By Emmanuel Elebeke

ABUJA  — BUSINESS experts including Managing Partner at Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition limited, Mrs. Ndidi Nwuneli and Mrs. Adetara Agbakoba of Pricewaterhouse Coopers have urged entrepreneurs in the country to institute Corporate Governance in their businesses or risk collapse.

Women

They said this at the second Network Meeting of NECA Network of Entrepreneurial Women, NNEW, held in Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking on the theme:  Instituting Corporate Governance in Your Business, Mrs. Nwuneli tasked NNEW members to develop businesses through Corporate Governance.

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She said: “No serious investor would invest his or her money or lend same to an entrepreneur without a board. ‘You need good corporate governance to grow your business and your organization will die if you do not have a board because no organization will give its money to a one man business. A board gives you credibility and the strategic importance of board gives a business credibility.

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“The board does not need to own your business but it has a responsibility to care and offer valuable advice for your business to thrive.  Without good Corporate Governance, you cannot get investment.”

Also speaking, Mrs. Agbakoba of Pricewaterhouse Coopers said lack of understanding had become an impediment to the implementation of Corporate Governance in most businesses in Nigeria.

She said: “Lack of understanding is an impediment to implementation of Corporate Governance in Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, and without Corporate Governance, there is no way SMEs can be attractive.  Apart from having good Corporate Governance, you must understand and incorporate all entities in your business and try as much as possible to balance their interests.

“Implementing Corporate Governance in your business will help you do the right thing, reduce cost, have the right plans and attain your target. It will also help you entrench transparency, accountability and good business ethics.”

Earlier in her remarks, the Chairperson of NNEW, Mrs. Omololami Ajani said: “My hope is that after this meeting, people will go back and implement all they have learned today and grow successful businesses. This is our second gathering for the year, it holds every quarter and it is called Network Meeting, where we get professionals to talk to us so that we can learn and go back and implement in our businesses.

“We have over 2000 members from across the country and we have a mentorship scheme where we mentor and bring people up. We evaluate ourselves through the success stories being churned out by our members on regular basis. We want to see businesses that will outlive us.”