Guest speakers at the second edition of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) organised virtual capacity building programme for SMEs, have urged business owners to leverage on the opportunities provided by digital technology to boost productivity, service delivery and overall performance of their organisations despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19.
The theme of the training was “Leveraging Digital Technology & Logistics to Grow Your Business.” The initiative was organised under the auspices of the bank’s free comprehensive capacity building programme, tagged, “Business Empowerment and Sustainability Training (BEST)’’ Masterclass and was put together by FCMB’s Training Academy and SME Advisory Unit.
According to a statement, that the online seminar, which recorded over 2,016 registered participants, focused on various topics, ranging from innovation, digital technology solutions, business model opportunities and adapting to the new normal.
In his presentation, an Associate Partner with Mckinsey & Company, Mr. Chika Ekeji, said, though, Covid-19 is disrupting the structure of businesses across Africa, the continent can respond to disruptions with four actions. These, he listed to include a shift in business model, sustaining business and restoring operation, shaping a whole new business and restructuring company or industry, depending on the extent of business model disruption and extent of negative demand disruption.
According to him, “some of the ways business owners can respond to this impact are, respond, return and reimagine. Across all horizon, a number of technology solutions can be leveraged to adjust SME operations to the new normal with the goal of cutting cost, sustaining revenues, reaching (new) customers, delivering on commitments, managing supply chains and innovating”.
Another guest speaker, an Associate Director of Strategy and Economics at KPMG Nigeria, Mr. Olusegun Zacchaeus, said businesses, particularly SMEs, should realign their strategies to embrace the new normal caused by the coronavirus pandemic. He noted that this new reality presents a new set of conditions for success for SMEs and as such they must proactively adopt new strategies for survival, considering the challenging economic outlook.
He stressed that, “businesses will have to navigate the different phases of crisis maturity by responding to immediate challenges, managing through uncertainty, resetting and identifying opportunities and adapting to New Reality. The strategies for the New Reality include, building financial sustainability, manage your market to sustain revenue flows, diversify and explore new opportunities and re-evaluate your operating model plan with scenarios in mind”.
On his part, the Chairman of FASMICRO Group, Prof. Ndubuisi Ekekwe, who was a special guest said, there was need for everyone in business to evaluate why they are in business which brings the market friction between demand and supply to equilibrium.
“To stay relevant in business, business owners are required to solve market frictions and those with the acquired skills have the capabilities to release products that can overcome the frictions. If you have a great product – great things will happen,” he added.
Ekekwe added that, “The ability of business owners to serve customers and deliver goods to them can be achieved through partnership with logistics companies who leverage on technology toreach customers. By following this model in the right way and choosing appropriate tech solutions, business owners can gain visibility, transparency and save cost, which will in turn help them stay within the marginal cost of production.”
Commenting on the BEST Masterclass, the Executive Director, Business Development of FCMB, Mrs. Bukola Smith, said the bank recognises the increasing role and impact of SMEs and particularly understand the impact COVID-19 might have on their operations.
According to her, “the BEST initiative has been redesigned to meet the changing dynamics of the environment with the addition of a Masterclass. This is one of the innovative ways we empower and lay a solid foundation for the success of our SME customers.
“We believe that this initiative, which is the second edition since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, will go a long way to impact positively on business owners. We will continue to go the extra mile to create opportunities that would enable our customers succeed despite the challenges.”
