News
Lead Without Title (2)
The greatest challenge facing many organizations globally today is leadership. Nine out of ten Chief Executive Officers of small, medium and big corporations view people as their number one critical success factor. Meanwhile, six out of ten employees end up not having the skills or attitude or attributes they claimed to possess at the interview or stated on their beautifully and professionally crafted curriculum vitae.
Lead without title, is a new management concept recently popularized by Robin Sharma, one of the world’s top success and management coaches- to draw the attention of business executives to the inherent dangers in leading with title both for the organization as well as its people.
Principles of Leading without Title:
Lead without title as a management concept focuses on grooming every employee to have a leadership and ownership mentality regardless of such employee’s position in an organization. The question is: how do we make a cleaner or a security guard in Zenith bank, for instance, to have the same mentality like Jim Ovia, the CEO? The success of any organization depends not on its gross staff strength but on how many leaders it has among its employees. Like the slogan we used to paste on the staff notice board of Nigerian Bottling Company some years back says: ‘take this business as your own and 100% of your decision will be the right ones’. The concept of leading without title aims at making employees to have a new mind-set that leadership has little to do with the title on the business card or the size of an office or the rank of an officer. Furthermore, leadership is not about how much money an individual makes or the naira worth of clothes he wears. Neither is leadership about an individual’s family status. Leadership is a way of life, a philosophy or principle; an attitude and a state of mind. According to Robert Joss, dean of Stanford Graduate School of business: ‘’ by leadership I mean taking complete responsibility for an organization’s well-being and growth, and changing it for the better. Real leadership is not about prestige, power, or status. It is about responsibility’’. Leadership in an organization talks about who gets the problem solved fastest and at the least cost, who fixes it before it breaks, who has banana for the monkeys, who has the staying power, who has the strength of character and discipline, who has the persistence, who sees the big picture all the time and live it…Leading without title entails, a paradigm shift; it is a win-win situation for the organization and its people, the goal for all staff from the Chief Executive Officer to the cleaner is one but the responsibility may differ. Lead without title de-emphasizes ‘big-man syndrome’ in an organization.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing, if there is, therefore, any issue that should occupy the attention of CEOs today, more than any other management challenges, it is how to inculcate the concept of leading without title into the DNAs of our respective organizations. A cursory look at the performances of most of the multinationals companies in Nigeria when the indigenous CEOs took over in the 1980s will reveal a sad scenario of win-lose situation in some organizations. And the winners that emerged in the affected companies are the CEOs and the management staff. The big losers are the organizations they presided over as all the key business indicators of most of these organizations took a fast lane southward, while the respective bank accounts of individuals who managed these organizations swell.
Why Companies should de-emphasis Titles:
It is critical and urgent not only for individuals to lead without titles. But it is equally important for organizations in Nigeria to imbibe the new management concept of leading without titles .Of late, especially since the consolidation exercise of banks and insurance companies, the penchant for companies to parade their ‘ titles’ has gone to a dangerous level. Awards that have no meaning or bearing to the business are being sought by several organization from doubtful and obscure corners with a view to looking good. Even, some organization gave themselves awards! But the truth is, the companies that win at the end of the day the biggest share of the mind of consumers will be determined by the consumers based on only three variables: value for money (VFM), fit for purpose (FFP) and speed of delivery (SOD).Title has no place in the winning game! Why then this unbridled quest for titles? What lessons can we learn from the failure of organizations which had led with titles in the past? Can an herbalist anoint a pastor? – If no, why then should a bank seek legitimacy from those who know next to nothing about banking? Organizations need to be careful because many have gone the way of Daewoo company- in the process of leading with title. Not too long ago in Lagos, almost all the management staff of a big multinational were sent parking when the Board found out that the Management team had inflated the revenue and profit of the said company by unbelievable figures just to look good. It will be recalled that this same company and its leadership had been declared as the ‘’best’ in almost every key business indicators shortly before the bubble burst.
Entrepreneurs backed by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) have generated more than $4.2 billion in cumulative revenue since the organisation began its grant programme in 2015, according to Somachi Chris-Asoluka, chief executive officer of the foundation.
Chris-Asoluka, revealed this during a virtual media briefing, where she also stated that over $100 million has been distributed to nearly 24,000 young entrepreneurs across Africa.
She noted that the beneficiaries of the programme have gone on to create about 1.5 million jobs, both directly and indirectly, across various sectors of the continent’s economy.
The performance, she said, has strengthened the resolve of the foundation and its partners to scale up financial support for emerging businesses.
Chris-Asoluka emphasised that the foundation’s interventions are anchored on the conviction that entrepreneurship is central to reducing poverty and reshaping Africa’s economic future.
She explained that selected participants receive a $5,000 seed capital grant, in addition to structured business training and mentorship designed to help them either expand existing enterprises or establish new ones.
Highlighting operational challenges faced by entrepreneurs, she identified inadequate electricity supply as a major constraint.
According to her, many small businesses spend as much as 60 per cent of their earnings on alternative power solutions, including generators and inverters.
To mitigate this challenge, she disclosed that Tony Elumelu, TEF founder, alongside the foundation’s leadership, has been engaging governments across Africa on the urgent need to improve power infrastructure.
She further stated that investments by programme beneficiaries cut across critical sectors such as agriculture, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, and technology innovation.
Chris-Asoluka also announced that the foundation’s 2026 cohort of entrepreneurs will be formally unveiled by Elumelu in Abuja.
A new financial operations platform, Morney, has officially launched in Nigeria to help businesses face growing pressure to digitise their finance processes as the country’s shift towards electronic invoicing.
Developed by Morzoe Technologies Inc. and introduced locally through its partner, BuySimply Services Limited, the platform is designed to help organisations streamline and automate financial workflows.
Speaking at the launch, Head of Growth at BuySimply, ‘Mide Olubi, said many Nigerian organisations still depend on fragmented systems such as emails and spreadsheets to manage expenses, supplier invoices and payments.
According to him, this approach often results in inefficiencies, delayed processes, weak oversight and a higher risk of errors.
He noted that Nigeria’s increasing adoption of electronic invoicing and tax digitisation frameworks is accelerating the need for structured and transparent financial systems. Businesses, he said, must move away from manual processes and adopt platforms that provide clear visibility into financial operations.
Morney integrates payments, procurement, expenses and invoicing into a single system, enabling finance teams to automate approvals, monitor transactions in real time and maintain accurate records.
The platform also supports supplier onboarding and invoice processing, helping organisations better manage operational spending.
The company revealed that businesses across sectors such as FMCG, manufacturing, energy, banking and telecommunications are already adopting the solution to improve efficiency and strengthen financial control.
It added that the partnership with BuySimply reflects a broader trend of digital transformation, as organisations respond to evolving regulatory requirements and the demand for more efficient financial management systems.
Dr Krishnan Ranganath (Krish) to Lead UniCloud Africa in Continental Digital Infrastructure Push
UniCloud Africa Limited, the premier pan-African cloud platform dedicated to advancing the continent’s digital sovereignty, has announced the appointment of Dr. Krishnan Ranganath as its Chief Executive Officer.
Dr. Krish, a seasoned industry leader known for building and scaling digital infrastructure while maintaining rigorous operational excellence, steps into the role as UniCloud Africa accelerates its mission to redefine the continent’s digital landscape.
The appointment coincides with the groundbreaking launch and immediate availability of UniCloud Africa’s enterprise-grade Sovereign Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure across six key markets: Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Senegal, and Mozambique, even as it plans to launch in Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Uganda, Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire as part of further continental expansion.
Operating under the mission of “One Cloud, One Africa,” UniCloud Africa provides governments and enterprises with a world-class, fully compliant sovereign cloud alternative to high-latency offshore providers,ensuring a robust, scalable foundation tailored to Africa’s unique environmental and economic needs.
“UniCloud sits at the epicentre of Africa’s cloud evolution. We are committed to deploying 100% sovereign infrastructure across the continent. My focus is on driving high-growth partnerships and scaling the next generation of resilient, sustainable cloud infrastructure to accelerate the evolution of the African digital ecosystem,” said Dr. Krish, CEO of UniCloud Africa Limited.
He disclosed that his focus at UniCloud Africa is on driving high-growth partnerships and scaling the next generation of resilient, sustainable cloud infrastructure, and will deploy GPUs in certain economies based on market potential and need.
While admitting that the challenges from AI integration to the green energy transition are immense, Dr Krish believes that the opportunities are greater. “I am eager to collaborate with our partners and customers to redefine the digital frontier and accelerate the evolution of the African digital ecosystem,” he added.
Ladi Okuneye, Co-founder and outgoing CEO (who remains as a director on the board) remarked: “As we enter this new chapter of growth, I am confident that Dr Krish’s extensive experience in the African digital landscape will add immense value. His technical depth and regional insight make him the ideal leader to drive UniCloud Africa forward.”
Before he was appointed CEO of UniCloud Africa, Dr. Krish was, until last month, the Regional Executive – West Africa at the Africa Data Centres (ADC).
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