Inside the business secrets visiting Germans shared with Nigeria

As President Muhammadu Buhari met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, behind closed-doors last week, a lively Business Round Table was holding in The Brown Room, one of the many meeting rooms in Villa.

It was there the secret behind the success of German businesses was revealed by the visitors. It could not be ignored; it dominated the talks for several minutes.

The economy of Germany is a social market economy, the largest national economy in Europe.
“Size is not why our businesses are successful; we are successful because we are mostly family businesses that grow over generations, not just small-scale enterprises,” a member of the German delegation, who is a founder and CEO of a company, said. “German businessmen are extremely focused, extremely serious, and we also focus on communication.”

Some other members of the 16-member business delegation, led by Dr Ulrich Nussbaum, Secretary of State, Federal Ministry for Economy and Energy spoke in the same vein.

These founders and/or CEOs of successful German brands spoke passionately about Mittelstand, said to be the backbone of the German economy.

The Mittelstand are a core of small and medium-sized firms, many of which have existed for generations and noted for their durability and resilience.

According to Wikipedia, Mittelstand companies are “highly focused, achieving unprecedented efficiencies by designing a business model with a razor-thin focus and learning to do the one thing really well”; then to “compensate for their razor-thin focus, they diversify internationally and enjoy great economies of scale”.

Although the term could be more loosely applied, Mittelstand companies share the following features: Family ownership or family-like corporate culture, generational continuity, long-term focus, emotional attachment, flexibility, and lean hierarchies.

Among other things, the German delegation was also apprised of the strength of the Nigerian economy as well as opportunities for investments and partnerships.