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Are you building a business that will live on even when you’re gone? If your business’s primary purpose is to fund your living, then making it outlive you will be down your pecking order of things to worry about. But if it’s solving a problem that’s greater than yourself, then you may want it to become larger than your own life.
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Think about century-old commercial banks or the famous consumer goods companies that have existed for several decades. Do you want your business to be named amongst these giants in the future? If you answered “yes” to the question above, here’s how to take your business there, as suggested by the experts.

1. Have a Mission that’s Greater than You

We have already alluded to this. If your business exists to achieve something greater than yourself, it’s more likely to outlast you than if it’s merely about meeting your own needs. For example, if you own an apparel company, your aim could be to make top class designs available to every lower/middle-class person in Nigeria.  A mission that’s greater than you will encourage you to build a business that revolves around that aim, instead of you alone.        

2. Solve a Perennial Problem 

Unless your company keeps solving real problems, it won’t stay around for long. It’s the needs of customers that fuel demand for products and services. The greater the need is, the higher the demand. If the problem is always present, you can build a solution that’s always present as well. 

3. Be Adaptable

Needs change. When they do, you have to be able to change along with them.  It’s hard to find a legacy company that offers the same sort of product or service it did fifty or a hundred years ago. That’s because they are constantly adapting to their customers’ changing tastes and expectations. This ensures that they remain relevant even as time passes.

4. Have a Structure

Companies with a working organizational structure are more efficient than those that lack it. The longer those structures exist, the more efficient the company becomes. Efficiency confers staying power on organizations. They are able to carry on through thick and thin and solve problems faster and more precisely. 

5. Build a Diverse Team

Diverse teams tend to have a greater variety of perspectives and approaches to any single challenge. The multiplicity of views is often a strength if it’s managed properly. It could give rise to a lot of creative problem-solving. Creativity and innovation are must-have characteristics in today’s fast-changing world of business. Without them, you’ll be just another sitting duck waiting to be taken out by disruptive forces.

6. Fashion Out a Succession Plan

Succession plans ensure that there’s a smooth transition of leadership between generations. They prevent the sort of clashes of interest that have ended many a long-lived business, especially after their founder’s retirement or demise.      Find out more about succession planning here.  
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Final Words

You can’t be 100% certain that your business will outlast you. But you can at least do everything that’ll make its survival more likely than not. We have given you the essential ingredients for succeeding at this. Try them out, and see how resilient your business becomes.   Featured image source: SME Finance
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This article was first published on 9th September 2020

ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.

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