On Value Creation and the missing "s"

In the dynamic journey of life and business, it’s never solely about the technical jargon or the numbers. While mastering the arithmetic, accounting, and financial metrics is crucial, leading Consonance for the past six years has profoundly evolved my perspective on “value creation.” I now firmly believe that building a business and investing on behalf of clients is inseparable from the broader journey of life.

One of my most influential mentors runs one of Nigeria’s oldest indigenous companies. Our conversations over the years have enlightened me, revealing how my thinking about business, life, family, investing, and value creation has matured. Despite his view that investing in Nigeria isn’t viable, he advises finding the largest opportunity and building a company within it. While I respect his view, I believe that someone needs to fund these large opportunities—and that someone should be me. These opportunities may not align with traditional private equity or venture capital paradigms. These opportunities can be greenfield, infrastructure-heavy, community-driven, technologically integrated, and might even require regulatory changes. Hard, unsexy, highly impactful, and full of strong moats.

My mentor often emphasized that building a company is all about the people. My understanding of this has deepened over time. The real question is, how do we make this happen? What does it truly mean? It’s not just about training, systems, or culture. It extends beyond these to encompass one's assessment of the broader society.

It became clear to me that building or scaling a company isn’t solely about growing revenues, profits, and margins—though these are undeniably important. The key to quality, resilient, and sustainable growth lies in 'values' creation. Yes, you heard that right: values creation, not just value creation.

Recently, I came across a compelling book, "The Fundamentals of Prosperity," a “forgotten book” rich with insights on prosperity and its foundations. You can find it here: The Fundamentals of Prosperity . This discovery, coinciding with deep conversations with my mentor, felt serendipitous. Unlike Edward Atkinson’s book on the elements of prosperity, this book delves into the intangibles essential for scaling prosperity. The author argues that the essence of prosperity lies in integrity, faith, industry, cooperation, and helping others. Friends, it’s clear that scaling these values is the cornerstone of true success. Let’s explore these values further:

1. Integrity: The unvarnished truth. If I buy garlic powder, is it truly garlic powder or just flavored powder? Integrity is about authenticity and trustworthiness.
2. Faith: In the absence of a time machine, only God can see the future. Therefore, faith is crucial in any endeavor. When you believe a path is right, take the step forward. Vision and faith go hand in hand; without vision, the people perish.
3. Industry: Combining strategic thinking with hard work. The adage "no pain, no gain" holds true. Challenges are part of the journey, and overcoming them leads to innovation and progress, like airplanes, functioning trains, and consistently lit streetlights.
4. Cooperation: Trust is the foundation of cooperation. No one can achieve greatness alone. The myth of the self-made individual is just that—a myth. We all need support, collaboration, and many hands working together.
5. Helping Others: This is about paying it forward. Give without expecting anything in return. Your generosity may not come back directly, but it plants a seed that enables others to give as well, sustaining the cycle of kindness and humanity.

So, what is your value creation strategy? Are you focusing on value or values? I believe that by scaling values, the value will naturally follow. This is what leadership is about and why it is a journey of self-actualization as well as discipline.