Successful Entertaining in Nigeria

Nigerians are inherently friendly people and entertainment, food, the joys of life etc. are of great importance.

Business entertainment is, therefore, very important. If invited to lunch or dinner by a trusted contact you should accept — if invited by anybody you don’t know well, be very wary.

If you are entertaining local business people, make sure you do it with style in a very good restaurant. Your level of hospitality directly correlates to the seriousness of your desire to do business together.

Avoid using the left hand at meals in Nigeria, both for eating and for passing things around the table. Also, remember that many Nigerians are Muslims who do not drink alcohol.

Nigeria is largely a cash economy and you may be unable to pay with credit cards in restaurants outside the best hotels. It is important therefore to carry a sum of cash with you — but not too much as you don’t want to make yourself a target.

Unless a service charge has been included, 10 per cent tip is expected for most services

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Nigeria only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.