Stakeholders canvass diversification as path to economic growth

Chief executives and top business owners, who gathered recently at the third edition of the CEOs mentorship class in Warri, Delta State, canvassed on diversification as path to economic growth.

They argued that with the nation’s low annual gross domestic product (GDP), there is the need for businesses and organisations to take action, following their experiences on fair share of downtime in the economy.

The facilitator and founder of the CEOs Mentorship Class, Mama Helen Oritsejafor, who kicked off the quarterly event, spoke on the theme, “Business Diversification in a Turbulent Economy.”

According to her, diversification is the strategy of investing in a variety of securities in order to lower the risk involved with putting money into few investments.For the sake of diversification, she advised businesses not to fold up or shut down even in a turbulent economy, as Nigeria needs to find new sources of growth.

Rather, she urged participants to spread their capital through various investments, by not relying on a single investment such that they can have a fall-back in the event of turbulence.She identified seven Fs as keys that must be adopted for business growth, including “Faith, Foundation, Family, Friends, Focus, Finance, and Fun.”

“One of the most important principles of investing is that you have a diversified portfolio. Preserving capital as a benefit of diversification is the teething time of all businesses, as not all businesses yield profit within two to three years and may have to wait longer to yield profit. All business owners must be willing to go through this.

“Diversification must be a well thought out plan for an entity; and it can boost the growth of an organisation leading it towards wealth maximisation. It permits businesses and companies from taking actions or making decisions take could be declining, it also helps to maximize the use of potentially underutilized resources.

“Otherwise, diversifying into a new market segment will demand for new skill set and lack of expertise in the new field will lead to a setback in the business. If mismanaged, it can lead to a company expanding into many directions at the same time.”Dignitaries present at the event were, CEO, Esiton Integrated Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Helen Esima Mene Akpata, and CEO Daveali Enterprises Nigeria, Ms. Igbenoba Ogbianuju Marigold amongst others.