Sage CLE Advocates Ethics As Backbone To Business Sustainability

Oluchi Chibuzor

The Sage Center for Leadership Excellence (Sage CLE) has advocated for the need for entrepreneurs and business owners to embrace ethics as the backbone for sustainability.

Speaking recently in Lagos at an event that brought together business leaders, the Chairman, Sage CLE, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, acknowledged the need for leaders to embrace ethics as a core backbone for sustainability.

The event which focused on strengthening leadership and organisational excellence across Africa, Sunmonu , said is all dedicated to help entrepreneurs and business leaders gain clarity on the challenges affecting growth and performance of their enterprise.

According to him, ​”So, over time I have seen that leadership is something that you really need to go into very deeply and consciously. Otherwise, we’ll see people missing their way.

“So, those things have made a lot of impact on me, that personal preferences should not be confused with your leadership ability. And it’s one of the things I believe I have to impact on people.”

Speaking also, the Executive Director, Sage CLE, Dr. Chinwe Effiong said that leadership without ethics is just performance.

According to her, “A nation or business is built on integrity, ethics and accountability. And part of the reason why I personally believe that Nigeria is not as far as we could be is because we haven’t taught this in schools.

“At Sage CLE, we have a project where we will be going to schools to talk about ethics because our mean age is about 19. ​So, I think this is critical to the foundation of our economy if we’re going to be competitive.”

“So we need to—and I really believe it starts with the young. It’s good what we are doing with executives is also important because leadership starts from the top. But sometimes the executives are already set in their ways.”

Commenting, the Founder of Zinox Computer, Leo Stan Ekeh, stressed the need to mentor younger generations on integrity and ethics.

“There are billionaires who don’t make noise, and people who build real business. What we need to do is to excite the younger ones to have a sense of direction. They have the brainpower but they need a sense of direction and sustenance and mentoring hence my reason for supporting Sage CLE.”