KPMG ex-Chairman, NBCC Harp on Corporate Governance for Successful Business Succession

Dike Onwuamaeze 

Former Chairman of KPMG Africa, Mr. Kunle Elebute and the President of Nigeria British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Mr. Abimbola Olashore, have advised businesses to enthrone corporate governance as the building plan for sustainable succession plan or risk corporate failure.

They gave this advice on Thursday during the NBCC Breakfast Meeting with the theme ‘Succession, Planning and Passing the Baton’.

Elebute, who was also the Senior Partner at KPMG Nigeria, said that business owners and corporate leaders who desire their business to succeed beyond their time should be deliberate in embracing corporate governance, picking leaders in the right way and investing in leaders of tomorrow.

He said, “These are the building blocks for every successful business. Owners must be deliberate about what they want to do with their business and that for me is the key driving force about business succession, leadership and investing in people.

“If you do not get it right the market will just take you out and nobody cares that you are no longer around.”

He also identified incumbent chief executive officers (CEOs) as major obstacles on the path of a successful business succession plan, especially if they have no plan to leave the organisation.

“They are the biggest impediment to succession. But in companies where the CEOs have made up their minds that they are going to leave at a particular time, you will find that they are deliberate about who to succeed them, and the objective of that succession is that the business must thrive even when the CEOs are no longer there.

“If you have a CEO that does not want to go, what he will do is to destroy the business. 

“He would probably hand over to his lackey who will be running to his home for what should be done,” he said.

Elebute advised CEOs and business owners to be dispassionate about who succeed them by allowing the best candidates to emerge and be selected.  

He also cautioned that bringing someone from the outside might pose a risk for the company while selecting from inside means picking a person who is embedded in the culture of the firm.  

He also advised organisations to spend money in developing their staff because any business that does not invest in the next generation of leaders would not succeed.  

Elebute said that a company’s board’s role should include selecting future CEO and senior management because “if you leave everything to the CEO, he is going to pack the place with his friends, classmates, cousins who will be running to him. 

“So, succession should be the primary responsibility of the board.”

He also said that for the company to grow and be able to increase in value, it “needs to make the right decisions to have the right board in place, select the leader and have the correct strategy, and others.

“The board should own the strategy of the company and should find the right CEO to align with that strategy.”

He also said that the only way a staff could get himself to the top is by performing his roles consistently and correctly.   

“If you are doing what you are meant to be doing and doing them correctly, you will get to be a leader someday,” he said.

In his welcome address, the President of NBCC, Mr. Abimbola Olashore, said that leadership transition is no longer optional but a necessity.

Olashore warned that businesses that failed to groom successors would be faced with risk of collapse.

He said, “The theme could not be timelier. Across boardrooms, organisations, and even nations, one pressing question persists: who will carry the vision forward?

“Leadership is not measured by tenure but by transition. It is not merely about reaching the summit but about ensuring that others can continue the climb after us.

“Succession is not a ceremonial handover; it is the architecture of legacy.”

He added, “In a world of constant disruption and fierce competition, leadership transitions are no longer optional, they are a necessity.

“Those who fail to plan for succession risk collapse, but those who build systems, groom successors, and nurture cultures of resilience endure, thrive, and create lasting impact.”