STORIES

How GCIC Incubated Businesses are Responding to the Impact of COVID-19

  1. Automate processes to reduce downtime and increase customer confidence in your business
  2. Constantly audit all your resources- company savings, suppliers, contract workers, and alternative use of existing technology.

Crisis Recovery – This can be achieved by the following:

  1. Conduct Impact Assessment on all key processes and business activities.
  2. Reduce downtime and increase customer confidence.
  3. Create a knowledge base of all your outcomes and use that to re-engineer your business processes.

Debbie also mentions the Farminista way of working which involves 5 simple steps to help the team constantly learn and win in all times as they run the business.

Green Campus

Another example of a business defying the odds is Green Campus. Green Campus seeks to improve sanitation by advocating for proper waste management through the distribution and sale of eco-friendly trash bags, initiation of waste segregation projects, and recycling of the waste. The company has been in operation for 2 years, and its main clients include students on various university campuses in Accra, corporate offices, hotels and individuals who are conscious about the sustainability of the environment.

Green Campus is heavily dependent on raw materials imported from China and South Africa and due to the closure of most borders, their production has been put on hold currently. Additionally, since Ghana’s first case was confirmed and a lockdown was implemented, schools, hotels and non-essential corporate offices, which constitute a big part of their client base, were shut down thereby affecting their sales. The lockdown meant restriction of movement; as such they are unable to distribute products to clients which has resulted in a significant fall in revenue. What will it take for a small business such as Green Campus to thrive in times like this? The company’s CEO, Papa Yaw Agyekum Addo, put in place an array of measures to contain the economic pressures on the business and sustain it in the face of this pandemic. 

Firstly, they conducted a business impact analysis with support from the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, developed a crisis management plan and a business continuity strategy that will position them to respond adequately to the impact of this outbreak.

Additionally, Green Campus recognized that this is an opportunity to evolve and has been engaging with key staff and clients on this strategy. The plan involves maintaining great customer relationships, finding new clients and redefining their distribution strategies. To achieve this, Green Campus is currently building an online platform that will make it easy to reach new clients and transact business and exploring the possibility of expanding its distribution channels to include retail stores. Also, given the uncertainties in imports, the company has been actively rethinking its supply change and is exploring local suppliers for raw materials and other inputs.

By all indications, these small and growing businesses have put in place strategies that enable them to weather this economic storm, and although the conditions are likely to remain austere for some time, their well-thought-through plans and strategies make them hopeful and ready for the future.

Source: B&FT