Business experts are calling on Small and Medium Scale businesses as well as entrepreneurs to explore cost-efficient measures to manage their businesses and prevent them from collapse amid the Covid 19 pandemic.
Speaking at the third School of Business UCC webinar series on the topic, Coronavirus Pandemic: Implications for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, the director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprises Development, CESED at the University of Cape Coast, Dr Mrs Mavis Serwaa Benneh Mensah mentioned that business owners should be able to explore alternative ventures to make revenue as a means to sustain their businesses in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“I will advise that they try to look out for cost efficient measures, which is simply putting off your light when you don’t need it, making good use of water and other resources. Let us not keep wasting these resources because they add up to your cost of operation” she said.
“They need to take inventory on regular basis and also control how much is spent on utilities if it is not going to affect the performance of the business” she added.
On the same platform, Managing Director of Saka Homes, a real estate development agency Ebenezer Saka Addo- Mensah cautioned entrepreneurs to focus more on sustainability and not to be “too profit-oriented but also think about sustainability because now incomes have gone down, spendings have gone down so you should also factor that.”
According to him, there is the need to protect the investment and “at least the capital,” explaining this will help entrepreneurs keep their businesses afloat.
On his part, the deputy CEO of the Sekondi Takoradi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Benjamin Nii Kpani Addy noted that going forward, businesses need to deliberately incorporate technology and also create a buffer to face off such emergencies.
He emphasized that “It doesn’t matter what level you play, there’s always a way that you can incorporate technology in what you do. So if you have never considered having a website this is the time to do that, so you can display your product and services, for people to connect with you.”
Adding that it is also very important that people diversify with their investments “it could even just be, buying shares in another area so that if things happen like this and it affects one area of business the other area can be of support.”
Source: Joseph Kobina Amuah/ATLFMNEWS
