How South African Businesses Can Survive Post Covid-19 – Adedipupo Osinloye

Financial Risk Management expert, Adedipupo Osinloye believes African businesses have all it takes to survive in the post-Covid world if given the necessary support.

According to him, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is causing untold human suffering across Africa and is likely to leave an indelible impact on the continent’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

He defined SMEs as “separate and distinct business entities, together with their branches or subsidiaries, if any, including cooperative enterprises, managed by one owner or more, predominantly carried on in any commercial sector or subsector.”

Specifically, he noted that his focus is on businesses with a turnover of more than 15 million but less than 500 million rand. These businesses play an outsized role in economies and employ an estimated 80 percent of the continent’s workforce in both the formal and informal sectors, though during times of crisis, they are often the least resilient.

This is because typically they have limited cash reserves, smaller client bases, and less capacity to manage commercial pressures than do their larger, more established counterparts.

Adedipupo noted that South African SMEs, already having to contend with a contracting economy, additional shocks from COVID-19 are putting further pressure on their operations. Lockdown measures have caused revenues in many SMEs to fall precipitously and the majority report that they are being forced to cut back on business spending to survive.

SMEs are the lifeblood of South Africa’s economy—and the most at risk, he said. The South African based top expert noted that technology, upgraded skill sets, improved sales methods and better access to markets will help SMEs scale the current challenges in the post-Covid world.

He strongly believes that with grit and the right support from government, South African SMEs will use these seemingly tough season as their launch pad to greater success.