A lot has changed over the last two years, a lot of businesses have had to realign, rebuild and reinvent their business entirely.
This tied into the theme of the summit “Business Reimagined”
The unprecedented times in which we find ourselves today demand that SMEs face challenges head-on, armed with the right information and tools to adapt and thrive in the future.
Radio personality and entrepreneur Msizi James welcomed Standard Bank back for the fifth year running in the latest installment of the Standard Bank SME Summit in partnership with Business Day.
Naledzani Mosomane, Head of enterprise development at Standard Bank’s Business and Commercial Clients division welcomed the audience and reminded them that Standard Bank’s purpose is to drive Africa’s growth which can be achieved by partnering with Africa’s businesses.
Mosomane went on to say that, “Working with businesses across our economy, especially at those moments that matter for their growth, has taught us that businesses need a partner who is willing to walk their journey with them, take the time to understand their vision, and provide them with the appropriate financial and non-financial solutions to recognise and enable opportunity so their business can thrive.”
Wouldn’t it have been nice to have someone who could have predicted the unpredictable a few years ago, someone who could’ve have foreseen what was coming in the future? James went on to introduce the opening keynote, futurist, economist and business trends analyst from Flux Trends, Bronwyn Williams.
She started by saying that the most important part of any business is its people and that all value, whether it comes from the metaverse, the real world or the workplace, comes from human relationships with your team, with your staff and with your customers. She compared the world of work before Covid and after Covid by explaining the K shaped strategy. The top half of the K representing more prosperous businesses and the bottom half of the K representing struggling businesses. Overall there was a big sense of unfairness among business. So the leaders of the world asked their people how are we going to “Build Better Back”?
Trends around the productivity paradox; digital connection aiding in disconnection rather than reconnection; worried burnout and the great resignation movement, have all came into play over the last two years, but what can be said about improving the business landscape when everything has been tipped on its head?
To truly reimagine business, Williams echoed what she started off with by bringing it back to the people. “In order to stand out, SMEs need to be able to attract and retain talent and give their people something different if we want them to work for us and not a dollar based company.” She continued by adding, “Management styles will need to change to empower employees by rebuilding human connection and trust, and lastly, if we want to solve problems together and build relationships, we have to double down on the people in organisations and teams and make sure they are as ‘uncookie cutter’ like as possible to ensure the evolution of innovation, new ideas and new business.”
Leading the panel discussion, Tumelo Mojapelo, head of content at Flux Trends picked the brains of the panel for the advice and tools, business owners need to reimagine opportunities around their customers, collaborators, capabilities, competitors and conditions, when considering how things have evolved in the new world of work.
Zandile Mkwanazi, CEO and co-founder of GirlCode started off by sharing some advice based on reflections she has had over the last two years. “Don’t be married to one idea. As entrepreneurs you have this great idea and you get so fixated on executing it, when sometimes the outside factors tell you to move on. Give into the saying ‘fail forward’, keep going, learn to be agile and try pivot as fast as you can.”
Moshima Shongwe, Head of digital and eCommerce at Standard Bank’s Business and Commercial Clients division commented from their customers’ point of view. “With the pandemic came a lot of uncertainty and our customers expressed that. It challenged the bank to really show up for our customers and work intimately with them by supporting them in the ways they really needed us to.”
Shongwe added that there is still a lot of value behind human interaction, even with everything moving to the digital space, they still have a strong focus on human connection.
Arye Kellman, co-founder of Tilt added that at the end of the day, people are still people and that in his industry it was important to reflect how people felt and what they wanted during the pandemic. “Being customer centric was very important during those turbulent times and remains a top priority now.”
The panel agreed that staying top of mind with your customers requires a business to show up consistently and communicate in an authentic way, opening up doors for businesses.
Shongwe also pointed out that there are so many opportunities that the last two years have brought with it, mentioning that partnerships became a focus, and with those partnerships, a gap in the economy opens up enabling small businesses to participate and grow in.
Mkwanazi also reiterated that another thing the pandemic really showed businesses is that “It’s important to meet your clients where they are, and where they are is online.”
Kellman supplemented Mkwanazi’s point by saying, that as far as opportunities go there has never been a better time for small businesses to create their own content and reach the audiences specific to them. “This can be done cost effectively by jumping on a trend, creating a cool video and expressing your brand proposition.”
The topic of Gen Z and Millennials cannot be ignored when talking about reimaging business and Shongwe agreed as she mentioned that they even see it in the businesses that bank with them, as they have unique requirements as to what excites them and what is important to them. “We have seen a shift in what was once considered a hobby to it now becoming a career.”
The closing speaker, Dr Adriana Marais who is a theoretical physicist, technologist and advocate for off-world exploration reaffirmed that “getting out of your comfort zone drives new ways of thinking.”
She related the ever-changing landscape of business to her journey of being selected to go to Mars by asking the question of ‘How do we restructure things based on the changing realities we face?’
She took the audience through various scenarios of off world exploration and added that “Putting ourselves in extreme environments by choice or not by choice will drive innovation and new ways of thinking.”
She ended by encouraging the audience to lead through collaboration and compassion, and that is the way in which business can truly be reimagined in 2022.
Click here to watch the SME Summit, in partnership with Standard Bank.