Nigerian and other African businesses that are in need of finances to sustain their growth, as well as investors and financiers in search of low-risk business opportunities, will now heave a sigh of relief with the launch of Ethics 1st, a platform dedicated to reducing transparency barriers in Africa.
In recent times, scaling into global supply chains can be a challenge for Africa’s small and growing businesses (SGBs) because they lack finances to keep growing or potential partners who trust their business enough to join forces with them. Also, investors and financiers looking for low-risk business opportunities have a hard time identifying the SGBs best placed to make use of their capital.
Now, a new initiative has been launched to bridge this gap. Ethics 1st offers solutions that can help reduce transparency barriers to investment in Africa. This initiative’s free-to-access digital application offers African companies a pathway to improve their risk management and corporate governance systems.
Established by the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) with Asoko Insight as an implementing partner, Ethics 1st aims to unlock the potential of these businesses by incentivising ethical business practices and standardising compliance best practices on the continent
“Ethics 1st is proud to work with four key strategic partners in Nigeria to drive the initiative and help local companies demonstrate a commitment to the highest standards of governance. FATE Foundation, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), Impact Amplifier and Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) have all signed on to build the network of SGBs putting ethics first in their business practices.
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“From the acceleration, business scaling and investment-readiness support offered to SGBs and social enterprises by Impact Amplifier and FATE Foundation, to the lobbying, partnership and policy work undertaken by LCCI and FACAN, these four bodies are crucial to the sound development of Nigeria’s business ecosystem and the growth of its rising stars”, Asoko Insight said through a statement.
Lola Adekanye, senior program lead for Africa at CIPE, who doubles as the head of the Ethics 1st Initiative was happy with the new development.
“We’re thrilled to have these four key organisations in Nigeria’s business ecosystem join us to lay the foundation of a more ethical business environment that will reward companies for operating with integrity with increased business opportunities. Partnerships like this will be the key to embedding the values of Ethics 1st into the business community one business at a time, in turn bringing value to the Nigerian economy”, Adekanye said.
Businesses can find out more about Ethics 1st and register to start their compliance journey at www.ethics1st.cipe.org.
Most small businesses want to work with multinational companies and be in their supply chain, and one thing they must consider is to standardise their business. The more formal you are the easier it is to engage with you. These small businesses must adopt good ethics and structure it in a way that you will attract stakeholders and they can trust your business”, Chinyere Almona, director-general, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said.
Further, the benefits expected to accrue to companies that use Ethics 1st to validate their compliance standards, there will be wider benefits felt throughout the business environment in Africa.
“Harnessing a strong entrepreneurial culture to fully explore innovative potential without an ethical guiding force can do more harm than good to the society”, Itoro Udo, FATE Foundation’s Alumni Community Manager, said at the launch event.
