Why management entrepreneurs, consultants need boot camps

Nigeria’s position as the largest African economy has provided vistas of opportunities for businesses.

Currently, the country has a growing number of micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), estimated at 37 million. The country also plays host to a number of large enterprises. These businesses require management entrepreneurs, who work as consultants and expert advisers to ensure their survival.

The management consultancy function is becoming increasingly important in assisting line management to handle the problems of innovation and change.

However, the arena is populated with young graduates and some older professionals who only learnt consultancy by reading good literature. The challenge with this set of people is that there is often a gap between what they have learnt in theory and what is obtainable in practice.

The danger of being a management consultant without having good practical experience in relevant industries is that most of the solutions being proffered can simply be speculative and impractical. Businesses that get services from untrained consultants can close shop within the shortest possible time, according to experts.

The Consultants Academy International has resolved to plug this loophole through the forthcoming Accredited Management Consultant Course, scheduled to hold between November 23 and 27 at Oriental Hotel in Lagos.

According to Ayodolapo Ajao, CEO, Consultants Academy International, the course will expose the trainees to key ingredients that make consultants successful.

Ajao said the accreditation will enable participants put together an organised body of knowledge that will turn their talents into skills, so that they can provide valuable business solutions to their clients from the point of knowledge.

“Management consultants will not only learn the craft of consulting but will also understand the business of consulting,” Ajao said.

He said the boot camp will equally enable SMEs to surmount their challenges and enable all professionals to implement assignments, manage the change process and identify problem techniques.

As pointed out earlier, management consultants without adequate practical knowledge can hurt businesses and their reputations.

“It usually puts a question mark on the quality of service renders. If someone has not worked for the ‘Big Five’ and has not also worked anywhere, but relies on head knowledge, it puts a question mark on the quality of service they can render,” said the CEO.

“A good management consultant should be able to do proper diagnosis of the situation, identify problems and analyse businesses so as to provide actionable plans to achieve a set goal.”

“More importantly, they need to know how to go about the business of consulting, build consultancy and business leadership teams. All these will be taught in a practical sense at this consultant boot camp session,” he said.

He further said the network impact of the boot camp will be enormous, as have been the cases in the ones held earlier this year.

He said the participants can share resources and experience, while also partnering in growth, adding that the sessions will expose participants to global trends in management consultancy, while giving them quality information on how to handle consultancy in an era of falling oil prices.

Start-Up Digest gathered from the CEO that graduates of the boot camp are entitled to the AMC designation. This means that those who qualify can place AMC beside their names.
The institution has, this year, produced 85 professionals from all walks of life, who took part in its boot camps.

One key upside of management boot camps organised by Consultant Academy is the quality of those who lead them.

When it held its boot camp between June 1 and 5 this year in Lagos, it was attended by over 50 SME and management consultants, business owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs.

It was led by Richard L. Weinberger from Austin, Texas, USA, who is the CEO of the Association of Accredited Small Business Consultants, which is the only worldwide association specialising in training and certification of SME consultants.

This time, the forthcoming boot camp will be led by Kevin Pitts, an adjunct faculty member of Drexel University and Harvard University, USA.

Pitts’ personal mission is to help people and organisations achieve business results by motivating others to build their capacities with multiple lessons.

“The knowledge industry in Nigeria has grown greatly. Many professionals now exit their jobs to start a consulting service no matter their level of expertise and exposure to the art and business of consulting. But this is not too good for the economy. People must be properly trained in this serious business before delving into it,” said Ajao, who gave the firm’s contact phone number as 08098701002 and e-mail address as admissions@thecai.org

ODINAKA ANUDU