Building A Sustainable Brand

Speakers at the 2025 edition of ‘Building Beyond You’ conference, including boardroom guru and founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Atedo Peterside and global thought leader and social impact advocate, Tara Fela-Durotoye, reeled out various factors that could help business owners to weather the storm in the market. Raheem Akingbolu reports.

In quality of speakers and participants, it was obvious that the setting was for a serious business. Date was Thursday 18, September at the Harbour Point, Lagos and the event was the 2025 edition of ‘Building Beyond You’ conference. Among other objectives, the event was meant to stimulate Nigeria’s business environment towards building visionary and lasting companies in a complex landscape like Nigeria.

In the build up to the conference, the convener, Tara Fela-Durotoye, emphasised that it was designed for for African founders and entrepreneurs who were ready to evolve from being the engine of their business to building one that runs with or without them.

The Keynote Speaker at the event, Atedo Peterside, set the ball rolling by drawing a line between starting a business and building a brand. Peterside, who is the president of ANAP Foundation and founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, said business owners who plan to build beyond them would not only be intentional about it but would play an active role and lead by example. Using the Stanbic IBTC brand as a case study, the founding CEO said his team keyed seamlessly into his dream because of the passion they saw in him from the word go.

A former Chairperson of First Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, who also spoke extensively on how to build a sustainable business at the conference, didn’t just share business advice—she delivered a wake-up call. She called on entrepreneurs to deepen their knowledge and remain committed to their core values if indeed they wanted to build businesses that would move from generation to generation.

A corporate executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years multi-sectoral experience, Tosin Adefeko, in her contribution at the conference, spoke on taking bold steps and embracing mentorship.

Speaking later to THISDAY on the sidelines of the conference, Adefeko who is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at AT3 Resources, said listening to voices like Atedo Peterside, Ibukun Awosika, Yewande Zaccheaus, Tara Fela-Durotoye, and many others who have truly built beyond themselves was deeply validating.

She said, “Their stories, insights, and authenticity affirmed my journey and reminded me why I started and what I’m building toward”

Meanwhile, Peterside had earlier pointed out that the plan to build, succeed, and sustain has to start from the foundational level of the business, stating that poor recruitment policies could mar succession planning in Nigerian businesses.

The respected banker, who spoke on “Building strong and sustainable institutions”, further shared insights drawn from over three decades of experience as a founder, board-level operator, and business leader.

He emphasised that companies that compromise on hiring standards inevitably limit their options when the time comes to choose future successors.

“Poor recruitment policies sabotage succession planning because if you hire poorly, you may have very few qualified options when it comes to choosing who succeeds from within”, he said.

The respected banker, who founded Stanbic IBTC at the age of 33, said that succession planning only becomes relevant when a business is built to last, not when it is designed to be sold quickly.

“If you are building to flip, succession planning doesn’t matter. Your goal is simply to build value and sell at a good price,” he explained. “But if you are building to last, then succession planning becomes critical to survival.”

Peterside also spoke about the importance of embedding core values, systems, and effective reward-and-sanction mechanisms into an organisation’s culture to ensure continuity beyond the founder.

He cautioned entrepreneurs not to hire in their own image, noting that diversity of thought and shared vision are key to building strong leadership pipelines.

“Loyalty to the organisation is more important than loyalty to the boss. And it is a mistake to try and hire only people who think and act like you,” he said.

Peterside, who has also been an influential voice on governance and nation-building issues, encouraged business owners to keep investing in themselves as well as their companies.

“If everyone you talk to every day learns from you but you are not learning from anyone, you are in trouble,” he said, stressing the importance of continuous personal development.

The former investment banker concluded by challenging entrepreneurs to think about the purpose of their businesses beyond profit-making, arguing that financial security should serve as a foundation for contributing to society and tackling national issues.

Also speaking at the event, Durotoye called on African entrepreneurs to embrace intentionality in building businesses that are sustainable, structured, and capable of outliving their founders.

She emphasised that Africa’s economic transformation depends on enterprises that combine vision, strong values, and well-developed leadership pipelines.

“When God has a thought, He drops an idea in a man’s heart,” she said. “Many of those thoughts are solutions to the world’s problems. God saw that Africa had a problem, and He dropped the idea of House of Tara into my heart as part of the solution.”

Fela-Durotoye, who recently celebrated 27 years in business, said entrepreneurs must choose deliberately whether they are building to “flip” their companies for profit or to create lasting institutions. “If you want to flip, this conference is for you. If you want to hand it over to your children, this conference is also for you,” she said.

She highlighted the importance of “vision casting,” the practice of consistently communicating a business’s future direction to staff. At House of Tara, she said, every employee recites the company’s vision daily: to become a globally respected beauty company of African origin.

“If you don’t say it, and people don’t say it, they forget what we’re trying to achieve,” she noted. “Being able to cast vision is a skill every founder must have. If you can’t communicate well, go and learn because it is essential for building businesses that last.”

Fela-Durotoye also encouraged founders to celebrate milestone achievements as a way of reinforcing organisational culture. “We had a bell in the House of Tara that we rang whenever we hit a legacy moment. It wasn’t a party; it was symbolic. It reminded everyone that we had accomplished something together.”

A major theme of her talk was the development of people within an organisation. She admitted to once fearing that training employees would lead to them leaving the company, but eventually learned that failing to train was more costly.

“We will still train people, even if they ‘japa’ (relocate),” she said. “Not all of us are leaving Nigeria. If we are building for the long term, we have to develop our people.”

She challenged entrepreneurs to identify who they are mentoring in their organisations and to create systems that ensure knowledge transfer. “Succession is not something you think about only when you want to exit,” she said. “It should be happening at all levels, even for the janitor who keeps the shop clean.”

Fela-Durotoye stressed that structure is not bureaucracy but orderliness. “People want to stay only in places that are organised,” she said. “Systems and structure are about how we get things done and who does them. Together, they create culture.”

She urged business leaders to balance sanctions and rewards, document key processes, and create environments where employees are inspired to stay and grow.

During a fireside chat with Morayo Afolabi-Brown, managing director at TVC, Fela-Durotoye opened up about the emotional journey of preparing to hand over her business after nearly three decades.

“I started detaching years ago,” she said. “My friends formed a WhatsApp group called Midwives to help me birth the process. They asked tough questions: What does House of Tara mean to you? What will you do next? Can you afford life outside the CEO’s office?”

She said this process gave her the strength to transition gracefully and create space for the next generation of leadership.

On the issue of whether children should inherit businesses, Fela-Durotoye was clear: “My children will benefit financially from House of Tara 100 years from now. That’s the plan. But they may not run it, because they have their own dreams. Our responsibility is to engage them early and build businesses that can benefit both our biological children and our ‘business children,’ the employees who grow with us.”

Relating the experiences shared by successful business owners at the conference, with her own experience about taking a move rooted in purpose and vision, Adefeko disclosed how her team recently took a bold step to expand into platforms and content production, after nearly eight years of running her consulting business.

“Attending the ‘Building Beyond You’ conference couldn’t have come at a better time. It wasn’t just another industry event; it was a masterclass in legacy, impact, and intentional growth.

“This conference was a timely intervention, a moment of clarity and confirmation. It reinforced that I’m not just building a business, I’m laying the foundation for something far greater than myself.”

To young entrepreneurs, the AT3 Boss urged them to listen closely to those who have gone ahead, pointing out that their words are roadmaps.

She further added, “Build systems and structures early. Stay stubborn about your vision, even when things get tough.

Take care of the people running the business. Your team matters and their welfare is very important. From day one, cultivate a strong culture grounded in clear, meaningful values. Let these values become the DNA of your business,” she stated.

In driving home her thoughts about business building, Adefeko stated that it’s not just about building something big; it’s about building something that lasts.