This pandemic provides a good opportunity for businesses to do some re-evaluation; ask questions about how to improve efficiency after this blows away. Notwithstanding the losses incurred as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic worldwide, I daresay that this is a rare opportunity for businesses. This may be the best time to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, making necessary adjustments to strengthen operations, service delivery, and other major aspects that are vital to the growth and stability of any organization.  In this piece, I will share 5 things that businesses across the board can do to bring their operations up to par. (1) Update Database and Codify Processes:  This pandemic provides a good opportunity for businesses to do some re-evaluation; ask questions about how to improve efficiency after this blows away. One way to achieve that is by codifying processes and updating database. It is popular knowledge that information is vital for any business to survive. ...

While the health crisis is far from over, the business world and consumers alike have mostly overcome the “survival” phase and are starting to adapt to what it will mean to live and operate, post-pandemic. Now faced with a “new normal,” budding entrepreneurs are reassessing business ideas that had been on the backburner and exploring their potential in the current circumstances. But while many businesses have successfully launched during times of economic downturn — Mailchimp, Airbnb, and Whatsapp, to name a few — that doesn’t mean it’s the right time for everyone. When it comes to post-crisis strategic thinking, aspiring business founders must consider how the needs, wishes, and budgets of consumers have changed for the long term. So if you think your business idea has potential, ask yourself these four questions to determine its strength in today’s landscape: Do you fit into the new normal? Business as usual is off the table, at least for a while. If you envisioned your bu...

Keystone Bank Limited has launched an online platform to empower Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) with knowledge to manage and grow their businesses in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lender in a statement disclosed that the programme tagged: “Keystone Bank Online MSME Academy” is aimed at helping SMEs cope with the operational stress of the current pandemic and will serve as an enabler for business owners to create an active online presence, digitalize their product, services and find new ways to connect with their customers. “One way to identify an SME-centric bank is the length it is willing to go in finding new ways to help SMEs to survive and thrive in the current harsh business environment. “Keystone Bank has demonstrated this passion during the Covid-19 crisis by initiating an online platform to empower SMEs with knowledge in managing and growing their businesses,” the bank said. Participants at the first edition of the initiative held on the 24th of ...

The traditional stay at home mum is one who takes care of the children, does the house chores, puts the house in order and attends to every family need. If you by any means think this is an easy job you need to try it for a week and see how tasking it can be. The most dreaded statement for stay at home moms can be ‘so what do you do?’ While I am strongly of the opinion that being a stay at home mum is tedious enough I also know extra money never hurt anybody. Most women tend to downplay the possibilities of still doing something financially profitable from home. I need you to first understand that a lot of people quit their jobs to establish businesses and have to work from home. Yes, your hands are full but I can assure you that one or two of the below-listed business ideas is worth trying out. 1. EVENT PLANNING The big names in event planning in Nigeria such as Zapphire events and Elizabeth R did not always have an office. This is a business you can easily start by...

There are more than 13 savings and investment apps in Nigeria. These apps make it easy to save and invest money with higher interests than banks. In a recent article, Techpoint published a roundup of  leading savings apps in Nigeria . After reading that article I decided to automate my savings. But, before making my final selection, I checked out the platform and studied their growth strategy.  After my analysis, I started using three of the apps. In this article, my goal is to share with you eight growth strategies used by some of the apps and how you can adapt those growth strategies to your business. Design Your Product To Solve Major Issues Facing Your Users. Before you launch, your first goal is to find out the core problem users want you to solve with the product.  In the case of these apps, the problem is helping people develop savings habit. As a result, the main product feature created helped users to automate monthly savings and discourage imp...

Tech firm, Eyowo Integrated Payment Limited , has launched an initiative to ease retailers and business owners’ mode of operations in Nigeria. The series is reportedly aimed at creating an avenue where retailers and business owners can learn how to improve business performance using modern tools and strategies. The initiative, which is tagged the Boost Your Business with Eyowo retail/business workshop series, is themed “Driving Business growth with data.” According to the Chief Executive Officer of Eyowo, Tomi Amao, the workshop series was launched in line with the company’s vision of solving financial inclusion problems and making daily transactions seamless for businesses in Nigeria. “The boost your business retail seminar is one of many steps we are taking to achieve our vision, which is to promote and drive financial inclusion throughout Africa. We believe this is very possible,” he said. The workshop had Chief Customer Enterprise Architect of Oracle Ecemea [CTO], Ol...

When was the last time you paid cash for something? Personally, it’s rare for me to even carry it these days. And with the rise of new mobile and digital payment options like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal and Google Wallet, cash payments are only going to become less common. In fact, according to Worldpay’s 2018 Global Payment Report, the global use of mobile payments is forecasted to increase to 28 percent in 2022, surpassing credit cards and cash. Given this trend, it could be time to consider eliminating cash payments from your business altogether. It might seem crazy to stop accepting cold, hard dollars, but there are actually a number of benefits. Check out these three reasons your small business should consider going cashless. 1. It Boosts Checkout Efficiency.  Consumers today are busy and don’t want to spend time waiting in line to check out. That’s why companies like Starbucks have been promoting mobile order-and-pay apps that allow customers to pay ahead of time....