Experts advocate collaboration, succession planning for sustainable African businesses

Business leaders and industry experts have called for stronger collaboration, succession planning, and institutional structures to ensure the sustainability of African businesses across generations.

The call was made on Thursday in Abuja during the Convergence Africa 2026 summit, powered by the CEOs Portal, themed “Transgenerational Connection: Architecting Generational Capital Across Industries.”

Speaking at the event, Patience Oluwatoyin Olusuyi, Convener of The Convergence Africa, urged African entrepreneurs to move beyond the pursuit of short-term profits and focus on building enduring institutions capable of surviving for generations.

Olusuyi said Africa is witnessing a growing number of ambitious founders, innovative startups, and fast-growing enterprises across sectors, but warned that many businesses remain overly dependent on the personality and energy of founders rather than structured systems.

According to her, many enterprises are designed to succeed in the present but lack the frameworks needed for long-term sustainability and continuity.

She stressed that profitability, growth, and public visibility alone do not guarantee business survival, noting that Africa’s challenge is not a lack of ambition but the absence of structures capable of sustaining long-term growth and preserving generational wealth.

“Will what we are building outlive us?
Because profitability is not permanent.
Growth is not sustainability.
And attention is not strength.
Too many of our enterprises are still built on personality, not structure.

“Too many are dependent on the energy and soul of a single founder, rather than the reliability of a system.
Too many are designed to succeed in the present—but not to endure into the future,” she said

Olusuyi explained that the summit was created to encourage business leaders to intentionally design enterprises that can transfer wealth, influence, opportunities, and value across generations.

She also emphasised the need for greater collaboration among industries, saying no single sector can build generational capital in isolation.

According to her, industries including law, finance, technology, real estate, and fashion must work together to create systems capable of supporting sustainable development and future economic growth.

“We must move from isolation to collaboration. From ambition to alignment. From short-term wins to long-term domination,” she added.

Delivering the keynote address, Niyi Adesanya, a strategist and performance consultant, said conversations around transgenerational wealth and sustainability are timely for Nigeria and Africa, especially as business trends and economic realities continue to evolve rapidly.

He noted that readiness for transformation is a continuous process and urged businesses to remain adaptable to emerging opportunities and changing realities.

Adesanya also encouraged entrepreneurs not to wait for perfect conditions before taking action, stressing that progress often begins before full preparedness is achieved.

Also speaking, Mabel Segun Bello, Nigerian jurist & Judge, Federal High Court of Nigeria
said collaboration across industries has become essential for business sustainability and growth in today’s global economy.

She explained that the business environment is increasingly shifting from isolated industry operations to integrated systems where sectors work together to create innovative solutions.

According to Bello, technology is already intersecting with sectors such as medicine and law, giving rise to new fields including telemedicine and technology law.

She added that integration and cooperation among industries have become major drivers of organisational sustainability and enterprise expansion worldwide.