What CEOs can do to thrive in business amidst challenges — PwC

Chief Executive Officer (CEOs) of companies have been advised to adopt technology to be able to remain in business in a challenging environment.

Sam Abu, country senior partner PwC Nigeria and regional senior partner, West market, gave this advice at the ongoing BusinessDay CEO forum in Lagos.

“The Nigerian Macroeconomic landscape is changing, and you need to rethink your business model to stay afloat. Many CEOs are already tackling challenges and exploring opportunities; do not be left behind,” he said.

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Speaking on the topic, ‘Thriving in an Age of Continuous Reinvention’, he said, “to make your business viable within the short to long term period, adopt technology .”

He said the CEOs should transform their workforce, enable, empower and train workers, making them digitally capable.

He said they should develop and expand new products and services, as well as rethink their business models.

On strategies to transform their business, Abu noted, “Transform your workforce, deploy technology; you may not be able to replace everyone who leaves your workforce so deploy technology.

“Also, build in sustainability. If you do not have a sustainability strategy for the future, you won’t thrive in business. For Nigeria, think about energy efficiency, control and contain your carbon footprint. Finally, innovate and do things differently. What your customers needed last year is different now. You need to meet them where they are.”

On the challenges that CEOs are facing, he highlighted, “Firstly, there’s climate change that needs no introduction. Everyone understands how climate change is affecting our businesses and affecting our communities.

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“In the past two years, we’ve witnessed significant technological disruptions impacting our lives, furthering the biases we’ve experienced.”

“Additionally, global demographics are shifting. In some regions, populations are aging, which has major implications for strategic deployment to meet consumer demands. This shift also affects pension systems for older populations. For a country like Nigeria, the challenge is harnessing its youthful population to enhance productive capacity,” he added.