Yaneek Page | How to invest for small business growth in 2022

As the global COVID-19 pandemic approaches its third year, many entrepreneurs and small businesses are finding it difficult to plan in an environment of constant change, uncertainty, and crisis.

Typically, businesses rely on stability to grow and thrive, particularly when it comes to exchange rates, utilities, gas prices, security, supply-chain fundamentals, the availability of raw materials, highly skilled labour, and human resource or workforce resilience in the face of COVID-19, among other factors.

Unfortunately, the areas in which businesses require, at the very least, reasonable levels of stability, are among the most volatile in the Jamaican context. It is understandable, therefore, that I would be bombarded, over the past few weeks, with requests for guidance from entrepreneurs who feel dejected, particularly hampered by the current business environment, and are struggling to chart the way forward.

In answering the difficult question of how to invest for small business growth in 2022 amid the significant challenges, the most important consideration is that doing nothing is the worst option. Several entrepreneurs have shared that they are in ‘hold, wait, and see mode’ – literally in suspension and even freefall, waiting on the pandemic to end. This, in my view, will almost certainly result in stagnation, being left behind, and quite possibly, business failure.

There is no going back to pre-COVID times. We have no way of knowing when the pandemic will end. The world has changed, will continue to change, and businesses must move with and, hopefully, get ahead of the many waves we will all have to navigate in this pandemic.

There are at least four areas of investment internally that can drive the strategic changes required to thrive in the rapidly changing business environment. The first is to build and strengthen the human resources.

Ultimately, it is leadership and action – driven by visionary talent – that will transform businesses for purpose in the new normal. In practical terms, this means starting at the top in assembling or strengthening a board of directors or advisory board to inject new energy, bold ideas, rich diversity, creativity, a wealth of experience, and access to new networks and connections.

Many businesses are stuck because their leaders lack the imagination, capacity, and even energy to move the company forward. The role of the board is to explore the upside of risks, find the best opportunities, create a new vision, transform the business model as needed, and guide the business accordingly.

The next step is a comprehensive evaluation of the existing talent in the business with the purpose of identifying skills gaps and prioritising the treatment of these deficiencies. Building and managing high-performance teams will be fundamental to the success of any business, in any industry, to meet the demands of the current environment.

The Jamaica Productivity Centre has highlighted several times that a lack of investment in human-resource capacity has resulted in poor productivity outcomes across many sectors. These investments would include training, upskilling, consistent coaching, and mentoring.

In keeping with a move towards greater efficiency and productivity, another critical area for investment is in digital transformation or, at the very least, automation, and digitisation. The distinction between digital transformation and digitisation has to do with how extensively a business will use digital technology to transform its operations, with the former being the most extreme.

Digital transformation requires revolutionising the core of the business – that is, the business model, income sources, e-commerce, innovative new goods and services offered, channels of engagement with customers, the organisational vision, culture and entire operations.

Digitisation on the other hand is more narrowly focused on the digital conversion of manual processes, equipment, tools and documents, and a general move to paperless operations. Small businesses will need to decide with the guidance of their board whether to pursue digital transformation or digitisation as the ideal strategy for growth.

Another key area for investment in 2022 should be customer-relationship management. Every business stands to benefit positively and will likely be rewarded financially for deepening their relationship with customers to better understand, meet, and even exceed their needs

This is particularly important in a rapidly changing environment where customer data and intelligence may be used to anticipate how those needs will continue to change so that the business may deliver value that is relevant during these times.

Finally, investing for growth in 2022 will demand dedicated resources for research and data analytics. Data is now recognised as one of the greatest yet most underutilised assets of a business. In simple terms, data analytics and research give companies a huge competitive edge because they have a more credible, factual, and in-depth understanding of the market, competitive environment, and existing and prospective customers.

With this knowledge comes the power of making better decisions, adapting faster to change, engaging in the provision of goods and services that are most profitable and in greatest demand. This leveraging of credible data in real-time also drastically reduces the likelihood of failure. It truly is a win-win for companies that make the investment.

Advanced analytics leads to a deeper understanding of customers, team members, internal operations, and even the business environment. It is the gold standard in the enterprise, and for leading companies around the globe, it is their existing and future source of wealth. I certainly hope it will be so for small businesses and entrepreneurs across Jamaica.

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Yaneek Page is the programme lead for Market Entry USA, a certified trainer in entrepreneurship, and creator and executive producer of The Innovators and Let’s Make Peace TV series. yaneek.page@gmail.com