The need for structured succession planning in family businesses took center stage at the Lagos Business School International Family Business Conference 2025.
The event, themed ‘Building a Lasting Legacy for Family Businesses’, brought together business leaders and experts to discuss strategies for ensuring long-term sustainability in family enterprises.
Speaking at the conference, Dr. Larry Izamoje, Chairman of Brila Media, emphasized the critical role of succession planning in preserving businesses beyond their founders.
“People love businesses and the services they provide, but once the founders pass on, many of these businesses collapse within five to ten years,” he noted.
“It is even more difficult for a family business to survive into the third generation.”
He stressed that a key lesson from the conference was the evolving nature of family businesses, which are increasingly incorporating skilled professionals outside the immediate family.
“It’s not just enough to call it a family business,”* he said. *“You can co-opt people who are not related by blood but who share the vision and have the necessary skill sets to drive the business forward.”
Dr. Izamoje highlighted the necessity of bringing in technical and managerial expertise to complement family leadership.
“Some of us don’t even know how to operate the studio equipment or handle the engineering side of things,” he admitted, referencing his own experience at Brila Media.
“That’s why it’s important to bring in professionals who do.”
Also speaking at the event, Dr. Nwoke Nwuke, Director of the Family Business Initiative at Lagos Business School, underscored the importance of changing the traditional approach to succession.
He cited an example of a family business in Japan that has been running for over 1,850 years, illustrating that longevity is possible with the right strategy. *“If you do things differently, you get a different outcome,” he stated.
“That is why we established the Family Business Initiative—to bring business leaders together and put these critical issues at the forefront.”
Dr. Nwuke challenged business owners to rethink their assumptions about succession.
“Must it be your daughter? Must it be your son? In other parts of the world, that is not the only option,” he said.
He emphasized that only competent and interested family members should be considered for leadership roles.
“If you have built a business requiring specific skills and then hand it over to a child who lacks those skills, the business will fail.”
Encouraging a broader perspective, he urged business owners to look beyond family ties and prioritize competence.
“If someone outside the family has the right skills and is invested in growing the business, that’s the person who should run it,” he explained.
“The family benefits most when the business thrives. But if unqualified family members take over and the business collapses, everyone loses.”
The conference, which drew participation from business leaders and entrepreneurs, was part of the Family Business Initiative’s broader efforts to reduce the high failure rate of family businesses in Nigeria.
“We believe that through this conference and other initiatives, we can begin changing the narrative around family business failure,” Dr. Nwuke concluded.
The event reinforced a crucial message: for family businesses to last beyond their founders, they must embrace professional expertise, rethink succession planning, and focus on long-term sustainability.
