In an age where ‘disruption’ and ‘agility’ dominate corporate speech, it is tempting to think innovation is as simple as installing a Slack channel or hosting a design sprint.
It is not. For all the conferences, committees, and catchy slogans, innovation often stops at intent. What companies hail as transformation is often just performance.
Executives worldwide claim innovation is a priority, yet few address its real challenges: updating outdated systems, reducing bureaucracy, and improving collaboration between disconnected teams.
According to McKinsey, only 16 percent of digital transformations achieve lasting results. Most fail not due to funding or ideas, but because strategic vision does not reach operations, digitally savvy leadership is lacking, and executives are not engaged. Many organisations do not build sufficient digital capabilities or update roles to fit new technologies, while employee resistance often arises from lack of involvement. Poorly integrated tools and weak communication further impede progress. Success depends on engaged leaders, workforce upskilling, role clarity, empowered employees, and the adoption of effective, user-friendly digital tools.
Real innovation The kind that strengthens a balance sheet and wins long-term loyalty tends to be invisible. It means rewriting internal processes to move faster. It means product and compliance teams syncing early, so ideas don’t get stuck in the audit. It means doing the hard, dull, necessary work of clearing internal bottlenecks.
In my experience with product teams, ambitious plans often stall due to siloed engineering, slow legal approvals, disconnected finance, and delayed operations. Innovation struggles not from a lack of ideas but from poor communication. Effective teams tend to value collaboration and shared goals over titles or specialised settings, achieving results by aligning objectives and keeping a clear direction.
Successful companies focus on details rather than big risks. According to Gartner, aligning product strategy with internal capabilities makes firms 20 percent faster to market and 25 percent more productive. Discipline in process outweighs creativity alone.
There is a morale bonus, too. When teams see their work translated into outcomes, they engage more deeply. Employees want to be part of something that works, not just another ‘innovation initiative’ that fades after a keynote speech.
Too many firms still treat innovation as theatre. They release statements, announce tech partnerships, or publish vision documents, while their core systems procurement, logistics, and customer service barely function. This gap is not just inefficient; it erodes trust. Stakeholders are becoming savvier, and fluff no longer flies.
Even regulators are asking harder questions. New ESG rules demand clear evidence of operational capacity, not just innovation talk. Investors want to see working models, not just slide decks. Customers expect speed and reliability, not just ambition.
In Nigeria, this tension is especially real. The National Identity Management Commission’s digital ID scheme remains slow, bogged down by fragmented back-end systems. Innovation exists, but implementation lags.
Startups in Nigeria have attracted over $2 billion in recent years. Yet many cannot scale because they face broken infrastructure: power outages, logistics costs, and regulatory hurdles. These are not failures of creativity; they are failures of operational readiness. Good ideas are everywhere. What is missing are the systems to support them.
The path forward is not about more hype. It is about building infrastructure, technical and organisational, that can support innovation beyond the pilot phase. It means tighter feedback loops between leadership and delivery. It means viewing innovation not as an event but as a practice.
In the years ahead, winners won’t be those with the flashiest slides; they will be the ones who deliver. Companies and countries that master innovation as execution, not just aspiration, will dominate the next cycle. So yes, keep talking about innovation. But unless it shows up in smoother workflows, higher margins, or more loyal customers, it’s just noise. In Nigeria’s fragile economy, that’s a luxury no one can afford.
Those who take action shape the future.
Agathas Agu is a product and programme management expert with a background in enterprise technology and experience as an Oracle Applications Developer. She combines technical skill with strategic leadership to drive digital transformation, streamline operations, and deliver user-focused solutions. Agathas is known for bridging business and technical teams to deliver impact at scale.
