28th May 2020
Onkabetse Morapedi, Head of Enterprise Banking, Stanbic Bank Botswana
As we continue to work our way out of the chaos that is COVID-19’s wake, there is no denying the challenges our business ecosystems face in the road ahead. With our economy set to shrink 13.1% according to Minister of Finance and Economic development, Honourable Dr. Matsheka (from an initial forecast of 4.4% growth for this year), SMEs and informal businesses are expected to be the hardest hit.
This does not, however, mean that there aren’t recovery measures you need to consider beyond what has been announced by Government. Within the business, there are key issues and areas of focus to be reviewed. Here, we share just a few of these for SME owners and managers.
- Assess your finances: Both big and small businesses need to make a final assessment of the company’s current financial situation – things have changed since the unexpected advent of the pandemic, and we need a much realer picture of the financial health of the business now. Try to better understand where your business stands now as regards deficits, future inflows of funds, potential revenue to mine for now, liabilities and potential expenses further down the road. Try to draw up a fresh plan of action that covers you for at least the next 3-6 months during this rehabilitation period.This includes consideration of any Government relief packages our business may be eligible for.
- Refine your business plan: Your business plan will likely need some adaptations and amends now. Based on the financial assessment above, new evident risks (likely reductions in cash inflows, cashflow challenges, etc.), it is worth re-evaluatingyour business plan for post-COVID-19, what I like to call business “unusual.”Do you need to re-think your business goals? Do you need to re-prioritise certain things? Is down-scaling likely? Is collaboration an option? How does this affect targets and how should they be re-drawn? At this stage, it is worth inviting some of your management team to help define and refine these aspects; they may have useful insights to share.
- Strengthen yourbusiness continuity plan: If COVID-19 has done one thing for sure, that is showing the gaps and evident areas of improvement when it comes to business continuity plans and measures. If you never had such a plan, this is a lesson to develop one. Develop holistic, feasible and measurable efforts and protocols, from data backups to skeletal staff teams, remote working policies, and disaster recovery offsite options. This can also include a crisis management plan, which will outline how to engage with and communicate with stakeholders both in and outside of the business. If we ever find ourselves in such a situation again, you want to know you are ready!
- Enhance your digital ecosystem: Digital engagement has been a saving grace for businesses across the world during this time. This comes into play in 2 ways – how you use digital platforms to keep communicating about your brand (e.g. social media presence) as well as how digital platforms support your business continuity. Explore a sound and holistic strategy to enhance your digital ecosystem, from possible Cloud usage for backup and data storage, to a number of online (and sometimes free) tools that can project manage, task manage, and allow for remote working communication. Just because we may return to our workspaces, this does not mean we need to revert to very “manual” ways of doing these things. Start to integrate technology and all that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) may bring and consistently look to enhance this with time. It makes for a much more sustainable working ecosystem and can in fact bring other benefits such as enhanced efficiencies, staff upskilling, supporting your long-term growth goals, etc.
Every trauma or crisis is an opportunity to learn. How are you using this period to rehabilitate your business and are you learning new ways to thrive? Focus on these as just some of the areas to star addressing to help get you on your way to business recovery.
*These tips are part of a financial literacy series by Stanbic Bank Botswana
