Former Nigerian Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, says the flamboyant lifestyle of Nigerian business owners is unsustainable for the businesses they run.
Osinbajo said this on Thursday in Lagos during his keynote address at the 2024 Women in Management, Business and Public Service conference.
The two-day conference which is in its 23rd edition is themed ‘Dream, Dare and Do’ and is chaired by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Folasade Ogunsola.
The former VP expressed concern that the investible resources of the business owners are spent on maintaining appearances.
Osibanjo said,”Trying to keep up an image of success affects a major plank of business. The lifestyle of business owners is a problem, in my own opinion, for Nigerian businesses.
” There is a huge pressure that Nigerian business owners have which probably business people elsewhere do not have. To maintain a perception of success that is usually above the means of the business. If the business cannot support your lifestyle.
“There is pressure to look and spend as though you are very successful even though your business is only a few years old. The pressure is worsened by the unrealistic lifestyle of allegedly successful people on social media and an environment where most wealth is unexplained or unexplainable and where so many people are rich before becoming business persons.
“There are so many people who were wealthy already before becoming business owners and you are looking at those people and thinking surely, ‘I should be like those people.
“Consequently, every CEO or middle cadre of business enterprises feel the need to buy the best cars, the same cars that the richest man in Africa drives and they travel first class. So, a lot of the investible resources are spent on maintaining appearances.”
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