When the COVID-19 lockdown was announced in early 2020, businesses across the country were forced to confront a crisis they had not anticipated. Gatherings were banned and social-distancing measures introduced, hitting sectors such as events and hospitality particularly hard. While some businesses managed to survive and rebuild after the pandemic, others shut down permanently or were forced to rethink their operating models.
For some entrepreneurs, however, the ability to survive a crisis had already been built into their businesses. Having witnessed previous global economic shocks, they had developed different operating models or revenue streams, allowing them to fall back on an alternative when one part of the business became unviable.
For investors in the events industry, the impact was immediate and devastating.
Julie Nyaga, founder of Ashley's Events, had a major event planned for before the lockdown announcement was made. Thousands of shillings had already gone into preparations for the high-profile gathering, which was expected to attract senior figures from the corporate world as well as prominent politicians.
Then, in a directive that changed the course of thousands of businesses, the government announced a nationwide lockdown, with restrictions taking effect at midnight. The event was cancelled, leaving Nyaga with substantial losses and no opportunity to recoup the money she had invested.
“That was a huge loss. It was something I never recovered from,” says Nyaga. Such shocks could have been experienced by any other business. Others learned through the crisis and adopted survival measures. She, for example, ventured into the agricultural produce business, selling fresh garden horticultural products.
There are businesses we can learn from on ways of surviving a market that may face similar uncertainties like the COVID-19 example. Let's look at lessons from the fast-food business, the McDonald's model. McDonald's partnered with several businesses that were doing deliveries to clients around 2027. Businesses such as Uber Eats, DoorDash and Glovo. Their earlier model was based on drive-through or walk-in customers, though they were doing limited deliveries on their own. When in-person gatherings were outlawed at the onset of COVID-19, many restaurants suffered, but McDonald's was already in business doing home deliveries. It's reported that during the pandemic period, the business witnessed high-volume sales as orders peaked. Diversification pays.
Partnership
McDonald's didn't buy delivery vans or bikes for its business with franchises all over the world. They partnered with those already in business, and this saved them from a likely catastrophic closure and worldwide job losses. You don't need to invent apps when you can partner with someone with an app. You don't need delivery bikes when that boda boda operator can be the plug you're looking for to be that business delivery guy on a commission basis.
Invest well when money flows
Don't wait until desperate times come calling to look for ways to resuscitate that business. When the money is flowing, invest in ways to sustain its operations beyond the present. Maybe your operating systems could be upgraded to be futuristic, even when it looks like a waste of time today. Maybe you need well-tailored packaging that'll make the current one obsolete in future.
Think of being digital with a packaging system that's electronically recharged to prolong the shelf life of that product long after it leaves the shelves. The catch here could be, when the unforeseen, as an epidemic lockdown happens, you could be delivering to your customers what’s as fresh as packaged today. What you invest today could be that game changer tomorrow. That's what McDonald's did, packaging pizzas in packages that keep them warm for up to 30 minutes, so by the time the delivery is done, it's not cold for long.
Data is the king
Note who your customers are. Note their spending habits. Not down their numbers. You're not monitoring them, but building your future customer list. Think of thanking them for shopping with you with every order they purchase. Think of sending a promotional message each time you have a new product on the market, when you're doing flash sales or stock clearance. You may be surprised your customers could be marketing you as well through referrals.
Take it to your customers
Delivering to your customers is simply taking your shop to their doorsteps. Your high-value customers could be the kind of lazier ones when it comes to shopping because they lead a busy and demanding life, and shopping is like that afterthought squeezed into a weekend schedule. You're just a phone call or an app tap away from them. Your rider is there, ready to deliver that dispatch to their doorstep. McDonald's may have studied that kind of its customers' lives and capitalised on it, and the COVID-19 lockdown period proved it. Orders were coming, deliveries were landing at customers' doorsteps, and the bottom margins were impressive.
The above examples may not work with some business models. Here is where diversifying in other areas could work like investing in stock and bonds market, real estate, logistics, and so on could work for you. Better still, have a contingency fund in place that can sustain your business for, like, six months after a prolonged period of closure. And with goonism on the rise as we head towards the 2027 elections, who knows your business could be targeted for political reasons and set you back?
