December 12, 2022/Hill+Knowlton Strategies
As many economies continue to recover following the impact of the pandemic, experts in Nigeria gathered at an economic forum organised by the Financial Derivative Company Limited (FDC) to drive discussions on the need for organisations to prepare against future pandemics and the need for equitable economic recovery plans. The forum was themed “Corporate resilience: Economic recovery against unforeseen pandemics” and welcomed stakeholders from Telecoms, FMCG, Agriculture, and Infrastructure sectors.
Industry leaders including Omoboyede Olusanya, GMD/CEO, Flourmills of Nigeria Plc; Babalola Oyeleye, General Manager, Strategy and Innovation, MTN Nigeria, Funke Opeke, CEO Main One and Kola Masha, Managing Director Babban Gona led the panel discussions, moderated by the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Sankore Investments, Titi Odunfa Aseoye. The conversation focused on outlining the lessons learnt from the pandemic, its impact on different sectors and how corporates can adopt the lessons learnt in strategic planning.
Delivering the keynote address, Bismarck Rewane, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FDC, said “we believe that corporate resilience is an integral part of building corporate strategies and organizations should leverage the key learnings from the pandemic to form the basis of its strategic decisions. To drive equitable recovery, he expressed that “government must understand the difference between policies and promises so that more credible policies can be developed and driven by credible leadership. Once we better understand the domestic issues we face, we will see that our recovery as a nation will be much more dynamic than a lot of other countries and I am optimistic that things will change for the better” he concluded.
The discussions identified digital transformation as an opportunity to build corporate resilience and provide for quick economic recovery. Speaking on digital transformation, the General Manager, Strategy and Innovation, at MTN Nigeria, Babalola Oyeleye said “we are seeing the advent of new technologies taking centre stage. To build resilience that will withstand any challenges, organisations have to transform digitally internally. One lesson the Covid pandemic thought us is that it is possible to be productive, effective and even more efficient even when work is done remotely from different locations. So, embedding new technologies within our work environment would build more resilience and provide a tremendous opportunity for recovery”
The forum provided an opportunity for organisations including MSMEs to engage in discussions and analyse possible ways to build resilience against future pandemics. The dialogue also offered recommendations that can enable economic recovery to be more equitable and just across all organisation’s spectrums.
FDC has continued to drive conversations that bring together industry leaders from across diverse sectors to dialogue on issues that affect economic development in Nigeria and discuss potential solutions and opportunities to grow and build a formidable economy.
