{"id":599,"date":"2014-10-08T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/?p=599"},"modified":"2016-10-28T14:02:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T13:02:02","slug":"doing-business-in-nigeria-overcoming-cultural-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/2014\/10\/08\/doing-business-in-nigeria-overcoming-cultural-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing business in Nigeria: overcoming cultural challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Energy and physical stamina<\/strong> are personal characteristics that tend to be associated with power.<\/strong> Based on their physical appearance, Nigerians could be compared to US basketball players. This feature can be intimidating<\/strong>, and especially so when it comes along with a loud voice. In fact, Nigerians describe themselves as “loud and proud.”<\/a> This is one of the cultural challenges when doing business in Nigeria, one of the next high-growth markets<\/a>. Appearances may be deceptive<\/strong>, however, as the following illustrates:<\/p>\n

A Nigerian business leader told me: “Most people don\u2019t understand Nigerians.<\/strong> They think that we shout, because our voice is unusually loud. If you meet a Nigerian in a meeting you\u2019ll think he\u2019s shouting. He\u2019s not shouting: he\u2019s just passionate about what he\u2019s saying. You might think that he\u2019s shouting at you, but he\u2019s not. A lot of Nigerians are loud, the same way Indians nod their heads.”<\/p>\n

\"Nigerians<\/a>
Nigerians may appear as if fighting when they are not<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indeed, I have witnessed very passionate conversations<\/strong> among them: had I not known they were all friends just exchanging perspectives on political issues, I would have thought they were having a serious argument.<\/p>\n

At the same time, they know this may play in their favor.<\/strong> Another Nigerian businessman told me, pointing at his throat: “I know that my strength is in my voice. If I lose it, I’m in trouble.”<\/p>\n

So when doing business with Nigerians it’s worth bearing in mind that, on the one hand they are probably not as intimidating as they might appear, but on the other, they may rely on their physical appearance to maintain the upper hand \u2013 skilled bargainers that they are<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Any experiences<\/strong> in dealing with Nigerians?<\/p>\n

Incidentally, we have a number of Nigerian and Kenyan Executive MBA students visiting IESE<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Energy and physical stamina are personal characteristics that tend to be associated with power. Based on their physical appearance, Nigerians could be compared to US basketball players. This feature can be intimidating, and especially so when it comes along with a loud voice. In fact, Nigerians describe themselves as “loud and proud.” This is one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85385],"tags":[27657,80747,80784,1080],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-doing-business-in-africa","tag-challenges","tag-management-style","tag-negotiations","tag-nigeria","megacategoria-mc-africa"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t