Bulls n Bears Entrepreneurship Zone :: The journey so far: Ani Charles Bassey-Eyo, CEO, LANI Group

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Ani Charles Bassey-Eyo is the founder and the CEO of the LANI Group, a
Lagos-based business focused on management consulting and advisory services
to medium- and large-scale organisations in the public and the private
sectors. Bassey-Eyo is also the founder of Axiom Learning Solutions, a
learning and development company that specialises in education and
management consulting. The company offers its expertise in teacher
development, education policy advisory, corporate social responsibility
management, and project design and implementation.


1. Tell us about one of the toughest situations you’ve found yourself in as
a business owner.


The recession in Nigeria post-2015 was one of the toughest situations I
have faced as an entrepreneur. Prior to this period, the entities within the
LANI Group had enjoyed decent growth rate and the macro-economic growth
fundamentals showed a positive future trajectory. However, 2016, in
particular, was tough with the economy tanking at a rapid rate that resulted
in all economic activities being at a standstill.

It was tough to exist, at both at a personal and corporate level, but I
made a decision to survive and also not to cut down the headcount of my
loyal and motivated workforce. It was a combination of faith, grit and focus
that enabled me to achieve the objective of surviving through the recession
as many businesses went under.

By faith, I listened and focused on stories of others who overcame similar
challenges and learned that I was not alone. I also embarked on a rewarding
personal fitness regime that improved my resilience and ability to focus
through mental alertness. In fact, it was during this period we decided to
launch our trading/merchandising business unit to improve the group’s
working capital.

Generally, empirical evidence shows that recessions can impact companies
positively by instilling grit and focus in such enterprises.


2. Which business achievement are you most proud of?


The social impact in communities we at the LANI Group have been able to
demonstrate through the activities of the LANI Foundation, which is the
philanthropic arm of the group that was founded in 2012.

Through this process, I have learned that structured social impact
activities should not only be pursued by large corporations but should also
be at the heart of every sustainable business model. In fact, this was my
vision as far back as 2006, before I embarked on my entrepreneurial
adventure and before the Sustainable Development Goals were established.

We have been able to support vulnerable people groups such as widows,
orphans, persons living with disabilities and, more recently, returnee
migrants. What is even more worthy of note as a business achievement is that
we do not see any of these human clusters just as beneficiaries of our
benevolence. Our working with them has enabled us to gain valuable insights
into their needs and, consequently, we have developed business models that
provide goods, services, or a combination of both, that serve these groups.

Our education business, Axiom Learning Solutions, for instance, is the
largest private sector provider of continuous professional development for
teachers and its largest programme is a fee-paying course focused on special
education needs and disabilities.

Similarly, our agro business, Sehai Foods, Nigeria’s second-largest honey
packer, recently worked with the DFID MADE II Project to train and
incorporate retuned migrants from Libya and Europe into our outgrower
programme in Edo State, Nigeria.


3. Describe your greatest weakness as an entrepreneur.


Perfectionism. It is a personal attribute that, as an entrepreneur, will
influence the direction of the group, but I have been careful to draw the
line between perfectionism and practicality. I run a democratic system of
leadership and this allows other stakeholders to influence decisions where
my level of perfectionism could be a stumbling block.

Also, the level of corporate governance instituted within the group
safeguards against the abuse of power across the businesses. Surprisingly,
though, I have perfected the issue of talent management, which has fostered
robust training programmes and is creating world-class employees within the
group.

So, perfection is really about applying the right dose of balance.


4. Which popular entrepreneurial advice do you disagree with?


I strongly disagree that everyone is an entrepreneur. This seems to be the
mantra these days, and it almost suggests that anyone in the 9am to 5pm
domain is only living half a dream.

I believe everyone must contribute to society by solving inherent problems
in our communities and domains of expertise. However, an entrepreneur is the
one who goes further by taking the risks – both financial and nonfinancial –
to fund the problem-solving initiative.

I treat my children and each invested business entity the same when it
comes to capital injection or standing by the business. Business and,
indeed, entrepreneurship are not just about something to fund a lifestyle,
but [are about] birthing a dream and nurturing it. Not everyone has the
ability to birth and nurture.

We need a model that celebrates everyone – whether entrepreneur or a 9am to
5pm worker. Lastly, we must encourage more collaboration within companies so
regular workers can key into entrepreneurship within their existing roles.


5. Is there anything you wish you knew about entrepreneurship before you
got started?


Frankly, I wish I was taught that it was all right to fail and start all
over again. Every entrepreneur will fail at something, but media only
focuses on the success and forgets the failures.

I have managed this failure well considering I tend towards perfectionism.
A friend once quoted this Bible verse, “The righteous will fall seven times
and rise seven times”, and this helped me during a tough time. We all fail
in one form or another daily, weekly, monthly and should focus on getting up
and continuing the journey.


6. Name a business opportunity you would still like to pursue.


Credit continues to be a huge challenge on the continent. I often tell my
audience during speaking engagements or in close conversations that credit
is the dividing factor between Africa and the West. Credit, or rather the
access to credit, will transform Africa.

Another big issue we have in Africa is access to quality education and
skills development. For a continent with a high youth population, the time
is ripe for a robust private sector pan-African education finance model to
be established that will allow individuals to access credit, to fund the
acquisition of much-needed skills, that can be repaid over time.

Such a model must achieve scale to be profitable and solve the problem I
have outlined. It needs a different approach to pricing the risk of default
and instituting models that will safeguard onboarding of nondelinquent
borrowers.

I look forward to collaboration in this regard.—Howwemadeitinafrica 

 



 

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