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This paper aims to present the Igbo management philosophy as having the potential to bring about success in Africa and propose a framework that comprises a set of values and three key institutions: the marketplace, the family and the apprenticeship system. The paper shows that effective leaders are servant-leaders who sacrifice for others.

This paper relied on earlier and contemporary peer-reviewed, news media and books. These materials offered insight into what Igbos believed, how they behaved and how they historically organized their lives. Materials authored by both African and non-African authors were considered.

The researcher concluded that Igbos developed a management system based on a philosophy that is African, which is different from the Western system. A framework for the Igbo management philosophy is derived from complex interactions of values and institutions in Igbo societies. The researcher finds that a set of values, particularly, the value of sacrifice, is crucial for ensuring effective business leadership.

Western influence on management has persisted. However, with the economic rise of China, Asian philosophical thought has taken a more center stage in academic management scholarship. Even though human civilization occurred in Africa, it is perplexing that African management systems are not mainstream. There has been research on indigenous African systems and African management philosophy in general. Previous scholarship has also explored the Igbo culture as a whole and their apprenticeship system; however, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first time a framework for an Igbo management philosophy is proposed.

This study explored an alternative understanding of heritage through the lens of the Igbo cultural group in Nigeria. It used the Igbo concept of “Ihe Nketa” or “Oke” to examine the complex relationship between indigeneity, attachment and sustainability in the context of heritage management and conservation.

A qualitative approach was used, and ethnographic methods of data collection that include interviews and focus-group discussions (FGD) applied. The interview participants included village chiefs and the elderly (men and women), and the FGD comprised village elders (men and women) and youths. The interview guide contained demographic questions to determine age and occupation, followed by interactive open-ended questions stemming from the study's objectives. The interviews were conducted in the language most preferred by the respondents such as the Igbo language, Nigerian Pidgin English and the English language. The evidence generated was thematically analysed in a descriptive and interpretive manner.

The study found that while the Igbo understanding of heritage have related meaning with the definitions offered by the United Nations, their approach to heritage conservation takes a different turn through the concepts of “Ihe Nketa” or “Oke,” which recognises the ephemerality of tangible heritage resources with particular focus on the preservation of intangible heritage–knowledge over objects. The Igbo approach describes the framework for the acquisition, use and transfer of heritage resources in the Igbo society.

This study contributes to the understanding of the concept of heritage through the lens of the Igbo of Nigeria. Against the centralised national management approach to heritage, this paper argues that achieving sustainable heritage management in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria requires the recognition of the principles that conserve(d) and manage(d) heritage among the indigenous/local peoples.

The overall aim of this research is to interpret Ikenga and Ofo creativity as it is revered in Igbo societies. Igbo creativity, especially interpreted through material culture, suffers the threat of extinction resulting from the forces of modernity. Forces of modernisation, which appear in the personae of Christianity, education, urbanisation and industrialisation, denigrated indigenous creativity, brandishing them as devious, fetish and primitive. Ironically, in most cases, the drivers of such narratives keep these “fetish” items in their museums and will give a lot to preserve them.

This study centred mostly on several communities in the Nsukka area of Igboland, Nigeria. It relied on both primary and secondary sources of historical enquiry. This qualitative research discussed the nuances of the subject matter as it relates to Igbo cosmos. These approaches involved visiting the study area and conducting personal interviews.

Archaeologists do often rely on material culture to study, periodise and date past human societies. In this study, it is found that material culture, an expression of indigenous creativity, best interprets how society survived or related with their environment. This paper examined two Igbo sculpted artefacts – Ikenga and Ofo – while unearthing the intricacies in Igbo cosmology as regards creativity, spirituality and society.

The shapes, motifs, patterns and designs depict an imaginary history, the intellectualism of the past and even the present. This serves as an objective alternative to the twisted colonial narrative on Igbo material culture and consequently contribute to ongoing efforts to preserve, protect and promote cultural heritage resources in this part of the world.

This chapter documents business ethics and value orientation of the Igbo business model of southeastern Nigeria. The case study method was employed with two purposively selected Igbo enterprises based in Lagos, Nigeria, to provide insights into the model. The chapter reveals that business ethics and values constitute key components of indigenous business success and survival. The identified business ethics and values include diligence, trust, prudence, unity, honesty, integrity, cordial relationships with customers and suppliers, perseverance and patience. Furthermore, the Igbo apprenticeship system facilitates the transfer of business knowledge, practices and principles from one generation to another. Notably, one of the cases focuses on a female-owned enterprise, emphasizing that the issues raised are applicable to both genders. The chapter concludes with recommendations for business actors in Africa.

Over the years, the impact of Nollywood on the promotion and development of Nigerian culture has cut across geographical boundaries. In terms of film production quality, the industry has made significant progress, even though there remains great room for improvement. In recent times, output from the industry gained global recognition, with films such as Lion Heart, King of Boys and Chief Daddy, to mention a few, attaining great landmarks in the film world in 2019. A significant feature in the Nigerian film industry is the wealth of diversity which reflects the true Nigerian nation. The involvement of Igbo indigenes in the Nollywood industry has helped put the Nollywood ideology into the consciousness of Nigerians and the world. Therefore, this chapter examines the relevance of the Igbo traditional business model in sustaining the dominance of Igbos in the distribution network of films in the Nigerian film industry, also known as Nollywood.

Over the years, there have been calls for the integration of the Igbo Traditional Business School (I-TBS) into the contemporary entrepreneurship space, especially in Africa, to scale up entrepreneurial activities. The I-TBS model has demonstrated prominence in influencing entrepreneurial culture, skills transfer, start-up support mechanisms, enterprise success and sustainability; however, its reliability and replicability are often questioned. Among a myriad of issues, lack of comprehensive documentation that isolates the merits as well as demerits, is a concern. An understanding of I-TBS’ validity, reliability, replicability and compatibility are others. As a result, it has been difficult to accord the model the needed recognition. This desktop review chapter, is an effort to contribute to the improvement of the model, synthesise its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats with specific reference to the Igba-Boi entrepreneurship scheme. The Atlas-ti v8 software was used in the synthesis. Based on the review, attributes such as togetherness and solidarity in business, free transfer of skills, upholding entrepreneurial culture which are passed from generation to generation and building family/social ties were key strengths of the model. The weaknesses come in the form of lack of regulations to monitor irregularities, inappropriate contractual method and the abuse of mentees. Openings for interested individual to access training, assurance for start-up capital and partnership/collaboration options were key opportunities. False accusations of mentees, breaching settlement agreement, unfair dismissal of mentee, and lack of solid ground for justice, are the major threats. It is expected that these findings will form the basis for further research and policy actions to improve the model.

This chapter suggests that the key to entrepreneurial success lies in the ability to maintain trust-based networks and respect social norms. In elaborating this proposition, this chapter draws on the results of an exploratory study of 30 Nigerian traders to demonstrate how using an ‘institutional’ lens provides new insights into the influence of trust and indigenous norms on entrepreneurial behaviour. The concept of morality which presupposes an understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour is introduced to offer a supple and adaptable explanation for how actors rely on social norms to build trade networks. At the centre, trust was found to be indispensable to networks relationships and necessary for enforcing sanctions. The results facilitate a rich understanding of how a range of trust-based networks relationships and hybrid indigenous norms underpin entrepreneurial behaviour in Nigeria. The study contributes by providing well founded insights into the entrepreneurship within an African context.

In this chapter, the term responsible management is explained with regard to how it relates to the Igbo apprenticeship system (IAS). Responsible management is ‘the assumption of a person’s responsibility for sustainability, stakeholder value and ethics’ (Laasch & Conaway, 2015, p. 25).

The introduction describes the origin of the Igbo tribe, their exposure to entrepreneurship and the birth of the IAS. It also describes the IAS as a business philosophy targeted towards economic equilibrium. The IAS’s three stages, namely talent identification, learning stage and settlement stage is then discussed followed by the two forms of the IAS: the ‘Igba boi’ (to assist with any task) and ‘Imu oru aka’ (to learn a skill) also known as ‘Imu ahia’ (to learn a trade).

The chapter further presents how IAS promotes sustainability, which involves the protection, creation and maintenance of social, environmental and economic business values. In addition, the various ways via which the IAS encourages the need for decisions in management to be morally desirable in both process and outcome for the benefit of all parties involved will be discussed. This chapter explores how IAS does not only practice responsible management but promotes the idea of responsible management in Nigeria and across the continent. It dissects the contributions of the IAS to the Igbo community, short-comings of the system and how it can be applied to effect positive change in other sectors.

While the IAS has been around for decades, research shows that very little work has been done to document it and written reports on it are sparse. Thus, for this chapter the author chose to interview real people who are products of the IAS. Findings demonstrate that the system has remained the same over the years. However, there are less people using the system today due to some negative social reasons. The people interviewed are quoted in this chapter where relevant but their real identities will not be used here thus, they will be referred to as Mr Ben and Mr James. It is also noteworthy that the author is an Igbo woman who has first-hand information on the Biafra war and how the Igbo people worked hard to recover from its effects.

This chapter aims to highlight talent management approaches and succession planning principles deployed by traditional Igbo businesses in Nigeria. Insights came from interviews of a purposively selected sample of Igbo businesses drawn from different sectors of the Nigerian economy and different geopolitical zones of the country to give a national representation of the approaches they deploy in talent management and succession planning.

The chapter commences with a brief literature review of talent management and then proceeds to indicate the methodology deployed in data collection, analysis and presentation. The next section presents findings in detail on how Igbo businesses embark on talent management activities such as talent identification and attraction; interviewing; talent assessment; apprenticeships; training; risk considerations; compensation and rewards. Some training areas discussed in detail include nature of the sector, customer service, inventory management, supplier management and cash handling. The subsequent section highlights some challenges with talent management and approaches Igbo businesses adopted in overcoming them.

The chapter also provides some insights as cases of approaches traditional Igbo businesses adopted in succession planning – this gives more perspective on the contextual circumstances that inform the strategies the businesses adopted in talent management. The chapter concludes by discussing in general, succession planning approaches deployed by traditional Igbo businesses.