Tara Fela Durotoye, founder of House of Tara has urged Nigerian manufacturing businesses to prioritise continuous training as people are key to business operations needed for innovation and sustainability.
She noted this at a recent 2025 production and manufacturing business summit hosted by Nancy Nnadi, a business coach popularly known as The Money Boss.
According to Durotoye, companies can begin to view themselves as ‘schools’ where employees are continuously trained and nurtured, especially as many businesses are struggling with rising costs, skills shortages and economic uncertainty. “Every business has to be a school. If you are a Nigerian business, you must add in it that this company is about building people,” she emphasised.
She explained that while technology and machinery drive efficiency, it is ultimately human beings who are behind innovation and growth. “In production, your machines are great. But your machines are too loose. But it’s going to take people to work on those machines,” Durotoye said.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular were encouraged to invest in structured training programmes that would not only strengthen their workforce but also create wider economic benefits.
“Our business is not just to sell our products… it’s also to become a talent academy; hence, we wouldn’t have unemployment in Nigeria”, she said.
Training, she insisted, should not be treated as a privilege or occasional reward, but as an ongoing imperative for competitiveness. “The more you train, the better you become. The more your people train, the better they become,” she added.
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Nigeria’s population as a goldmine for talent development
Adding her voice, Clementina Uche Oyekwelu, chief executive officer of Stuch Beddings and Pyjamas, described Nigeria’s over 200 million population as a vast goldmine waiting to be tapped.
“Even serving just 0.5 percent of the Nigerian market can make you a household name. If foreign investors can pay millions to rent warehouses here, it shows there is business in this country,” she said.
Recounting her entrepreneurial journey, Oyekwelu revealed how she started during her National Youth Service Corps year with just N10,000, producing four bedsheets which she sold to neighbours and colleagues. A decade later, her company now employs more than sixty people.
“The power of starting small but thinking big is real. If I had waited for a large amount of capital, this company would not exist today. Start with what you have and grow from there,” she advised.
She further encouraged entrepreneurs to break free from cultural barriers of fear and dependence, which she argued have long crippled creativity in Africa
Onigbanjo also stressed the importance of hiring competence alongside character, and urged entrepreneurs to embrace partnerships as powerful but often underrated strategies. “Collaboration is not about begging people to partner with you. It is about what you bring to the table. Every partnership must be a win-win,” she explained.
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Build legacies, not just profits
Toyin Onigbanjo, founder of August Secrets Limited, identified talent management as one of the five key pillars behind her business success. She stressed that thriving enterprises must prioritise not only competence but also character when hiring, ensuring that every team member reflects the organisation’s values.
Onigbanjo emphasised the role of a strong leadership culture in empowering employees, fostering innovation and building loyalty. She noted that sustained investment in training, mentorship and purpose-driven retention strategies is essential for long-term growth.
Equally, she argued that collaboration, rather than control, creates an environment where ideas are freely shared and partnerships can flourish.
Ngozi Ekugo
Ngozi Ekugo is a Snr. Correspondent at Businessday, covering labour market, careers and mobility.
She is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), has an MSc Management from the University Hertfordshire and is an alumna of University of Lagos and Queen’s college.
