Prepare for Change….an analysis on COVID-19

In life they say the only constant thing is change. Yes! Change. The COVID-19 pandemic sure proved that right again, it affected so much that we almost lost count, ranging from lay-offs, business closures and for so many families a whole lot more.

One thing we can’t take away from this pandemic season is that fact that we were all taken unawares, that explains the heavy backlash faced by businesses, families etc. Some businesses never prepared for it, while for some businesses, they built their business models to accommodate unforeseen circumstances such as this. For others they predicted it will last for a couple of weeks or 1–2 months max, so they just made a little preparation. But the time frame for this ongoing pandemic shocked us all and many have been forced to make heavy decisions to stay afloat.

A little Retrospect

Earlier this year, precisely the first quarter (January — March 2020), a lot of businesses where enjoying business booming, meeting expectations, maintaining balance etc. I made some classifications to buttress this as seen below;

These representations were made from the business day Nigeria report, this showed the financial strength of businesses by sector for this first quarter, from this report you could see that some sectors flourished during the pre-covid-19 era but couldn’t maintain this during the Covid-19 era. Some of these sectors from QI (Early/ pre Covid-19 era) couldn’t maintain their positions which can be said to be caused by; The nature of services they provide (non-essential services) which led to the shut down of their establishment.

From the top sectors (Covid-19 era), you could see the rise was due to some factors like; Remote work culture, remote studying, increase in data consumption, purchase of health care equipment like face masks, sanitizers, etc. Its fair to call these services (essential).

Asides these sectors we still have some business that have been able to still maintain the curve, retain staffs, pay complete salaries. This is might be due to some factors or measures which i highlighted under the brighter side.

I took this international and I visualized the most valuable brands of 2020 as described by Global 500 report below

Most Valuable Brand as rated by the Global 500 report

From the above ranking, the most valuable brand Amazon has one thing we can use to justify their business success which is customer connection, a brand that truly connects with consumers and stands the test of time can deliver immense financial value. They employ strategies to offer/ sell goods that are mostly needed by its customers, this can be seen in their heavy investments on sectors such as healthcare and many other high demand sectors.

With their 18% growth rate last year which produced a brand value of $220 billion, Amazon is a clear the world’s most valuable brand ahead of Google and Apple’s brand valuations. As the largest online marketplace on the planet, Amazon relies on innovative technologies and investments in fast-growing sectors, such as healthcare, to create a diverse retail ecosystem

From the above chart, we see some brands making heavy returns and others not even meeting the bench-line. This looks conflicting from our previous chat but you need not crack your brain about why. The thing is some businesses have been able to maintain their current financial strength by staying afloat and in profit which explains the above chat.

One thing is certain this period, some businesses are excelling while others are suffering and struggling to maintain their position, but why don’t we look at the bright side

THE BRIGHTER SIDE.

The brighter side of all of this are some solutions to help people navigate this;

· Our ability to innovate and devise extra stream of income; for business who do not provide essential services which are the most sort after, should consider building business models/ideas to support essential services, this indirectly makes your business an essential service provider

· Our ability to build an innovative culture in our organizations; desperate times calls for desperate measures like the saying goes. The need for innovation can’t be over stressed, business should make that shift and make profit, in the end we all need our business to remain and not fall

· Ability to quickly provide essential products and services; If you are able to directly provide essential services as a business, it will be a good idea if you quickly start making those products/services

· Ability to implement measures to maintain workforce and stay afloat; Organization should run away from the lay-off option as a means to maintain balance, unless you have tried the above.

· Employees devise a means to stay relevant; yes, if you need your job work towards keeping it either by putting forth ideas or by supporting ideas, either ways you need to remain visible and valuable

The need for constant agility and innovation can not be over emphasized. We need to prepare for changes like these which takes us out of our normal by proffering solutions to aid our survival.

Thanks for your time