Inside SAGE Centre push to transform West Africa’s executive leadership

Africa’s corporate sector is scaling quickly, yet leadership and governance structures are lagging behind. While financial services, technology, and energy industries expand, many organisations are outpacing their own board effectiveness, succession planning, and executive decision-making.

In several African economies, particularly Nigeria and other frontier markets, business failure is more often a product of weak governance than flawed ideas. Many high-growth SMEs and mid-sized firms post strong early revenues but falter when ownership disputes, compliance failures, governance lapses, or sudden leadership changes emerge.

The underlying business models and early financials may be sound, yet the absence of robust governance leaves firms unable to withstand internal and external shocks.

Despite a surge in entrepreneurship, fewer than half of African start-ups survive beyond their first few years, highlighting the gap between business creation and long-term sustainability. The real challenge is not starting companies, but keeping them alive.

Global evidence reinforces the material impact of governance on corporate performance and organisational survival.

A study cited in Bloomberg, based on research from the Diligent Institute, found that companies with strong corporate governance outperformed weaker peers by approximately 15 percent over a two-year period.

In contrast, firms that experienced governance-related crises underperformed their sectors by around 35 percent on average, wiping out significant shareholder value and, in some cases, contributing to losses running into hundreds of billions of dollars.

Despite this clear performance differential, governance capability gaps remain widespread at the board level. According to PwC’s 2020 Annual Corporate Directors Survey, only 37 percent of directors say their board has a strong understanding of its organisation’s crisis management framework, highlighting persistent weaknesses in preparedness, oversight, and decision-making under pressure.

This raises critical governance questions: Why do so many promising African businesses collapse because of their governance and leadership architecture? How do we ensure boards are not ceremonial, but strategic? And how do we prepare CEOs to lead not just for growth, but for governance, resilience, and long-term value creation?

How SAGE Centre leads the way

The Sage CLE is a premier executive leadership and corporate governance institute dedicated to equipping and supporting C-suite executives, business leaders, and entrepreneurs with the skills, knowledge, and character they need to scale progress and innovation with sustainable impact.

Recognising the legacy of Mutiu Sunmonu, the centre seeks to institutionalise his transformational leadership approach across West Africa’s corporate sector. It targets C-suite executives and board members of medium and large enterprises, with a focus on strengthening governance systems, leadership capability, and executive decision-making.

At the core of its programme is the Masterclass Series, a quarterly, invitation-only forum for senior leaders. The sessions convene West Africa’s most accomplished executives for strategic discussions led by experienced faculty on board-level issues.

The centre recently hosted the second edition of the Series, which examined the financial services sector amid its growing role in Nigeria’s economy. Themed ‘Leadership in Uncertain Times,’ the event brought together senior industry figures, including Bolaji Balogun, chief executive of Chapel Hill Denham, and Hakeem Belo-Osagie, chairman of Metis Capital Partners, to discuss decision-making in a volatile operating environment.

Beyond the Masterclass, the centre’s business model is structured around its strategic service pillars: Enterprise Turnaround Clinics, Leadership in Action Labs, and the Board Excellence Academy — all of which are designed to strengthen leadership execution, governance effectiveness, and board-level decision-making across organisations.

Collectively, these strategic pillars function as both development and convening platforms, where senior leaders engage in peer learning, cross-industry exchange, and applied problem-solving for real organisational challenges.

Together, they strengthen leadership capability at both individual and institutional levels, reinforcing the governance foundations required for sustainable organisational performance.

As Africa continues its trajectory toward deeper economic integration and increased global competitiveness, executive leadership will remain a defining factor in determining the resilience, sustainability, and long-term success of its organisations. The Sage Centre is poised to support this process.

Josephine Okojie-Okeiyi

Josephine Okojie-Okeiyi is a journalist with over five years’ reporting experience. She writes on industry, agriculture, commodities, climate change, and environmental issues. She is fellow of Thomson Reuters Foundation and Bloomberg Media Initiative for Africa.