Stakeholders harp on innovations to tackle recession

Stakeholders have said that for the country to get out of the current recession, Nigerians must embrace innovations.

They made the assertion in Lagos, during the maiden annual lecture organised by a commercial law firm, Rosberg legal practitioners and arbitrators, Lagos with the theme: “Surfing the waves: innovating for sustainable business growth.”

In his keynote address, the Chief Executive Officer of Hygeia HMO, Obinnia Abajue, underscored the importance of innovation in running and sustaining a business, saying: “Everything you know before going to bed is history, while everything you need to learn from morning till evening is something new. He charged Nigerians, especially entrepreneurs to try something new in order to respond to their business environment.”

According to him, change is imperative if business growth must be sustained. “It is part of innovation to say how we sell our products different from the way we are doing it,” he stated, adding that Information and Communications Technology has become a vital tool for business operations.

Also, the Chief Executive Officer, Dale Carnegie Nigeria, Patrick Nwakogo, charged entrepreneurs to imbibe the virtue of reading voraciously. According to him, business people have to be open-minded in order to counter the elements of time, when it comes to innovation.

“Learning mindset is also key. We have to recognise that technology will help the success of our business. Become mindful of things going on around you and your environment,” he said, adding that any businessman who wants to excel must have to make technology work for him.

Rosberg Managing Partner and the chief host, Greg Nwakogo, said the event was organised so as to learn from those who have been able to surf the web and managed their own businesses successfully over the years.

Nwakogo, who pledged to make it an annual event, reiterated that those that will excel in business must learn to do things differently, instead of being dogmatic and sticking to the old ways. He said the quest for foreign direct investment seems over-rated because the funds needed for economic growth and development can be sourced locally.

“Yes, there are advantages to foreign direct investment, but at the same time, I think that we can do locally to improve our earnings and increase productivity, instead of depending on foreign investments,” he declared.