Taking it a year back, to where it all started.
It was the year 2020 when it happened. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that we were in a global pandemic. Most governments chose to lockdown their respective countries to prevent the spread of the virus, COVID-19. No matter their size, all businesses had to shut down or limit their operations and let staff work from home, where possible. We didn’t have much time to prepare, but we urgently had to go into survival mode.
Planning and preparing to the best of our knowledge.
Some businesses adapted and thrived in the first few months of lockdown, whilst others couldn’t survive any longer. Others were waiting for the thumbs up from their governments to get back to normal. Let’s pause here for a moment. We thought that things would resume to normality after we practiced all the safety protocols within the first 3 weeks but little did we know it would last longer than a year.
How have businesses been running during a global pandemic?
- Trust your support system
This wasn’t the time to take the sails alone, and it probably still isn’t. Business owners need to consult their mentors, advisors, executive management or even their team (in the case of SMMEs). It’s advisable to constantly consult with your team to ensure that you’re agile enough to adapt to the various levels of lockdown but also to ensure that you’ve thought of everything, not as an individual but as a company.
- Upskill your staff
If you included your team in the “pandemic” planning, you should also upskill them to ensure that they’ll quickly and efficiently execute the plan. The way of conducting business has changed, so you need to ensure that your team can operate in this changing landscape. We are passionate about job creation, so much so that we’re giving away R1 million to a successful applicant for creating the most number of jobs to #getsaworking again. If you need to apply for capital support and can create jobs, you could be in the running. Find out all the details on the Get SA Working website: www.getsaworking.co.za
Competition ends: 30 April 2020
- Have options to access capital
Keep your options open when it comes to capital support. The last thing you’d want to do is deplete your savings or increase your credit at this time. Be open to funding your purchase orders and reserving your cash for other costs. Purchase order (PO) funding with PSP does not require any sale of your shares to get the capital, only an agreed share of the profit. You can visit our website for more information: www.profitsharepartners.com.
- Evaluate your supply chains
With disruptions in the global supply chains, businesses are now willing to source goods locally, thereby enabling local businesses. There could be great new opportunities here.
- Creative Revenue Streams
Don’t lose the opportunity for clients or customers to spend money with you. You can find creative ways to prompt customers to spend on you by offering vouchers, gift cards and easy online offerings. Look at the current situation and see how best your business can still do business.
- Go digital
Our CEO shares his advice with clients and other SMMEs; this crisis has accelerated digital transformation. His view is that every business should adopt the change and realize how crucial it is to operate and offer its services online. Any business can now offer an online service, including fulfilment, warehousing, and online delivery, without setting up any of this infrastructure itself just by partnering with various e-commerce platforms out there. “Small businesses have discovered that they don’t need certain infrastructure, which they thought was critical and thought they needed as recently as a year ago. Marketing, especially digital marketing, which can more accurately target your client base at relatively low cost, now becomes more critical to your business’ success,” he says.
- Use the right tools
We have partnered with GetLion, a business tool built by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. GetLion is a Super-App designed to be the country’s leading one-stop mobile application for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs can use the platform to grow a new or existing business, access new clients by selling online, apply for funding, enjoy discounts, enhance credibility and compliance, stay updated on news and events and network with other businesses. Create a profile and experience it for yourself. Visit www.getlion.co.za to find out more.
Be agile, adapt and adopt.
Times have changed. It’s no longer business as usual – there is a new normal. Try to adapt to the new way the world operates, adopt new ways of working and be agile enough to change.
