The 2019 Global Health Security (GHS) Index published in October 2019 by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (JHU), and developed with The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), warned that out of 195 countries surveyed, at least 75% were unprepared for global biological risks.
Even richest economies scored on average 51.9% on the GHS Index which measure their capabilities and preparedness to deal with epidemics and pandemics. Almost every African country fell short of the 40.2% global average score. No surprise then that the health emergency quickly became the disastrous economic tsunami countries are now faced with. There has been an abject failure of governments the world over, their health officials and economic management teams to anticipate and prepare adequately for the onset of an event like the Covid-19 pandemic.
This compels business leaders to confront a gutting reality check and realise that the incomprehensible economic misery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic was after all, inevitable and something they should have anticipated. When the crisis begun we retreated to our homes, reduced our movements and cut out the life that depended on ‘being visible’. Big offices and conferences became redundant. Instead, we became home-based workers but continued delivering value. Business leaders now must contemplate the things we failed to imagine. That only 50% of our workforce was needed to deliver value, and 80% of our people did not need to be physically present in the office to deliver value; that we could do 90% of the processes required to delight our clients/ customers online; and that it was worth finding local options for all critical supplies, and we ought to integrate our systems with our input suppliers and trade partners to maximise the efficiency and continuity of our businesses.
The outlook of how the coronavirus will impact our economy is not differentiated from any assessment around the world –it will be bad and will last a long time. Businesses, left on their own, mostly opted for shift work, salary cuts, and enforced leave, but, by and large informal sector jobs were safe and most formal sector employees are back even though many have had to accept deep salary cuts. However, the leisure sector including hospitality, travel and tourism industries took a particularly deep dive. What will shorten or lengthen the pain is whether Corporate Ghana and Government can stop thinking in terms of the world B.C. – Before Corona, take advantage of the change forced upon us as a society and introduce new changes of our own. Governments must effectively support their SMEs quicken the recovery of their economies. We entered an unimaginable world. We entered an unimaginable world. Government responses across the world to address the economic impact are patchy, ranging from the US, which in classic machine-gun strategy style, will borrow three trillion Dollars between April and June this year, to support its coronavirus response towards SMEs and to support some households with US$1’200 per month; to China, which has opted for a rifle-shot strategy with very tightly focused rate cuts. Some economies have witnessed huge employee layoffs.
In the US, thirty (30) million people became unemployed, wiping out a decade of job growth. The UK government is paying the salaries of one-quarter of all people employed before the coronavirus struck. In Ghana, government did not have meaningful surpluses nor could it borrow enough to support households in a significant, sustained manner. The government strategy in Ghana must focus on activating value chains that would revitalise and ensure the sustainability of businesses across whole sectors rather than a narrow focus on saving individual businesses. It should lead and incentivise innovations, skills and infrastructure to rejuvenate value chains across food supply, manufacturing, value addition to primary exports, and the services sector. Large firms have complex, less responsive supply chains, and it is clear that the long term sustainability of any recovery here will depend on nimble SMEs with local or localised supply chains Now SMEs in Ghana know that they are on their own, what happens, going forward? Six weeks into the economic dislocations imposed by the health emergency no one is quite certain when the promised recovery reliefs for SMEs will be distributed, in a manner that is transparent and rewards good corporate citizenship before the crisis.
Owners and leaders in SMEs now realise which roles, processes, and customers are critical and which were merely adding to the numbers. They must now also, reimagine life, work, and leisure; reinvent the ways in which they create value and wealth through public services, private enterprises, and non-profit social activities. First, decide whether your business will be able to comeback or should you exit the current business; and if a comeback is possible, should the business model remain the same? Every other executive will be jostling for a better position for their firm and you can stand still and die, or move (preferably, innovatively/creatively) and survive. Unless your SME is as well or better positioned as its local and international competitors, forget near term survival or long term profits. The new world of business promises to be brutal.
For certain, consumers and employees will not be the same again and you better get to know them all over again. The answers to that conundrum lie with your customers. Engage them. Find out what they want now, and when, where and how they want your products or services and respond effectively. Make particular efforts to engage the under 40s among customers and employees for insights about what will matter going forward. They will tell you what to offer your consumers to remain relevant, and how to get your people to deliver exceptional results.
Second, forget how the BC business was run and reimagine everything to shorten and simplify decision-making even as they use more ICT to control the value and profits created. The objective must be to maximise how much work gets done every day, with less costs, and, if possible, with fewer processes and people. Third, understand that ‘social distancing’ is not the only concept of distance to be mastered. Every SME should reduce the time it takes to source raw materials. To do that, more of what SMEs source for their operations must be purchased locally. The vulnerabilities we assumed were no longer valid because globalisation destroyed the distance factor are suddenly a reality and SMEs should not take them for granted again.
Fourth, make innovation a virtue that you reward as passionately as you reward profits. Encourage flexibility in work practises which enhance wellbeing and profits for employees and the business. Invest in speed of delivery, speed to market, and ideas to get more work done simply, faster, and with fewer resources.
Fifth, overcome the fear of technology, transparency, and bookkeeping, or prepare to die. Businesses will need facts to make the case for bank support, industry partnership, and growth strategies.
Sixth, every business decision by leaders affects employees, profits and often unnoticed, the environment. Tailor every cost and investment from the onset to maximise benefits to employees and profits; and improve the environment. SMEs should look for example, at ways to (a) reduce energy use by cutting vehicular movements, switching to energy saving technologies, (b) invest in establishing more local, more reliable supply chains, (c) improve employee wellbeing through increased health and safety protocols, and (d) increase employees’ productivity through enhanced training. Lastly, be cautious of the embrace of government through conditional loans, more regulation, any potentially, populist legislation to protect employees and consumers, as part of efforts to build a more resilient economy. It will happen.
Anticipate these potential developments, and pre-empt them with advocacy, and also by reengineering and restructuring your business. Remember the Global Health Audit by the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Be prepared. Humans are adaptable and will survive Covid-19. That is the key to success. We have successfully negotiated every change foisted on us by our ingenuity or the forces of nature. As we move from surviving the dislocations and begin moving into a new profitable future, our encouragement to every player in making Ghana an economic success is simple – Focus.
GET YOUR REVENUE UP:
Get the top line and revenue-generation back to health. Sell like every pesewa counts, move fast, use technology smartly, find and keep the customers who will help you grow, look for growth, innovations; and make sure the business model is responsive.
SIMPLIFY PROCESSES AND RAISE EFFICIENCY:
Reorganise to make business/organisation fit for the new economy. Plan for big shocks, simplify the supply chain, reduce costs and invest in alternative supply services. Get every employee to share ideas about making work simpler and faster without compromising safety and profits their relevance. Create a transparent business and champion the mind-set of creating better value every day for consumers, employees, partners, and the business.
BUILD EFFECTIVE TEAMS:
Help every employee understand where and how they add value to the organisation. Organise the business into teams on this basis to bring into sharp focus (a) what is important, (b) what kind of leadership is required (c) how value will be shared, (d) where their growth and the growth of the business will come from. Let your people know that everyone counts. Give everyone a stake in wealth creation.
DIGITISE:
To master the behaviour of consumers and their buying habits, learn to build a 24/7 relationship and be more responsive to them than ever before. Let them share their expectations – especially the most challenging ones. Use data to improve the relationship with your suppliers and trade partners to make your supply chain from raw material source-to-consumers as efficient as possible. Partner with ICT solution providers to make this happen and work with your suppliers and trade partners to make the information richer and most useful to the organisation and all its supply chain partners.
We wish you well.