Africa's CEO Succession Crisis
The succession conversation in most African boardrooms is held annually, documented quarterly, and rarely prepared for. However, the actual transition data on the continent reveal that founder-led businesses still dominate private-sector activity in Africa, with many in their first or second generation. The boards governing them are often built around the founder rather than the institution, so much so that when the founder steps back, retires, or dies, the governance architecture often does not survive the handover. I have been here, so I know how it plays out. This is not a theoretical risk; it is an active failure mode across multiple African markets, concentrating economic damage in the worst possible places. Three patterns recur: The board defers succession discussions until the founder is no longer active. The implicit assumption is that succession is a future problem; however, the actual data on health, mortality, and unexpected exits suggest it is a present one. The succession ...
