Family businesses must embed succession planning into their organisational culture, rather than treat it as a last-minute decision when founders are ready to step aside, business leaders have said.
They argued that businesses seeking to outlast their founders must establish structures that prepare successors across every department, preserve institutional values, legacy and prioritise leadership competence over biological ties.
Tara Fela-Durotoye, founder of House of Tara, said she did not build her beauty business with the expectation that her children would eventually take over, insisting that leadership must be earned rather than inherited.
“You can get ownership by inheritance, but leadership is not something that you can,” she said at the Family Business Summit 2026, hosted by BusinessDay, adding that her responsibility was to hand the business to someone with the character, competence and credibility to lead it, regardless of whether that person was related to her.
Ayo Anibaba, deputy managing director of Sweet Sensation, echoed this position, saying that although she’s very hands-on with her children coming to the office during holidays to familiarise with how things work, but she would not make her daughter’s participation compulsory.
“There are so many other ways that a business can be more without my daughter, and the person that would take over doesn’t have to be from me biologically,” Anibaba said, adding that she would prioritise someone with the right exposure and experience.
The leaders said succession must be built around institutional continuity, ensuring that businesses remain operational and retain their founding vision even when the founder or their children are no longer managing them.
PwC’s Nigeria Family Business Survey found that only 25 percent of Nigerian family businesses have a documented and communicated succession plan, compared with 30 percent globally.
Fela-Durotoye said she began planning to hand over after 27 years of running it solely, when she felt ready to transfer responsibilities and authority, making succession a culture within the House of Tara rather than a response to her departure.
“I wanted a situation where every role that is within the business, you are thinking about succession, even if you’re a janitor,” she said.
This approach, she explained, required documenting knowledge, relationships and opportunities that might otherwise remain in the founder’s head, while preparing employees to assume responsibilities across the organisation.
Yomi Wilcox, director of The Rock Montessori School, said she was trained as the first daughter in her family to bring people together and ensure the business was properly structured, making her transition into leadership easier.
However, she said continuity should not depend on children taking over management, but on preparing businesses to operate even when the next generation chooses a different career.
“How will the business stand if they don’t come in and take over?” she asked, noting that children could remain owners and collect dividends without necessarily managing daily operations.
The leaders also called for greater opportunities for women to lead family businesses, urging female successors to build confidence and develop the skills required to manage organisations.
Wilcox encouraged women to take themselves seriously and deliver on their commitments, while Foluke Oyeleye, non-executive director of The Honeywell Group, emphasised continuous learning as a way to build confidence and credibility in leadership.
Anibaba said she hoped the next generation of daughters would not have to fight for a seat at the table.
Fela-Durotoye, meanwhile, said successors should be allowed to develop their own leadership identities rather than simply reproduce their parents’ methods.
“They are different from their parents,” she said, adding that the next generation could combine their inherited values with new ideas to achieve even greater things.
She attributed House of Tara’s ability to sustain its values beyond her direct leadership to deliberate recruitment, training and documentation.
The founder said separating personal legacy from institutional legacy was equally important, noting that founders who see themselves as the business often struggle to relinquish control.
For family businesses, she said, the ultimate test of succession was not simply who inherited the business, but whether the institution could endure and grow under its next leadership.
