‘How businesses can check NPLs, organisational incompetence’

NPL’s.

By Femi Adekoya

The lack of executive competence, especially in the banking industry and among many businesses, account for the bulk of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in Nigeria. It has also raised the mortality rate of new and legacy firms, stakeholders have said.
 
According to the Lead Consultant, Executive Intervention Consult (EIC), Leke Olufade, most organisations are struggling to stay afloat because they lack the right personnel to run their affairs. He said that investing in managerial excellence was critical for achieving business sustainability amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
Olufade at the launch of EIC in Lagos, said: “The only way to be profitable at a very difficult time like this is to invest in the right personnel. We feel this is the appropriate time to come into the space to help businesses reduce operational costs.”

He faulted the lack of executive competence for the huge level of NPLs in Nigeria’s banking system and the long list of businesses that had failed. “WE have people in executive positions without executive competence. We have examples of such businesses rescued when they imported executive capacity from abroad while some said this is the downside of indigenization,” he said.
He said EIC was conceived as a result of this and packaged to play in the arena.
“We are therefore focused on providing executive management skills and competences to organizations and businesses that want to leverage on such to turn around business performance. Our objective is to be the ever-present help to businesses in times of trouble. We will lend helping hands in direct management or build executive capacity for business,” he added.

  
He also expressed EIC’s readiness to be the leading turnaround consulting firm in Nigeria, through executive intervention and expertise in unlocking business potential through its executive leasing (provision of executives to run corporate business); executive manpower design and development; due diligence and execution roadmap; corporate business performance and another value-added service offering.
 
Earlier, the Principal Consultant, Joe Dada, said the event marked a significant milestone in the history of business consulting in Nigeria, adding that EIC has a unique service offering, specially positioned to turn around targeted businesses through direct professional and expert intervention. “We are well aware of the current economic challenges in Nigeria, which has been further exacerbated by the global Covid-19 pandemic and its unfolding negative impact on businesses. We believe therefore that there is no better time than now to boldly step forward and support businesses to revive, and reverse their losses with a view to delivering operational efficiency, profitability, and sustainability,” he said.