with a winning strategy; if not, there will be problems in the next five years.
“We must tap into technology to grow our nation, deliberately measure competitiveness to attract investment, and define metrics for assessments and benchmarks.” Foluso said.
Foluso advocated the importance of technological integration in tackling the country’s ballooning youthful population.
He said the world is in the middle of a very violent disruption. “It is the fourth industrial revolution and Artificial Intelligence is almost here and technology is bubbling with news tricks and changes daily.”
Phillips who is very active in the Nigerian corporate scene sits on many boards as a director, trustee or shareholder of commercial organizations, NGOS and charities.
He was one time chairman of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group; Chairman, Nigeria/south Africa Chamber of Commerce; Chairman, Interbrand Sampson West Africa; and Chairman, Web Liquid West Africa.
Phillips also served as Director, Special Olympics of Nigeria; Director, Vigeo Holdings (a Power & Energy company in Nigeria); advisory board member, Africa Leadership Academy (an African Leadership Senior School based in Johannesburg).
He has also served as a consultant for government’s agencies and departments, ministries, banks, insurance companies, manufacturing companies and other organizations
He is a prolific speaker, who has addressed many international business seminars and conferences including Wharton Business School and Harvard Business School both in the U.S.A., Business in Africa’s Leadership Summit in South Africa and several other leadership conferences, business and trade summits across Africa and Europe.
