Business Performance Audit
A growing distributor with healthy demand, held back by a business that still ran through its founder.
- Client
- Food and beverage distributor
- Location
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Size
- 12 staff, 6 years trading
- Engagement
- 30-day audit
The situation
The business served independent retailers, convenience stores and neighbourhood supermarkets across Lagos. After six years of steady growth it had strong customer relationships and good product availability. But revenue growth was slowing, complaints were rising, and the founder was being pulled into more and more routine decisions.
Demand wasn't the problem. The business couldn't consistently fulfil the demand it already had.
The challenge
Growth had outpaced the informal systems running the business. Decisions, fulfilment and stock all depended on judgement and on the founder, not on clear processes and ownership.
What we did
Over 30 days we ran management interviews, reviewed processes, observed operations, analysed customer feedback and reviewed reporting and structure. We scored the business across six areas.
| Area | Score out of 10 |
|---|---|
| Leadership and decision-making | 6 |
| Operations and fulfilment | 5 |
| Inventory management | 4 |
| Team accountability | 5 |
| Customer experience | 7 |
| Performance reporting | 3 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
What we found
Growth had outpaced the informal systems running the business. We traced the symptoms back to five root causes:
- Founder dependency. Routine decisions needed the founder's approval, which created delays.
- Inconsistent processes. Fulfilment varied between staff and relied on experience, not documented procedures.
- Weak inventory planning. Purchasing and replenishment relied on judgement rather than forecasting.
- Limited visibility. Reporting tracked activity, not outcomes.
- Unclear ownership. Several people worked on each process, but nobody owned the result.
The 30-day plan
| Week | Focus | Key actions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Accountability | Assign owners, introduce weekly KPI reporting and management review meetings. |
| 2 | Operational control | Document fulfilment procedures, set inventory reorder thresholds, start logging complaints. |
| 3 | Management discipline | Review KPI trends, run operational reviews, identify recurring bottlenecks. |
| 4 | Founder dependency | Delegate routine approvals, set decision authority, plan phase two. |
What changed
The business left with a scored diagnosis, five clear root causes and a week-by-week plan, with an owner and a measure for every action.
The core shift: the founder keeps oversight of high-value decisions, while day-to-day execution runs on clear ownership, repeatable processes and weekly visibility.
What we learned
Slowing growth isn't always a sales problem. Before chasing more customers, check whether the business can reliably serve the ones it already has.
The diagnostic and improvement plan were delivered in full. Client details have been anonymised for confidentiality.
Does your business still run through you?
The Business Performance Audit finds out why, and what to fix first.