Zoho Corporation on Monday said that businesses relying heavily on founders’ memory, personal relationships and WhatsApp messages risk stalling as they grow.
Mr Kehinde Ogundare, Regional Head, West Africa, Zoho Corporation, told newsmen in Lagos that sustainable growth required businesses to replace informal practices with structured systems, data and connected operations.
Ogundare said Nigerian entrepreneurs had demonstrated remarkable resilience but warned that the skills needed to launch businesses differed from those required to scale them.
“Hustle may launch a business, but structure is what allows it to scale,” he said.
He said businesses often struggled to grow because critical information remained in individuals’ memories, customer relationships depended on personal contacts and decisions lacked complete records.
According to him, businesses must transition from memory-based operations to systems that capture customer conversations, preferences and other critical information.
Ogundare said replacing gut-driven decisions with real-time data would enable businesses to make better decisions and identify opportunities before they became problems.
He said businesses should also combine relationship-driven customer engagement with data intelligence to anticipate customer needs and detect early signs of customer loss.
The Zoho executive urged businesses to stop merely chasing revenue and instead manage it through structured sales pipelines, forecasting and clear accountability.
He also called for connected operations, saying sales, finance, customer service and other departments should work from integrated systems rather than operate in isolation.
“Customers should experience one cohesive business, not five disjointed departments,” Ogundare said.
He said unified digital platforms could integrate customer, financial and operational data, creating the infrastructure businesses needed to compete in an increasingly digital economy.
Ogundare said the businesses best positioned to capture emerging opportunities would not necessarily be the biggest or most funded, but those with scalable structures.
He urged Nigerian businesses to build systems that could sustain growth beyond the founder’s direct involvement and reduce operational dependence on individuals.
“Formidable is not a size; it is a structure, and you can start building it today,” Ogundare said.
