One of the hardest decisions in business is knowing when to pivot. For many founders – especially in family businesses, a pivot can feel like abandoning roots, like changing the very DNA of what you have built. But the truth is: pivoting should not be seen as erasing the past but as a means to preserve the future.

Here’s why:

• The world moves fast -markets shift & customer needs also evolve.
• What worked 20 years ago may not be able to carry you for the next 20.

Think about these:

• Take Netflix for example. It started with DVDs-by-mail. Imagine if they held onto that because “that’s how we started.” They’d be extinct today. Instead, they pivoted into streaming, then content creation. Now, they’re producing documentaries like the Dangote story that’s putting Africa’s entrepreneurship on the global stage. That’s legacy.

• Let’s look at Apple. It wasn’t always the iPhone empire. In the 80s and 90s, it was personal computers—then the iPod changed everything, followed by the iPhone. If they stuck only to “we make computers,” not sure they would survive today.

• Even Amazon began as just an online bookstore. If Jeff Bezos clung to “we sell books,” Amazon wouldn’t be the global marketplace it is now.

• Take Dangote Group. Many people forget that Aliko Dangote started out in the 1970s trading rice, sugar, and cement. If the business had stayed there, it would have been swallowed by imports and market shifts. The pivot was in moving from trading into manufacturing. That one move – cement, sugar, salt, and now oil refining—didn’t erase the original business DNA. It amplified it.

If these businesses hadn’t evolved, they’d be case studies of failure, not icons of resilience. The products changed. The models shifted. But the brand names and the core spirit of innovation endured.

Anatomy of A Good Pivot

Every successful pivot has three things in common:

1. Timing → Move too early, you’re experimenting. Move too late, you’re irrelevant.
2. Research & Viability → Does this shift actually meet market demand, or is it just a shiny distraction?
3. Advisers Who Get You → Not just any consultant, but people who understand your values, your family dynamics, and the market you’re playing in.

Do not assume that Pivoting is only about products and services. It also includes systems and governance.

• Updating a family constitution so Gen 2 and Gen 3 have clear roles.
• Revising shareholder agreements so business pivots don’t split siblings apart.
• Using trusts and structures to finance expansion without risking the core.

The real legacy of a family business is not the exact product or service you started with. It is the resilience, entrepreneurship, and boldness that keep your name alive across generations.

For family businesses in Nigeria and across Africa, this lesson matters. Pivoting doesn’t mean abandoning your roots. At the end of the day, the inheritance we pass on isn’t just a business model. It’s the entrepreneurial spirit that adapts, survives, and thrives across generations.

Always see pivoting as extending your business roots into new ground so the family tree can keep growing.