The Centre for Research in Enterprise and Action in Management (CREM) has taken steps to lead the use of research and innovation to drive growth in businesses, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
This is as innovation continues to change the business landscape and drive the need to fund entrepreneurs.
To this end, the firm has re-launched its brand and repositioned itself to serve customers better and more efficiently.
Founder, Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL), Prof. Pat Utomi, at the CREM relaunch in Lagos, underscored the importance of research and innovation for business growth.
Speaking on the theme ‘Promoting Research, Learning and Innovation as Key Drivers to Economic Growth’, Utomi highlighted the role of research and innovation in business growth.
He also stressed the power of creativity as a potent tool for seizing opportunities capable of transforming society.
Utomi cited cases of top companies in Nigeria and around the world that took advantage of innovative solutions to sustain business leadership and recorded exponential growth.
He said: “Many of those products you see today come from support of research in universities by the private sector and so we need to develop that. There must be synergy from both the private sector and the academic institution. So, businesses must guide against orthodox that limits them from seeing opportunities around them.”
Chairman of CREM Nigeria, Dr. Godwin Nwabunka, said the organisation was established to drive research-based analysis and learning for human capacity building.
He noted that without research, organisations will not be able to identify and possibly position themselves in an evolving business world, noting that at the heart of every disruption lies innovation and technology.
“When you do a feasibility study, you’re researching to generate information that will enable you to make decisions to create new things or sell existing products.”
He pointed out that due to lack of research, the approach to projects is always superficial, leading to abandoned white elephant projects across the country.
Nwanbunka, however, stressed the need to build bridges between research institutions and the private sector to ensure new ideas and innovations are developed and turned into solutions for the country.
