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As expected, the trolls came at me.

“Oh Edgar, you are arrogant. You do not know Alhaji Rasaq. How dare you sit in your living room and decide what a man does with his hard work?”

“Edgar, this is why I don’t engage you. Shade saved the empire from dereliction. Since she came in, it has grown. You are being sponsored,” etc.

Yes, I agree with the arrogant part. I find it very difficult to engage with smurfs who go emotional on issues and start baying like greyhounds.

How do you argue with a person who says, “You are just jealous of Shade. Go and do your own and hand it over to your gateman’s son”?

The issues raised in that essay are very critical to the economic growth of this country and, indeed, most countries.

The reason is simple: the survival of founder-led firms like the Eleganza Group adds a lot of positive input to economic development.

Job creation, tax revenues, infrastructural development, and community development, to mention a few.

If a company, for example, with the large workforce that the Eleganza Group carries and with its continued contributions to economic development, is allowed to go down due to a poorly articulated succession plan, the loss would be massive for the economy, and not even the Okoyas, who would still live well from rent.

Imagine the Dangote Group going down today as a result of Alhaji not putting in a proper succession plan.

It will impact our energy security, significantly reduce government tax revenues, throw thousands into the labour market, and cripple thousands of feeder SMEs who rely on it for one contract or another.

You see why it is not about Shade but about our collective interest for the giant Eleganza Group to get its succession plans right.

While talking about this succession issue, let me state here that most companies start out as family-owned or family-promoted — even in partnerships.

In partnerships, the promoters hold personal stakes and will pass them to biological heirs who either run the firms or just collect dividends.

As the concern grows and other shareholders come on board, their stakes are diluted and, in some brilliant cases like AIICO and Leadway, they make way for corporate governance at the management level, which then institutionalises succession, which in most cases impacts growth positively.

Another beautiful case is Biodun Shobanjo’s Troyka Holdings.

I recommend his biography for every serious student of succession planning.

From very humble beginnings, he and his partners built what was then known as Insight Communications into one of the biggest marketing communications platforms on the continent.

As it grew, it diversified into PR, security, and other such areas.

The moment the ship stabilised, Mr Shobanjo started putting together a succession plan, which he unlocked at retirement.