Harold Nwariaku is a Procurement and Supply Chain professional and founder of Harold & Co Consulting, a Supply Chain consulting company, headquartered in Lagos, but with international ambitions.
Nwariaku is an early starter. His choice of a career was made when he was quite young. This was because he realised that an uncle who often bought him toy cars and airplanes was an accountant. He admired and desired to have his uncle’s level of affluence.
“Discover yourself first, find out what your strengths are, what you are passionate about, what gives you energy and makes you happy; then make the choice of a career,” Nwariaku arold advises.
He has versatile work experience spanning the fast-moving consumer goods industry, Beverages, and Telecommunications. Some of the companies he has worked for include nine years at Procter and Gamble, four years with Diageo, and six years with MTN.
Nwariaku’s work experiences have taught him how to take charge of his destiny because companies may not always have plans that include you. At such a crossroads, you must take your career into your hands and find an alternative.
This also means that your destiny is not always intertwined with any organisation – even founders are sometimes voted out by their boards.
“Every move I made in my career was made when I realized there was no future for me in the role. Also, I always moved upwards,” he highlights.
Procurement leaders grow by how much spend they manage, and how many people in the team they are responsible for. Nwariaku moved from managing an annual spend of $100 million (11 team members) to approximately $2 billion (49 team members). By that measure, it was always for more, never for less.
Qualities that make Harold stand-out
Moving upwards consistently requires high self-assurance, a quality Harold has a healthy dose of. It is one of the qualities that has led him to believe that he can do anything he commits to. This is because he rarely doubts himself or worries excessively about making impressions.
He is quite happy to voice an opinion; in fact, he has been described as “giving voice to the unsaid.” He has shared some of his career stories in his soon-to-be-launched book, “Efficient Management of the Procurement Function.”
With a sharp versatile mind and a disarming sense of humour, Harold excels at gaining knowledge of the diverse topics and fields that interest him.
He takes pleasure in tackling intellectual challenges and is driven by his natural curiosity. “I think that my most important gift is my mind. I can excel in several areas once I can generate enough interest. I simply analyse the status quo, deduce best practices, and then apply these tactics to achieve my goals.”
His independent and decisive habits help him to quickly analyse ideas and decide whether they make sense or not. Once his mind is made up, only overwhelming rational arguments will convince him otherwise. This helps him when he needs to swim against the tide.
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This strength makes him an efficient and impartial decision-maker, and it has also made him some adversaries. Harold will remain rational and calm even when the world is crashing and burning all around him and will go to great lengths to resolve conflicts.
Other qualities that make him stand out are hard work and determination when tackling projects that excite or intrigue him. Once he prioritises a project his bulldog determination and eagle-like focus make him ignore non-important matters. A strategic thinker, he uses his keen imagination to solve tough problems.
Nwariaku sees himself as a bridge
“I have spent most of my life and career providing solutions to problems, connecting people with needs to their source of provision, and working to elevate the knowledge and success of those around me.”
Nwariaku’s greatest fulfillment has been found in moving people towards their life goals and watching them excel in their careers. Writing is one of the ways he builds bridges across knowledge gaps.
“I imagine myself writing best sellers on topics that interest people and help them find their dreams or discover themselves. “A CV that gets you a Job,” and “What the Bible Says About Faith,” are published books authored by Nwariaku that reflect his purpose in this regard.
Most outstanding achievements
Here are some of Harold’s achievements in no order of importance.
He tripled his distributor’s monthly revenue in Kaduna and grew the business from 5 million naira to 15-million-naira sales turnover while achieving sales fundamentals.
He achieved outstanding results in a national sales automation project for Procter & Gamble – over 20 percent van sales revenue, and 14 percent distributor turnover increase nationally.
Harold built and developed a procurement organisation (almost from scratch), that granted him top global ratings in a very competitive management role.
He has managed a young procurement team (16 people) in his superior’s absence for nine months, delivering excellent results for the company, and those colleagues of his are in senior roles today.
Harold made a mid-career change from Business Development to Procurement and Supply chain, and has progressed to the level of attaining the status of Fellowship of the Chartered Institute Procurement and Supply (CIPS) – the highest award given by that global institution in recognition of his contribution to the profession.
He facilitated 12 free “Bridge the Gap” Skill Development Workshops in 2016 with outstanding testimonials and verifiable career outcomes from the participants.
He has had successful consulting projects with clients like JOTNA Group (makers of LaCasera), Beiersdorf (makers of NIVEA), Honeywell Flour Mills, and KEPLER Consulting (France)
On the soft side, caring for his late father, aging mother and mother-in-law, and watching his children grow and learn are some of his prized achievements. This is in addition to winning every motorsport race that he has competed in. Harold loves to drive.
Five to 10 years of career projection
In the next five to 10 years, Harold expects to impact the procurement industry locally by partnering with the government to achieve a 30 percent reduction in public sector contracting costs.
This will happen by upskilling people, refining processes, and driving performance. He expects to have also grown his consulting practice to an international capacity.
His career goals are already in ascendancy because he was recently elected the Chair of the CIPS Nigeria branch.
This will give him an opportunity to build on the successes of past administrations through further engagement with members and by expanding the Institute’s influence in the public and private sectors.
Educational background
Harold attended Jenny Jones Nursery School, from 1975-1979 and Eli-Tonia International Nursery/Primary School, from 1979-1983.
He attended Command Secondary School Jos from 1983 to 1988.
He studied Accountancy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from 1990 – 1994 and has a Master’s degree in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from Cranfield University, UK (2016 – 2018).
