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Join for freePosted: Fri 31st Jul 2026
Ever feel like your business has hit a wall, but you're not sure which lever to pull to get it moving again?
Do you keep chasing new customers when the fastest growth might be sitting inside the customer base you already have?
In this Lunch and Learn, Adeshina Emmanuel takes you through five proven, practical strategies for growing a small business – the same strategies he uses with the businesses he supports as a business growth consultant and Enterprise Nation adviser.
In this session, Adeshina works through each of the five strategies in turn, helping you identify which one your business may be missing right now, and giving you one practical action for each that you can put into practice this same week.
Five clear, practical growth strategies they can apply immediately – no jargon, no theory
A simple self-check to identify which growth lever their business is currently missing
One real, actionable step for each strategy they can start this week, not next quarter
Adeshina Emmanuel MiED is a business growth consultant, Enterprise Nation adviser, and Help to Grow mentor who supports small businesses at every stage, from first-time start-ups to established businesses working out how to scale.
Drawing on more than 25 years of experience in economic development, he specialises in turning growth strategy into practical, actionable steps that business owners can implement straight away.
Adeshina runs his own consultancy, Easton Consulting & Advisory, and is a full member of the Institute of Economic Development.
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Lightly edited for clarity.
Beth: Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's Lunch and Learn. My name is Beth, and I'll be your host today.
For those of you attending a Lunch and Learn for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses. I'm very pleased to introduce Adeshina Emmanuel, a business growth consultant.
In this session, Adeshina will take you through five proven, practical strategies for growing a small business. If you have any questions throughout the webinar, please post them in the chat or the Q&A, and we'll do our best to answer them at the end of the session.
As always, this webinar will be recorded, and we will send the recording and further follow-up resources today. So, over to Adeshina.
Adeshina: Thank you, Beth, and thank you, everyone, for attending this webinar. I've been introduced already, and you can also see the details of my profile on the screen.
I'm going to take you through the five growth strategies. For each one, I'll cover what it is, why it works and how it works, before citing an example.
The example I'll use throughout is a company I worked with while at the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission. This company started as a very small business, doing its operations manually.
Within a few years, the company was able to grow and become a large employer of labour, with capital moving from a starting point of $5,000 to a multimillion-dollar business. I'll use this company to demonstrate the five strategies that a small business can adopt to grow and become a big company.
Before I go on to discuss the strategies, we also need to look at what we mean by business growth and why this matters. Business growth means increasing your capacity to create value – more customers, more revenue, more resilience – not just being big for the sake of being big, but having the capacity to keep growing.
It's not enough for your company to be big; it should keep growing. Even big companies still grow, because the moment you stop growing, you start dying.
Growth builds the buffer that lets a business absorb rising costs, invest in its team, and seize opportunities instead of just reacting to them. There is a real danger in standing still.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses' small business index, most small firms are now predicting contraction rather than expansion for the first time in the Federation's history, which is a very serious issue for businesses in the UK.
So, the takeaway here is that a business that isn't deliberately growing is quietly falling behind, and that's exactly why the five strategies matter.
Think about how you'd feel as a business owner if your customers suddenly began to thin out. That's exactly what the first strategy addresses: market penetration.
Market penetration means selling more to the customers you already have. It works because your existing customers already trust you and know your product, which is always cheaper and faster than finding new customers.
Existing customers can also act as your marketer. They can refer other customers to you that you might not otherwise have the capacity to reach, which is why it's worth doing everything possible to retain your existing customers.
There are various ways to retain existing customers. One is a loyalty programme – some shops offer a loyalty card that lets existing customers buy at a reduced price.
You can also build a database of your regular customers, noting their names and birthdays, so you can send a birthday message, a New Year's message, or a Christmas message. This helps customers feel valued and helps them identify with your business. You could also set up a CRM to track your customers and reach out to them.
For example, the company I mentioned earlier, which I worked with at NIPC, grew from a very small business into a large employer of labour. The company is called Global Smart Fit Limited, a footwear manufacturer that was close to closure by the time we came to know it.
Through our support and advice, the company was able to restore its relationship with its existing buyers – the Nigerian military, for whom it produces military footwear. The business had stopped flowing, but we identified the need for the company to reconnect with its existing buyers through the strategies I've mentioned, and the business was restored.
So this week, I'd like you to look at your top 10 customers. When did they last buy from you, and what else could you do to keep them buying from you?
It's not enough just to retain your existing customers. Markets do shift: consumer behaviour changes, some customers relocate, and new competitors enter the market, so you may lose customers through no fault of your own.
So, what can you do proactively before this happens? That takes us to the next strategy: market development.
Market development means you don't just rely on your existing customers alone. You take your existing product or service to new customers, through new areas, new audiences, or new channels.
This works because you don't need to build anything new; you just reach a wider or different market, so that even if you lose existing customers, you still have new markets to fall back on. This means reaching new geographies, new customer segments, or a new online channel or marketplace you haven't tried before.
Using the Global Smart Fit example, our work restoring the company's relationship with the military led us to help it identify new markets in case the military stopped buying. The company found new markets for its military boots among paramilitary organisations, the Nigerian police, Nigerian Customs Service, private security companies and industrial manufacturing companies, and even expanded into producing school shoes for children.
As good as this is, expanding the market isn't enough on its own. If the product goes out of fashion, the market may go with it, which leads us to the need to diversify – not only the market, but the product too.
Diversification means adding new but related products or services to increase what each customer spends with you. It works by increasing revenue per customer without needing new customers, through complementary bundles or service levels.
For example, if you're a hairdresser, one way to diversify is to add complementary products, such as hair attachments or hair cream, so customers don't need to go elsewhere to buy what they need. Or if you're a bread seller, customers might otherwise have to go elsewhere for milk, sugar or eggs; you could sell these complementary products yourself so your shop becomes a one-stop shop.
There's also a need to be careful that the products you add are genuinely complementary. A hairdresser selling exposed food, or something that doesn't fit the business, may lose focus and even drive customers away.
In the Global Smart Fit example, the company diversified beyond shoes into other leather products, including military and civilian belts, travel bags and handbags, so that even if shoes became less fashionable, it still had other products to take to market.
So far, we've discussed what you, as a business owner, can do yourself. But at times, there are things beyond what you can do alone, which means you need to reach out to others – and that takes us to the next strategy: partnerships.
Partnership means growing through alliances rather than doing everything alone. There's a popular saying that if you want to go fast, go alone, but going fast doesn't mean you'll go far; if you want to go far, go with others.
There's also a saying that your network determines your net worth, so it's always good to reach out to others. It works because a partnership lets you access new customers, skills or credibility faster than building solo, through arrangements such as referral agreements or co-marketing.
For example, if you run a catering service, you could partner with event venues: they can introduce you to their customers as a trusted service provider, and you can recommend their venue to your own customers, so it's mutually beneficial.
For Global Smart Fit, the partnership was about what the company needed: the business was growing faster than it could afford, so it needed an investor. Fortunately, the owner attended one of our international events, in Egypt, where the company had a place at the exhibition, and this attracted interest from some Indian investors.
Eventually, the investors put the equivalent of $5,000,000 into the business in naira, which allowed the company to do much more than it could have done alone. So this week, I'd like you to name one business you could genuinely help, and one that could genuinely help you, and reach out to them.
We've now covered four of the five strategies: penetration, development, diversification and partnership. The last one is digital and operational efficiency.
Think about how you'd feel if you had a business and customers, but couldn't meet their orders, so many of them stopped buying from you – no business owner would be happy with that. Or if you're the customer and your supplier isn't meeting your orders, it affects your business too. That's why digital and operational efficiency becomes necessary.
This strategy is about growing by freeing up capacity, not just adding customers, but working more efficiently. Growth often stalls not from a lack of demand, but from a lack of time or systems to deliver.
This might mean automating your invoicing or scheduling, standardising repeatable processes, or using AI tools for routine admin, depending on which area you need to automate. In the Global Smart Fit example, the investor didn't just bring capital; they also brought automated production processes, which freed up capacity to deliver on the company's growth.
The company that had been struggling to cope with customer demand now had the capacity to mass-produce and meet customer orders. So this week, it would help to identify one repetitive task in your business that could be automated or simplified.
We've now discussed all five strategies: market penetration, market development, diversification, partnership, and efficiency. I'd like you to think about which of these you're currently missing, and which you need to start working on.
As a recap: market penetration means selling more to existing customers; market development means reaching new markets; diversification means adding complementary offers; partnership means partnering strategically; and efficiency means freeing up capacity.
There's one more thing I want to add. This isn't a strategy in itself, but think of it like a building: the five strategies are the pillars, but the pillars need to stand on a foundation, and without that foundation, they can't stand.
That foundation is what I want to discuss now. Do you have the right insurance in place for how your business operates today? Many businesses folded during COVID-19 because nobody expected it, but those with insurance in place were able to survive, and even grow.
Do you have clear contracts and terms with customers, suppliers and partners? Many businesses run into trouble because of the kind of contracts they enter into with their partners, and this can seriously affect the business.
What about intellectual property – do you have a brand, or data that needs protecting? At a time of heightened financial and data risk, it's important to have data protection in place for your business.
And lastly, as the owner of this business, do you have a plan for what happens if you're suddenly unavailable? Does the business die with you, or does it survive you? These are things every business owner needs to think about.
As I said, this isn't a strategy in itself; it's the foundation that makes sure all five strategies actually last. On that note, thank you for listening, and we can keep the conversation going through one-to-one support.
I'll now hand over to Beth for questions. Thank you.
Beth: Thanks very much, Adeshina, that was brilliant. We've got time for some questions, so please do post them in the chat if you have any more, or in the Q&A.
One question from Leo: when you were talking about partnerships, how can you go about finding a reliable partner that you can trust?
Adeshina: Thank you very much for that very good question. One way to find reliable partners is through agencies responsible for investment promotion; in every country, there are such agencies.
For small businesses in the UK, the Federation of Small Businesses is a good route to finding good partners. Of course, you also need to do your due diligence to be sure the partners are genuine and can actually meet your needs.
Beth: Great, thank you. We've also got one in from Juan, who'd like to know how to find a suitable contract with customers and suppliers.
We might need a bit more context on that one, so we'll come back to it if we can. One more question in: what's the biggest mistake businesses make when trying to grow too quickly?
Adeshina: That's a very good question, because a lot of businesses try to grow too quickly. You need to know your business first – your strengths, your weaknesses, the opportunities and the threats – and how to overcome those threats.
You need to concentrate on your areas of strength; you can't be a jack of all trades, or you'll end up a master of none. You also need to be mindful of your capacity – what you actually have the capacity to handle.
Take the Global Smart Fit example: when the company realised it didn't have the capacity to handle demand on its own, it needed to look for partners. Otherwise, if it had tried to continue alone, it might simply have failed.
Beth: Great, thank you. So, Dev would like to know: how can I develop a new customer segment in this challenging economy, where consumer spending has dropped?
Adeshina: I think the first thing to do is carry out some research to know what your customers want; you can't produce what customers don't need. You first need to identify customer needs and then develop a strategy for meeting them.
Customer needs do change from time to time, which is why it's also good to be proactive in identifying what customers will need at every point.
Beth: That's brilliant. Abby's just come back with a question related to the previous one, on trusting a partner: what contract should be in place to have a clear referral agreement?
We'll send that question directly to Adeshina, as it's quite specific, so we might need a bit more time on that one. So, Leo would like to know: which strategy would you suggest if we wanted to start a business today? Which of today's key takeaways should we pick straight away?
Adeshina: The strategy you start with depends on where you are. The strategies are actually in ascending order: you can't move into diversification if your current market isn't already saturated.
So you need to start with the penetration of your existing market. Once you're satisfied with that, you move on to developing new markets, and from there to diversification – it depends on where you are, and that determines the next step.
Beth: That makes sense, thank you. So, how frequently should a business review and adjust its growth strategy?
Adeshina: Thank you very much. A strategy isn't just put in place once and left; it's meant to address a problem.
So, as soon as there's a problem that needs fixing, or you can see proactively that a market is already becoming saturated, you need to review the strategy to make sure it still provides a solution, and have a plan for what to do to stay in business and keep growing.
Beth: That's great, thank you. We've got time for one more question, if that's okay. So, of the five growth strategies you've laid out today, which one do small businesses overlook the most?
Adeshina: Thank you very much. I think the one small businesses overlook the most is partnership.
A lot of businesses want to remain independent: they don't want to dilute their ownership, or they don't know who they can work with, sometimes as a result of suspicion. I think that's where businesses need to look into partnering with others who can complement them and help their business grow.
Beth: That's great, thank you. Perfect, so right on time. Thanks everyone for joining today, and we've just had a question in about whether the session will be recorded – it is, and you'll receive the recording later today.
Thank you, and lots of thank-yous in the chat. Adeshina, thanks so much for your time.
Adeshina: Thank you.
Beth: And thanks, everyone, for joining. Have a lovely weekend, and see you next time. Bye-bye.
Adeshina: Thank you.
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