Ini Onuk is the Chief Executive Officer of ThistlePraxis Consulting (TPC), a management consultancy. She is a Draper Hills Fellow on Democracy and Development at Stanford University California 2008 and an alumna of the Harvard Business School Executive Education Programme.
Ini OnukShe is a facilitator/management trainer, and also an international consultant on gender, peace-building, peace and security and governance.
On her return to Nigeria and prior to setting up ThistlePraxis Consulting, Onuk served as Executive Secretary of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ), and Executive Director, Defence for Children International Nigeria Section, an international non-governmental organisation.
She spoke with GODDIE OFOSE about the recently concluded World Economic Forum Africa and the impact of insecurity on businesses in Nigeria’s North East.
How did Nigeria benefit from the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) held in Abuja early this month, in which you participated?
It is difficult to immediately quantify but it was a good opportunity for us to showcase our economic potential. Sadly, the insecurity threat almost marred what would have been a brilliant outing. Nonetheless, it was successful.
Was it wise for Nigeria to have hosted WEFA amid the security problems?
The World Economic Forum is a global brand and is held across all regions with countries jostling to host. So, there must be some value and potential for countries within the region to bid for hosting rights.
Just like the World Cup or Tourism Festival, this is the World Cup for Business – with Davos as the most expensive business meeting in the world annually.
What sustainability issues were covered at WEFA?
First was economic sustainability, the need to create jobs and sustain specific sectors as well as social sustainability through inclusive growth.
Interestingly, the World Economic Forum chooses similar themes to the Africa Roundtable on Corporate Social Responsibility (AR-CSR), but luckily we announce before them annually.
Inclusion was a core issue deduced from the theme of the Davos meeting and which will run through the regional meetings.
How does national insecurity affect corporate social responsibility?
Insecurity is a major threat to sustainability and then CSR. A core pillar of CSR, which sadly most organisations only focus on, is community engagement. Community engagement is threatened by mistrust and fear of terror.
Corporate social investments are also the target of wanton destruction and vandalisation; so they may be non-existent or drastically destroyed. Insecurity distorts the equilibrium in any system, which affects and downgrades the value upon which the system depends. Hence, sustainability becomes unattainable and diminishes long-term competitive value.
How much resources do you think have been lost through insurgency?
We do not have data yet but if the news reports are anything to go by, tonnes of resources have been ravaged which will demand at least a decade of aggressive reconstruction.
It will take an unprecedented commitment from the private sector in supporting the government to rebuild the North East.
Corporate organisations are silent on relief materials to the victims of militancy. What role should they play?
This is not a natural disaster where relief workers hold sway. This is insurgency, so any business leader will consider the security of his/her staff in sourcing or delivering relief materials.
It is tough to suggest what corporates should do when human lives are at stake. Similar case studies are based on cease fire periods in war-torn regions or obtaining security guarantee for international relief workers, but in this case, it may be tough without such guarantee from the Joint Military Task Force manning the region.
I presume some small businesses are still in operation in that region and some strategic partnerships or alliances can be formed to provide support and succour. We will do some more fact-finding to ascertain what may be possible.
What impact does Nigeria’s rebased economy have on CSR?
It was a welcome development only because it was absurd for a country to base its growth on a base 14 years old. What immediately comes to mind is the value of the economy and how much the industry must be feeding off in philanthropic and community investment spending.
However, its true impact will emerge when the impact of the current spend is assessed based on its true contributions to the current and future economic growth. This pronouncement was made only a few weeks ago and so, it is quite early for us to state its true impact at the moment.
Would you say sustainability initiative is welcomed by all stakeholders?
It is well received, albeit the implementation is still slow. We are excited about the glimmer of hope the financial services industry brings through the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles (NSBP), but wait with bated breath to see how long and how well it will pan out.
We are certainly not where we were five years ago but still far off from where we ought to be.
What should we expect from the AR-CSR conference holding in Calabar?
This year’s conference is on financial inclusion; not just as a concept, but looking at its relationship with social and economic sustainability. Hence the theme, “The Intersection: Financial Inclusion, Economic Sustainability and Social Benefit.”
This edition of the AR-CSR will seek to interrogate the intersection where financial inclusion fosters economic sustainability and enhances societal benefit.
It will try to identify what is missing: the pooling of the most available heap of investable funds possible from all the nooks and crannies of the economy and channeling the funds to attractive production activities, particularly small-to-medium size enterprises established as the main engines of economic growth and job creation across countries, thus enhancing and increasing societal growth.
The keynote speaker is the African Development Bank Group President, Donald Kaberuka, and the lead discussant, the Vice President and Africa Regional Head for Accion, Brian Kuwik.
What has this conference corrected in the industry?
A lot, in the aspect of thought leadership. We started in 2011 with finding the business case for CSR and its impact on African economies. In 2012, we discussed the synergy between public and private partnerships and innovation and transformational leadership in 2013.
This year, we discuss financial inclusion. Next year, we will discuss corporate governance. We have no doubt raised the bar in thought leadership through the quality of speakers, discussions and sessions.
ThistlePraxis also has a number of advocacy platforms such as a Carbon Calculator, Test Cafe, Online TV, Mobile App, et cetera.