ICAN President: Nigeria Needs Businesses That Survive, Not Just More Startups

By Amara Osei

Nigeria's 62nd President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Hajia Queensley Sofuratu Seghosime, has delivered a blunt message to the country's entrepreneurs: not all businesses drive economic growth. Speaking at a book presentation in Abuja, she argued that too many Nigerian firms collapse because their owners lack financial management skills and run them unprofessionally.

The occasion was the launch of Igniting Entrepreneurship, a book authored by Dr. Mrs. Wosilat Olaitan Adebayo, a former Director at NNP, NNPC. Seghosime, represented at the event by Mrs. Nyakno Ololade Oluokun, told the audience that ambition alone does not build lasting companies.

What did the ICAN President actually say?

Her core argument came in direct terms: "Nigeria does not merely need more businesses. We need more businesses that survive, grow, create employment, compete successfully and contribute to national prosperity." She added: "We need entrepreneurs who can recognise opportunities where others see difficulties, transform challenges into solutions and build enterprises capable of creating value beyond their founders. But ambition alone is not enough."

Seghosime tied her warning to the book's central theme. "An idea may start a business, but it takes knowledge, discipline and integrity to build an enterprise that endures," she said. "That is why this publication is particularly timely."

She identified the specific failure points. Poor record-keeping, inadequate planning, weak internal controls and mixing personal finances with business resources undermine even innovative ventures. In her framing, passion may ignite an enterprise, but sound financial management keeps its flame alive.

Where do chartered accountants fit in?

The ICAN President placed the accountancy profession at the center of the fix. "Chartered Accountants do more than prepare financial statements. We help entrepreneurs understand their numbers, manage risks, fulfil their tax obligations, access finance, strengthen governance and make decisions that support sustainable growth," she said.

She also drew a line between founder-dependent firms and genuinely durable ones. A business becomes truly sustainable, she argued, when its success rests on the strength of its systems and values rather than solely on the energy of its founder.

Seghosime praised the author for documenting her experience. "Knowledge becomes a legacy when it empowers others to achieve what they might never have accomplished alone," she said, telling Dr. Adebayo: "Your book has the potential to inspire an aspiring entrepreneur, strengthen a struggling enterprise and equip a business owner to make better decisions."

Her closing instruction to readers was practical: "Do not merely be inspired by its ideas. Put them to work." She added that "the true measure of entrepreneurship is not simply the number of businesses established, but the value they create and the lives they improve."

What did the other speakers say?

In her welcome address, Hajia Simbiat Adejoke Shitu called the book a complete guide to building a successful business and a celebration of knowledge, vision, creativity, courage and the spirit of enterprise. She said the book should serve as a practical instrument for creating wealth, generating employment and reducing poverty in a world of mounting economic challenges.

Book reviewer Pastor Dr. Tope Omoge, a non-executive director at First Bank of Nigeria, described the text as problem-solving and called entrepreneurship the "boss word." "Even if we don't set up a business, the way we run our lives to a positive surplus is an Act of Entrepreneurship," Omoge said. She credited Adebayo with writing a well-structured, methodical text that bridges academic business theory and the reality of running a day-to-day enterprise, and one that presents business not as corporate spreadsheets but as "a dynamic problem-solving lifestyle."

Chairperson of the occasion, Dr. Mrs. Bolanle Ali, and the book's chief launcher, the NNPCL, called the book a manual for many generations. Ali pointed to a national gap: "We don't document our experiences to enrich the minds of the next generation." She urged institutions and emerging businesses to adopt the book as a strategy guide.

Dr. Adebayo, in her vote of thanks, called on all Nigerians — academics, students, captains of industry and emerging entrepreneurs — to use the book as a guide. For Nigeria's SME sector, the message from Abuja is that documentation, discipline and professional financial controls, not sheer startup numbers, will decide which enterprises endure.