He is a dynamic business strategist and transformation professional whose contributions cannot be ignored. Ayo-Bankole Akintujoye’s professional life cuts across three spectrums. He started with SAP ERP consulting at C2G, then went to KPMG, PwC, and later Phillips Consulting before proceeding to the capital market, insurance and oil and gas industries as the Head of Strategy for different companies. While this happened, he was building Caladium Consulting. In 2018, he and his partner started Caladium Lagos SME Boot camp as a vehicle to help SMEs who could not afford professional services and needed them. Experienced and innovative, he later co-founded FedaCash in 2022, a tech startup to support SMEs with working capital challenges.
In this interview he granted in response to his recognition amongst Top-notch Professionals in Nigeria, the Lead Strategist, Caladium Consulting, among other issues, speaks on the company’s growth strategy and the Nigerian professionals.
Mission and vision of Caladium Consulting
Our mission is to leverage global expertise to deliver value to African enterprises. We are committed to providing premium strategy advisory services, similar to those typically available to and afforded by global enterprises, to SMEs across Africa. Our vision is to be among the top 5 strategy firms in Nigeria by 2027.
Business Growth Strategies Driving Caladium’s Success
When we set out to support SMEs, we had a promise, so we focused on delivering our promise: to provide the same or better quality of service that global consulting firms provide to smaller African businesses at a much more affordable cost. That became our base strategy. What it allowed us to do was build our brand mostly through referrals from existing clients with the results we have achieved for them. That helped us to build domain authority coupled with our introduction of the Caladium Lagos SME Bootcamp which we introduced to support the larger community of SMEs that could not afford to pay for our services.
Furthermore, we chose the hardest part of strategy consulting, which is strategy execution, and made it our primary product. So, in the industry, we are one of the very few, if not the only consulting firms that offer strategy execution as a main service. Comparison of Nigerian Professionals To Their
Foreign Counterparts
There are many factors when evaluating quality-of-service and most are systemic or institutional. Some may argue that there is a certain degree of discipline with foreign professionals. But this has nothing to do with nationality or race. They are mostly, if not entirely systemic (regulations, standards, etc.). My argument is that when exposed to the same systemic factors, similar results emerge.
In Caladium, that is how we have grown our value in the industry. We have held ourselves to the same global standards while retaining deep local knowledge and expertise. We also retain the right to withdraw services where external influences, conflict or systemic limitations impede the quality of our service.
Insight into some of Caladium Consulting’s landmark accomplishments
Some of our biggest achievements are reflected in the clients we have worked with and supported over the years. When we started with most of our clients, they had no structure, policies, or processes. They were solely one-man businesses. Today, these businesses are well-structured, independent of their founders, and far evolved.
An unexpected outcome, which we now see, is that demand for our services is increasing among bigger brands, including some global corporations operating in Africa. Our clientele spans a wide range of industries, including construction, banking & finance, energy, logistics, media, manufacturing, technology, and professional services. We serve clients across Africa, Canada, the UK and the USA. We did not imagine that in these few years, we would have supported about 130 clients. That is an achievement we remain very proud of.
Our dearest achievement, however, remains our social impact, with a growing SME community of over 7,000 SMEs, our work at the Caladium Lagos SME Bootcamp, for over six years, is very dear to us. These SMEs exemplify the passion for what we do. It is important to us that they survive, thrive, and become the unicorns of tomorrow. Many of our recognitions and awards are as a result of the work that we do probono, and the consequent impact of that on the country.
