Coronavirus should make small businesses rethink strategies

Jaluum Herberts

For starters we at YOUNG TREPS have broken off till further notice. A lot of our work is going to be done online i.e tax, accounting, proposal writing, consultantations,website and app development e.t.c.

All this can be done without any movement whatsoever save for business registration, I replied. So we shall only be doing work that allows us to work with little or no movement at all.

Our Monday and Friday meeting will continue on zoom.

Every has been given data to work from home. Updates of the day's activities will happen on our work WhatsApp groups that's for both YOUNG TREPS and CAMPUS DOCTOR.

The question I'm going to ask you too is what will happen to your business if this goes on for the next six months or more.

Surely this should be a time of reflection for most business owners.

Where do you go from here!?

This period may totally change how we do business forever going forward.It should be an eye opener if we are to build and run businesses that can withstand any shocks that are outside our control.

Do you have an emergency plan for disaster in your business!?

How prepared is your business for disaster!?

Last week I was talking to an old boy/client who is registering his business formally with us. He runs a phone accessories shop downtown.

When I visited his shop it was half empty.

"Look at my shop," he said.

"It's almost empty and I can't restock because I can't travel. My client traffic has also reduced because most have limited their movement. Now I need to find a way of getting stock without moving and getting it to clients still without them moving. I have been thinking of having an online shop as an extension of this shop. I went to pesapal last month after our discussion and they need a fully formally registered business. I have the site (ecommerce) built but I need to be able to take online payments. I have been stalling on this but now I think I should do it and see where it goes."

Truth is many business people are fighting with the need to stay afloat and running during this torrid time.

All the business owners that were rigid and so comfortable are now realising why it's important to keep innovating.

The truth is you can no longer run a 100% brick and mortar business in this era and survive. All brick and mortar businesses are under total lock down and they will be for as long as this situation goes on.

It's for that reason that I think every business worth its name in the 21st century has to invest in a strong online presence too.

Many Ugandan businesses have for along time dismissed the need to actively invest in their online presence and I am waiting to see if they'll have the same stance when this is all gone.

Like I usually say, any business that has to be dragged into the future has no future. So where's the future!?

The future is in production of services and goods, the future is in technology, the internet.

The biggest businesses in the world are all internet businesses from Amazon,Alibaba, Airbnb name it.

So it's only prudent that every business has both a strong offline and online presence.

Social media, your website, zoom for meetings, safe boda for deliveries should come in handy during this time.

Focus on elements of the business that don't need physical customer interaction like marketing (online).

If anything this is the best time to market since most people will not be doing so.

When the storm comes down (which will happen) they'll be rush marketing and you'll be harvesting the fruits of your marketing efforts.

Otherwise stay safe and use this time to re-strategize.

Your business needs to find a new way, create a new direction from today going forward. What has happened now can definitely happen again or could take longer than we all expect.

You can't have your business under total lock down for an unknown period of time. Until then, let's not panic.

Jaluum Herberts Luwizza is a Speaker,Writer, Columnist with the C.E.O Magazine and Contributor with the Nile Post.He is also a Business Consultant with YOUNG TREP East Africa's No.1 Business Management and Consultancy firm that helps people start and grow profitable businesses.