Business and performance strategist, Mr Niyi Adesanya, has advised budding entrepreneurs to prioritise building strong reputations and sustainable businesses rather than pursuing quick financial gains.
Adesanya, described as one of Africa’s foremost business and performance strategists, gave the advice at the ongoing 2026 Amadeo Business Summit 5.0 in Enugu.
He said profitability alone could not guarantee the survival or success of a business, describing reputation as one of the most valuable assets an entrepreneur could build.
Adesanya warned that entrepreneurs who focused solely on financial gains without paying attention to their values, relationships and reputation would struggle to sustain their businesses in the long term.
“Young people, who want to become successful entrepreneurs, should make reputation, relationships and sustainability central to their entrepreneurial journey rather than pursuing money as the sole measure of success,” he said.
He said sustainable businesses should be founded on genuine values and systems capable of functioning even when their founders were no longer in charge.
The strategist also stressed the importance of ensuring that an entrepreneur’s public image reflected the reality of what the individual or organisation represented.
According to him, public perception could determine whether an entrepreneur received opportunities, irrespective of the person’s actual competence.
He therefore urged entrepreneurs to deliberately build credibility and strong relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, mentors and other stakeholders.
“Nobody gets to the top; everyone is brought to the top,” Adesanya said.
He advised young entrepreneurs to identify people who could contribute positively to their growth and maximise such relationships.
Adesanya also urged them to develop both technical and social skills, noting that people-management skills became increasingly important as businesses expanded.
He encouraged entrepreneurs to build businesses capable of outliving them by establishing strong systems, processes and knowledge that could be transferred to the next generation.
“Therefore, entrepreneurs should look beyond immediate profit and concentrate on creating businesses that are trusted, respected and capable of surviving successive generations,” he said.
