NIGERIA – Nestle Nigeria has collaborated Lagos Business School to start a Sales Academy geared at training and equipping its employees in line with its commitment to create an environment that allows people to learn, grow and thrive in each country where it operates, ThisDay Newspaper reveals.

According to the company, the academy will deploy training sessions, instructor-led sessions, simulated problems, business cases and other action-based approaches that challenge participants to think through how the models presented work out in practice.

Speaking on the academy, Mr. Chandana Fernando, Commercial Manager for Nestlé Nigeria said: “The Sales Academy is a 3-level Accelerated Sales Development Programme aimed at providing participants the support, training, skills and resources required to excel in their careers and to win in the market.

The first phase is the ‘Sales College’, which addresses the fundamentals of business.

The second is the ‘Aspiring for Sales Leadership Diploma’, which builds leadership skills.

The third level is ‘Leading in Sales Strategy,’ targeted at all sales leaders.”

It is expected to contribute towards transforming Nestle’s Sales Managers into Business Managers with a competitive advantage in the market.

The partnership will give each employee the opportunity to develop to the maximum of his or her potential.

“Two powerful brands have come together to develop this new initiative in our challenging business environment.

This is the first time we are entering into this type of partnership with an organisation.

Indeed, this is a partnership of like values as Nestlé’s values of continuous excellence align with the values of the Lagos Business School,” said Professor of Strategy at the LBS, Prof. Chris Ogbechie.

Nestle Nigeria is one of the largest food companies in Nigeria with around 2,400 employees.

In partnership with Ashoka, it started a social investment accelerator program to accelerate social entrepreneurship and boost economic development of Africa.