The Power of Corporate Culture in Nigeria’s Global Aspirations
Prof. Lere Baale, the Chief Executive Officer of Business School Netherlands International, has emphasized the need for Nigerian organizations to build corporate cultures centered around five essential pillars: responsiveness, respect, reliability, responsibility, and relationships. This call comes as part of his speech at the WorldStage Business Forum Q2 2026 and the public presentation of the WorldStage Nigeria Economic Report Q1 2026 on June 30, 2026.
With over 40 years of experience across healthcare, telecommunications, education, corporate strategy, and public policy, Baale is a global scholar-practitioner who has witnessed firsthand how leading organizations in Europe, North America, Asia, and other emerging economies invest heavily in culture. He believes that Nigeria cannot afford to ignore this trend if it wants to compete globally.
During his lecture, titled “Nigeria’s Corporate Culture and Global Standard,” Baale addressed several critical areas:
- Corporate Culture and Why it Matters
- Customer Experience Is the New Competitive Advantage and The Human Side of Business
- Building a World-Class Nigerian Corporate Culture and The Nigerian Opportunity
- A New Corporate Social Contract
He specifically called out what he described as “corporate terrorism”—a phenomenon where large corporations disregard basic courtesy when dealing with the public and small businesses. Examples include ignoring physical or electronic correspondence, failing to return phone calls, and only allowing interviews with foreign media outlets.
Baale commended WorldStage for creating a platform for meaningful national conversations on business, governance, leadership, and economic development. While the term “corporate terrorism” may be provocative, he stressed that the issue is real. Many stakeholders have experienced situations where emails went unanswered for months, telephone calls were ignored, customer complaints disappeared, and media inquiries were treated with disdain.
The irony, he noted, is that many of these organizations were once small businesses themselves. He argued that culture is what people experience when they interact with an organization—how decisions are made, how customers are treated, and how employees are valued. An organization can fake a strategy for a while, but it cannot fake its culture for long.
In today’s world, reputation travels faster than products, and a single customer experience can reach millions within minutes. Baale stated that the era where organizations could hide behind size, market dominance, bureaucracy, or regulatory protection is over. We are now operating in an age of transparency, accountability, and stakeholder scrutiny. The organizations that will win in the future are not necessarily the biggest—they are the most trusted.
The Challenge of Corporate Arrogance
Baale highlighted the emerging challenge of corporate arrogance, noting that many firms exhibiting pride had benefited from relationships, responsiveness, and trust before success arrived. He emphasized that global standards are not about expensive buildings, imported furniture, sophisticated websites, foreign accents, or international awards. Instead, they are fundamentally about behavior, professional discipline, and mindset.
He asked, “If a multinational organisation can acknowledge an email within hours, why should a local organisation take months? If world-class institutions can respond professionally to inquiries, why should Nigerian organisations consider responsiveness optional?”
Addressing the trust deficit in corporate Nigeria, Baale observed that trust is the currency of sustainable business. Without it, customers would leave, employees would disengage, investors would hesitate, and reputations would suffer. He added that customer experience had become the new competitive advantage over corporate arrogance. While customers remember how they were treated, suppliers remember how they were respected, and employees remember how they were valued.
Leadership and the Human Side of Business
Baale noted that corporate culture does not emerge accidentally—it flows directly from leadership. He warned that employees rarely behave differently from what leaders tolerate, emphasizing that culture is not what is written on office walls but what leaders repeatedly model.
On the human side of business, he warned against losing humanity to technology, stating that automation should improve efficiency but never replace basic courtesy. Behind every email, complaint, and supplier interaction was a human being or a family depending on that relationship.
Baale shared his experience while working as a level-one manager at Pfizer, where a critically ill employee requiring dialysis was sent abroad for about six years. The company later flew the employee’s family overseas to be with him, purchased two personal dialysis machines to continue his treatment safely in Nigeria, and employed personal home maids to support his intensive care. This exemplary corporate care motivated him to extend his planned five-year stay with the company to 25 years.
Building a World-Class Nigerian Corporate Culture
To build a world-class Nigerian corporate culture, Baale urged companies to anchor their operations on global best practices, which include continuous training, measuring customer satisfaction, encouraging feedback, and embracing total transparency.
Expressing optimism about Nigeria’s economic future, he said the country possesses all the ingredients required to build globally competitive organizations, noting that the primary issue was consistency and scale rather than capability.
He called for a new corporate social contract in Nigeria where customers are respected, employees are valued, suppliers are treated fairly, and media professionals are engaged as true partners.
A Call for Change
Earlier in his opening remarks, the President and Chief Executive Officer of World Stage Limited, Mr Segun Adeleye, stated that the business forum aimed to address whether minimum standards of professional courtesy still existed or if the corporate world had devolved into a jungle for the survival of the fittest.
Making reference to a recent public declaration by Vice President Kashim Shettima that Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises accounted for 90 per cent of businesses and 60 million jobs in Nigeria, Adeleye lamented that small businesses remained at the receiving end of an oppressive corporate culture.
The business forum attracted prominent corporate officials and media executives, including the President of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief Emeka Obegolu, and the Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Hon. Mosopefoluwa George, who was represented by the Director of Budget, Mr Olufemi Orojimi.
