Your venture in Nigeria doesn’t have to be another cautionary tale.
While managing a business or investment from abroad presents unique challenges, thousands of diaspora entrepreneurs have successfully built thriving operations in Nigeria by mastering one critical skill: assembling the right team on the ground.
The difference between those who succeed and those who struggle is not luck; it’s their approach to finding, vetting, and managing reliable business partners and employees.
In this article, we will share key steps you can take to build a reliable team for ventures in Nigeria:
1. Track Record Verification
Your first line of defence against partnering with or hiring unreliable people is thorough background verification.
Unfortunately, many employers and potential business partners do not take this seriously until it’s too late.
In Nigeria’s relationship-driven business culture, track record verification goes far beyond checking academic credentials.
It involves:
- Requesting detailed employment history and directly contacting former employers (not just HR departments), supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates.
- Looking for patterns of job stability and any history of financial impropriety or business disputes. You can review any court cases or legal issues they may have faced, and examine their social media presence for insights into their professionalism and character.
2. Systems & Process Alignment
After vetting and successfully hiring, you need to create an environment that reduces risks and protects your business from being taken advantage of by unreliable employees or partners.
To do this, consider taking the following steps:
- Clearly define specific, measurable outcomes for their roles and establish clear expectations for reporting frequency and format.
- Evaluate their ability to create and follow processes.
- Ensure that employees with access to your business finances and data sign nondisclosure agreements and ensure that you implement a system to double-check expenses to avoid any potential embezzlement.
- Continuously test for loopholes in your systems by conducting various tests and offering phantom offers to see who might take the bait.
- Regularly seek opportunities to tighten your business systems and better equip your employees to manage challenges.
3. Get Legal Protection
Even with thorough vetting, some unreliable people can slip through and others can change, making legal protections essential.
You want to work with a reputable Nigerian law firm to establish:
- Intellectual property protection clauses and non-compete and confidentiality agreements.
- Regular financial audits by independent accountants.
- Segregation of duties to prevent fraud.
- Clear escalation procedures for conflicts.
- Arbitration clauses to avoid lengthy court proceedings.
4. Build A Support Network
Smart diaspora entrepreneurs don’t just build teams – they build ecosystems of support and accountability.
And you don’t have to start from scratch, you can build this from your current network of friends and colleagues, join reputable communities both in Nigeria and abroad, and build relationships that transcend transaction with various professionals like lawyers, HR consultants, business leaders, financial consultants, civil servants, etc.
These networks can be invaluable for quickly vetting hires, sourcing reliable professionals, and solving partnership or employee issues.
5. Use Technology To Monitor And Vet
One disadvantage that unreliable employees and partners exploit is the distance between you and your business.
However, today you can leverage technology to bridge that gap and manage information asymmetries by:
- Leveraging video conferencing tools for regular face-to-face interactions and using project management tools for transparency and accountability.
- Leveraging time-tracking software for productivity monitoring, as well as utilising financial software for real-time business insights and monitoring.
- Engaging professional verification services, credit agencies, or utilising social media monitoring tools, and conducting legal database searches to carry out thorough vetting yourself.
By following these steps, you can build a reliable team and protect your business interests while managing your venture from abroad.
Action Step
The value of a reliable employee or partner in a business is undeniable, particularly when the owners are abroad.
Yet, many employers and partners make the mistake of skipping the critical steps needed to verify the identities of their prospective employees or partners. And establish robust systems that safeguard against the risks posed by untrustworthy individuals.
Don’t leave your business vulnerable. We can streamline the verification process for you while ensuring it is thorough and effective.
Reach out to us today!
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