ARNOLD Ekpe, former CEO of West African banking group Ecobank, once said African-owned companies had an advantage in African markets, particularly the difficult and high-risk ones, because they came from risky markets and understood the challenges and knew how to meet them.

In an interview with me some years back, discussing the rise of African multinationals north of the Limpopo, he maintained these companies were also less daunted by the challenges than companies from outside Africa.

Certainly, the rapid expansion of Ecobank across Africa — in 35 countries to date — signals a large appetite for risk. By 2008, when I first interviewed Ekpe, the group was already in 24 countries and had launched a $2.5bn rights offer to fund further expansion. His dream was to create a truly pan-African bank that would dominate business in "middle Africa", the swathe of territory between the Sahara and South Africa.

But, along the way, analysts started asking whether the bank was driving expansion at the expense of internal governance. It started looking like a numbers game more than a strategic growth plan. It was only a matter of time before corporate governance issues came to the fore in this rush to conquer Africa. So it came as no surprise when dirty laundry was aired and corporate scalps taken along the way — as has happened recently, with the chairman and CEO leaving.

Potential weakness in the company was not only about the pace of expansion; it was also about tensions arising from old ways of doing business in West Africa rubbing up against modern corporate governance standards and practices, which are an integral part of the globalising business environment.

This tension was highlighted in the 2009 banking crisis in Nigeria, when a handful of banks were found to be acting in ways that had been considered normal among some elements but were anathema to the governance practices introduced by central bank reformers in the years before the crisis.

Concern about Ecobank is not just commercial. There is also a worry about what the collapse of an African corporate champion might have on the African psyche. Ecobank has become more than just a bank for Africans — it has become a source of pride, representing a dynamic new business model for people more familiar with foreign and South African-owned brands.

The new African multinationals, those with their roots north of the Limpopo, are raising the bar for business across the continent and, in the process, are giving Africans new respect for local institutions and conglomerates.

South African companies are seen differently. They are regarded more as outsiders, aligned in the consumer mind with foreign companies, given their size, scale and global integration.

The strong South African involvement in Ecobank has raised concern that, as a consequence of its present problems, this African corporate jewel may fall victim to South African "imperialism".

The Public Investment Corporation in South Africa is a portfolio investor in Ecobank and Nedbank has an option to convert the $285m loan it made to Ecobank in 2011 into an equity holding before the end of this year.

While neither appears to have plans to take over the bank, the concerns, highlighted in an article in the Financial Times last week, are evidence of a broader antagonism about South Africa’s corporate dominance in Africa.

In a discussion last week, a group of African business analysts debated whether South African multinationals could be regarded as African as they operated at a very different level from their continental peers.

But it was pointed out that multinationals in Africa outside South Africa are growing rapidly and are changing this perception. Ecobank represents that change.

However, the reality is that these admirable up-and-comers still operate in a volatile, rapidly changing and often institutionally weak environment. Their institutional foundations might not be as solid as they need to be, as seen in the fact that a few individuals at the top can quickly destabilise a carefully built edifice.

The Ecobank saga is a stark reminder of this.

• Games is CEO of business advisory Africa @ Work.