When I worked in large corporate environments, I often sought feedback. Sometimes, the feedback really hurt. But did it make me a better leader? Looking back, I’m not sure. Experience, experimentation, and learning from numerous mistakes were, in my opinion, far more influential.However, this article isn’t about how feedback can sting personally with questionable upsides; I’m actually proposing that companies reconsider relying on consumer feedback altogether.



Because, while it’s commonly assumed that feedback o  ers valuable insights, time after time, reality often paints a di  erent picture. Consider this: in a large Royal Automobile Club (RAC) survey conducted in the United Kingdom (U.K.) in 2017, a staggering 91% of drivers self-identifi ed as law-abiding. However, when comparing this self-assessment to concrete data from traffic cameras, 48% of drivers exceed the speed limits on highways. 



Fortunately, the U.K. government chose to ignore driver feedback and spent billions of dollars trying to fi nd ways to discourage speeding and improve road safety.So why do we often see huge discrepancies between self-reported beliefs and observed behaviors?



Social desirability bias, where we try to present ourselves in a positive light, is one possible explanation. Selective memory is another. In fact, there are many, many reasons why our opinions don’t align to reality.But it’s not just governments that need to be aware of the risk of making decisions based on people’s opinions. Companies do, too.For example, one of the most widely reported new product failures ever, was ‘New Coke’, a slightly sweeter drink that Coca-Cola introduced in 1995.Despite the fact they had feedback from hundreds of thousands of people that they preferred the new fl avor, when it was introduced on to supermarket shelves, no one bought it. 



It just didn’t sell. And people complained in their thousands, which ultimately led to the original version being reintroduced.What’s di  erent from the RAC survey though, is that this was a blind taste test, so bias should not have been a factor.So why didn’t people run out and buy New Coke in droves when those same people had said it tasted so good?Poor marketing? A deep-routed love for an iconic American brand? The fact that taste tests obviously do not align to how people actually consume drinks?



There are many theories, but it’s my view that business leaders shouldn’t waste time trying to unpack the differences between stated preferences and observed realities. Instead, they should focus on understanding what people will do in real-world scenarios by designing and running experiments that test actual behaviors in real-world settings.



The story of Five Guys showcases what I mean perfectly. If you have never had a Five Guys burger, I thoroughly recommend it, although you may need a second mortgage as they are expensive.Jerry Murrell started the burger chain back in 1986 in America by “finding a place where the store is out of the way, and where nobody can see it”. He didn’t advertise, and he only used premium ingredients.No market research. No focus groups. No consumer surveys.



His view was: “If we can put it where it’s hard to fi nd, but we still get people coming, then we know we’ve got something.”



Later on, as they were considering franchising, they tested market demand by placing a sign outside one of their stores, which read: “If you are in a hurry, there are a lot of really good burger places nearby.”Crazy? No, it was genius.Instead of trying to encourage people to eat their product, they actively dissuaded them.



Yet the queues still stretched out the door. And from that simple set of tests, Murrell knew he had a product that could be rolled out everywhere.



Compare and contrast to the likely outcome if he’d taken the more orthodox route and asked people whether they would be happy to pay infl ated prices for a product that was similar to others on the market, just with longer wait times?



Instead, by testing his ideas in the wild, observing behaviors, and adapting as necessary, Murrell was able to create a multi-billion-dollar franchise and develop a new market sector with premium stores in pretty much every major city around the world.So, stop asking consumers what they think. Feedback really does hurt. Start fi nding ways to watch what they do instead.



P.S: When the original Coke was reintroduced, sales rocketed, and it quickly regained its position as the world’s top-selling sugar cola.

Woman Reviews Paperwork in Conference Room

EXPERT-SPEAK: Stop Asking For Feedback. Why It Can Really Hurt

After years of remote work, post-pandemic employees are struggling with office distractions. The solutions run from in-office phone booths to libraries to, surprisingly, adding more sound.



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Chad West doesn’t go into his London office more than once a week. As a vice president of marketing at crypto smart wallet&nbsp;<a href="https://www.argent.xyz/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Argent</a>, West shows up for strategy or creative meetings. But when he’s just trying to get work done, the distractions and noise at Argent’s open plan office make him 40% less productive than at home, he estimates. Music escaping from coworkers’ headphones and coworkers’ voices pull at his attention while the sound of software engineers banging away at their keyboards grates on his nerves.



“I don’t know if it’s just because we’ve all become a bit more psychopathic, or maybe it’s always been in us, but I pick up on everything now,” says West, 33. “If someone has the audacity to take a phone call in a smallish office where people are trying to work, it grinds my ears.”



More than four years after the pandemic prompted most office workers to log on from home, many have returned to the office, whether because of employer mandates, a desire to spend time with colleagues or a need to escape from roommates or family. About&nbsp;<a href="https://wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/WFHResearch_updates_June2024.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">27% of paid workdays</a>&nbsp;in the U.S. were done from home in May, down dramatically from some 60% at the pandemic’s peak, but up from less than 10% before Covid-19.



As people have returned to the office either full- or part-time, complaints about a long-standing frustration—the noise and distractions of open-plan designs—have escalated. Workers are taking more Zoom meetings from the office, often speaking louder in those video calls. Bosses encourage office days to be spent “collaborating” and developing social bonds, but that boosts the chatter echoing in the space.



Compounding the problem: At companies that have downsized their real estate to take advantage of fewer people being onsite, conference rooms and private spaces fill up fast–with the first to claim them each day staying put. “It&#8217;s human behavior,” says Melissa Strickland, a principal and managing director at design firm&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hlw.design/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">HLW</a>. If meetings run back-to-back, “why would I [switch rooms] when I could just take all my calls with some convenience [in this room by myself]?”



In a Sept. 2023 survey by workplace research firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.leesmanindex.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Leesman</a>, noise levels were rated among the 10 most important features of the office—ranking between functioning toilets and an IT help desk. Yet only about 32% of employees are satisfied with noise levels in an average office, another Leesman survey (released this past April) found, and only two issues had lower satisfaction numbers in those offices: Access to nearby “leisure facilities,” and the rate of people walking past workstations.



The response to all these complaints presents a business opportunity, with vendors successfully selling everything from phone booth-style pods to “soundscaping” services that use a “biophilic” approach to help muffle voices with sounds found in nature. Furniture makers and interior designers are adding more acoustic-friendly materials and designing “libraries” for quiet places to work. Some employers are doling out noise-canceling headphones and even building tools to help workers alert colleagues when they need to focus.



“This is the nail that every organization is trying to hit the head of,” says Leesman founder Tim Oldman. He sees designers moving toward “re-cellularization” of interior space—more huddle rooms, private offices or quiet rooms many workers crave. “If we want employees to willingly return to offices, we have to provide space that supports those moments where they need distinct acoustic and visual privacy.”



Office distractions are more than a minor annoyance. A 2021&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-management-and-organization/article/abs/openplan-office-noise-is-stressful-multimodal-stress-detection-in-a-simulated-work-environment/F3EF8D2DF47767F18CBF5C081D6AB3A0#access-block" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study</a>&nbsp;published in the&nbsp;Journal of Management &amp; Organization&nbsp;found that in experiments with controlled environments, typical noise levels of open plan offices caused increases in physiological stress indicators such as higher heart rates, as well as more facial expressions of disgust and reports by workers of negative moods.



“We don&#8217;t habituate to noise,” observes Libby Sander, an assistant professor at Bond University in Australia who worked on the study. “We have this idea that oh, you’ll just get used to it.…But physiologically and psychologically, your body doesn&#8217;t.”



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The desire for more control of office noise is one reason for the growth of companies like Finland-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.frameryacoustics.com/en/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Framery</a>, one of the biggest makers of office “pods”—essentially, fully enclosed, modern looking glass-walled phone booths that start at about $8,700 for a compact single. (Some booths seat up to six people, making them more like enclosed conference rooms.) In 2022, Framery’s global revenue hit $164 million, up from $86 million in 2020 and $101 million in 2021. While sales fell slightly in 2023, dinged by market uncertainty, inflation and higher interest rates, cofounder and CEO Samu Hällfors said he expects rapid growth again this year, though he declined to share forecasts.



In March, the company added a new line of pods that not only insulate sound for users seated within the booths, but have a “sound masking” system that emits&nbsp;<a href="https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/pink-noise-sleep" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">pink noise</a>-like sound into surrounding areas. In doing so, the booths raise the ambient noise in nearby spaces, with an aim to make office chatter less intelligible. “The noise level itself? Yes, that’s kind of a problem, but the real problematic thing about noise is when your brain catches a familiar word,” says Hällfors.



Finland-based Framery added a new line of office &#8220;pods&#8221; in March that not only insulate sound for users seated within the booths, but have a “sound masking” system that emits pink noise-like sound into surrounding areas.PHOTO VIA FRAMERY



That’s why designers and entrepreneurs are adding sound&nbsp;into&nbsp;spaces, which can be a way to address concerns about either too much noise or too much silence. After working for others in the sound space for more than a decade, Evan Benway launched London-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.moodsonic.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Moodsonic</a>&nbsp;in 2022. He now works with companies like SAP, GSK and Steelcase to create “responsive soundscapes” that use sensors to generate background sound that adapts in real time to how distracting or stimulating the environment is.



In effect, Moodsonic helps companies address one of the ironies of the post-pandemic workplace: People are distracted by sound in the office, but it’s often because it’s too quiet, rather than too loud. Instead of having 60 people in an open office where a hum of many conversations happens in the background, “now maybe you have 15 people, and when one person speaks, everyone hears everything that they’re saying,” Benway says. “It’s perfect speech intelligibility”—and the issue that bothers people most.



Moodsonic’s sensors pick up sound levels and adjust the “soundscapes,” which include nature-inspired subtle birdsongs or babbling brooks, depending on the ratio of loud sales calls to focused work or whether it’s a quiet Friday or bustling Tuesday. Benway won’t disclose revenues, but says the company is working with 30 of the 500 largest U.S. companies and is already profitable; in its second year it tripled the square footage where it provides soundscapes and grew subscriptions by 150%.



Others are finding success tapping into not just office workers’ need for privacy, but remote-based workers’ similar desires. Prominent venture capitalist Fred Wilson, the cofounder of New York-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usv.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Union Square Ventures</a>, and his wife Joanne, an angel investor, are launching the second location of&nbsp;<a href="https://framework.nyc/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Framework</a>, a coworking space in New York, this fall. The two got the idea after recognizing that in cities like New York, entrepreneurs, creatives and other remote workers have little space of their own and don’t necessarily want to be in “one of these places where there’s all of this shared nonsense,” Joanne says, referring to coworking spaces with group seating and little privacy.



At the Wilsons’ first location in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood, members pay anywhere from $755 to $860 per month, depending on lease term, for their own sound-insulated pod in the airy Framework space, complete with its own mini-fridge, kettle and French-press. Initially designed as a way to socially distance people during the pandemic, the booths now draw members for different reasons. “It’s quiet, and they don’t have to listen to their neighbor talking to their friend or wife or whatever,” Fred Wilson told&nbsp;Forbes. The original location has a waiting list of about two dozen people.



Furniture and interior designers, too, are building more acoustic-driven protection into their spaces.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.zintraacoustic.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Zintra Acoustics</a>, a line of wall panels, space dividers and ceiling fixtures that help absorb sound, has seen “surging” demand for acoustic solutions, said Kirsten Grosman, product marketing lead for the brand, which is owned by Australia-based Baresque Group, in an emailed statement. “Noise has become the top grievance among employees,” she said.



Meanwhile, the Swedish company IKEA, which has been in the office furniture business for 40 years, is rolling out a new line (known as MITTZON) that’s designed in part to address sound and noise annoyances. For example, it has added a wood fiber material, normally used in the construction industry for insulation, to acoustic screens that are wrapped in fabric. IKEA also worked with suppliers to quiet the mechanism that controls an electric standing desk’s height with a button press. “The role of the office has changed,” says Ikea product design developer Philip Dilé. “A majority of people told us they wanted to come back [to the office] to find focus and less distraction.”



Ikea’s new line, with its acoustic screens, is one example of a broader move to offer more solutions that don’t require lots of private offices or rooms, which arguably defeat the purpose of having people come into the office to collaborate. “Why would I want to come into a whole bank of pods or Zoom booths, and that’s my experience for the day?” asks Tracy Wymer, vice president of insights &amp; inspiration at Teknion, which makes booths itself. Wymer notes that his firm is working on a new product that provides “visual cues to whether you’re available or whether you’re in focused work,” but said it’s too early to offer details.



Software firm monday.com is piloting a device made by an in-house &#8220;Makers&#8221; team that’s positioned on the corner of workers’ computer monitors; users can set it to show coworkers how much time they need to focus.MONDAY.COM



One employer experimenting with visual cues is monday.com, an Israel-based project management software firm. It has a group of “Makers” on staff who’ve designed an Internet of Things (IoT) device called “FocusTime” that’s positioned on the corner of workers’ computer monitors. It looks like a dial that shows how much remaining uninterrupted time the user needs—and acts as a physical enhancement of the Slack or Teams status icons people are accustomed to seeing onscreen.



The idea originally came from a monday.com employee who struggled with colleagues’ interruptions as she returned to the office; an early version was simply a flag that could manually lift when someone shouldn’t be disturbed before becoming a device users could just tap on and off. It evolved into the current gadget, which users can set to show coworkers how much time they need to focus—the time window is copied to calendar apps—or if time for quiet work is blocked on a digital calendar, it will appear on the device.



Saron Paz, leader of the Makers team, says about 20 employees are taking part in a pilot using the prototype gadget; a company-wide test is in the planning stages and then, potentially, it could become a product it commercializes. (In September, monday.com plans to display the device at a customer conference in London and New York.) At the very least, Paz hopes the devices “start a conversation between people about what they need in terms of noise or other pain points,” he says, noting “we are still hard-wired for things that are physical.”



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Other companies are handing out noise-canceling headphones as back-to-office perks or adding more quiet spaces into designs. When Intuit’s Mailchimp division designed its new offices—a sleek, modern space along Atlanta’s popular walking and biking BeltLine path—acoustics were a priority. The old space had a sea of desks in a converted warehouse with only six phone booths or “drop-in” rooms; the new one has more than 60, says project executive Colin Hughes. Staffers are given the option of ordering noise-canceling headphones free of charge.



In this “innovation hub”—as Intuit calls the new Atlanta office–acoustic-friendly panels were used on walls, ceilings and as dividers to separate office “neighborhoods.” There are five “library” spaces throughout the building, several of which are wood-paneled, lined with books and housing roomy tables with task lighting that evoke the feel of a modern university library. People tend to work there silently, says Hughes: “If you see there’s books on the walls and it looks like a library, you’re going to behave that way.”



One driving factor behind creating more spaces for quiet work has been greater awareness about the needs of neurodiverse workers, such as those with ADHD or sensory processing challenges.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7732033/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">External research</a>&nbsp;shows that 15% to 20% of employees are neurodivergent, says Salesforce executive vice president for real estate and workplace services Relina Bulchandani. That prompted the software giant to design floors in its new Chicago tower with “meditation rooms” for quiet breaks and “library” spaces equipped with double monitor screens requested by software engineers.



While labeled as libraries, there are no signs to keep quiet, says Bulchandani. She notes that as people have spent more time in the office, they’ve grown more comfortable with taking calls at desks in open office areas, and Salesforce has urged people to do more of that—within reason—to keep small huddle rooms from booking up. “We&#8217;re encouraging folks that you can take calls at your desk, but just be mindful—you don’t want to be all day on video calls at your desk.”



Still, the paradox of many such solutions for office distractions isn’t lost on Argent’s West. If everyone simply had the choice of where they want to work—rather than having to report to an office—some of those solutions wouldn’t be needed. “All a company should really care about is efficiency,” he says. “If you’re delivering what’s expected of you, knock yourself out.”

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A Noisy Office Is A Nuisance–And A Business Opportunity

Valentine Dzvova, the CEO of African Equity Empowerment Investments, strategically navigated rough waters when Covid hit leading to financial growth at a challenging time.



African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI), a fully black-owned and black-controlled investment company situated in southern Africa, faced a turbulent last quarter, but despite this, is probably one of the few in a pandemic-stricken continent that has managed to grow by 44%.



The captain at its helm, Valentine Dzvova, reveals that the strength of the company, majorly focusing on fishing and IT, has been the diversity of its portfolio.



“Having diversity is absolutely vital to weather any storm, with the most recent example being the storm brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Dzvova.



Dzvova, from humble beginnings in Zimbabwe, saw her career scale new heights when she was made Chief Executive Officer of AEEI last year. Having come in when interim results were due and the company’s Chief Financial Officer was leaving, Dzvova dove straight in at the deep end.



“It also helps that I’m not a stranger to AEEI because during my years as an auditor clerk and auditor manager, AEEI was my client as well, so it was almost like rejoining family because they’ve known me from when my career began back in 2007,” she says.



Rising through the ranks at PKF International (a global network of accountancy firms) saw Dzvova familiarizing herself with the likes of AEEI as she was promoted to supervisor and then manager shortly after completing her articles.



Balancing her current role with her home-life has been no easy task, as she states; “I have to be very strategic about how I spend my time, I have to work late at night because you know, during the day, I would have mini emergencies at home that would need my attention, so certainly it has been challenging.”



Dzvova was inspired by ‘career days’ in high school and seeing other girls pursuing accounting inspired her to do the same. She achieved success by completing both board exams successfully in her first attempt while still continuing with her daily workload. Joining AEEI was the culmination of her determination and tenacity.



“The previous CEO and his team did a fantastic job so I joined with there being a very solid foundation already in place,” she says of her predecessor.



Under her leadership, AEEI ensured no jobs were lost during the Covid-19-induced lockdown period as operational costs were streamlined and these practices were also encouraged amongst AEEI’s suppliers and partners.



And about the future, she says: “We are looking at offloading some of our smaller investments so we can really focus on the major ones which are Information Technology and fishing; these are the areas where we feel our strength lies.”



As Dzvova reflects on her growth strategy, she emphasizes the need for one thing – liquidity.



“Cash is king and there has never been a time that this has been more true than right now. With lockdown, businesses weren’t able to trade as normal, so revenue wasn’t coming in but there were still employees and suppliers to pay, so if one didn’t have cash on hand, you were basically dead in the water which is why a lot of businesses closed.”



Dzvova’s expertise, coupled with her business acumen, has seen AEEI grow by 44% and its basic earnings per share increase by 101.3%. It is clear she brings the same enthusiasm for business to everything she believes in.



“Certainly as women, we wear many different hats at the same time and as a result, there is so much more responsibility on us and we just have to work that much harder for everything to fall into place. As women, we have our focus pulled in different directions at different things and it takes a lot of hard work to master this and it’s all the nasty back-ends that no one else sees which is where all this hard work happens,” she says about juggling her multiple roles.

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How to PANDEMIC-PROOF Your Business.

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS ALSO BROUGHT with its opportunities, and according to South Africa-based futurists Graeme Codrington and John Sanei, it’s time to embrace the change and rather see it as a chance to try and rebuild your business, even if it is on the brink of falling apart.



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li>“STOP WAITING FOR THINGS TO GO BACK TO NORMAL, IT’S NOT GOING TO”</li></ol>



Don’t press the “huge pause button” on life. Codrington, a futurist who tracks disruptions through history, states that the era of the coronavirus could be with us longer than we think.



“The disruption that Covid is causing is going to be with us, I think for at least two more years. Even in the best-case scenarios, Africa will only get a vaccine [in 2021]. And it will take a few months, maybe the whole year to produce it, distribute around the world and convince people to take it.”



He adds that even once vaccines are made available, the level of comfort people felt previously doing ‘normal’ stuff every day will change.



“People are going to be nervous to fly, to travel, nervous to go out to restaurants to eat, nervous to go into public spaces. So you know, tourism, entertainment, hospitality is going to really struggle. In any scenario, you know, even the best scenario, you’re going to be struggling.



“So what we’ve got to realize is this deep disruption going on here.”



<ol class="wp-block-list" start="2"><li>“UNDERSTAND SEAMLESSNESS AND YOU CAN BECOME VERY SUCCESSFUL”</li></ol>



Sanei, a futurist who categorizes and contextualizes the future through human instinct, believes that businesses need to find a more seamless way to give consumers what they want. It can be an average idea, but as long as it’s something that could accommodate the consumers of today, who will likely not want to leave the confines of their home, you can be successful.



“The example I will use is Domino’s Pizza,” Sanei explains.



“They may not have the most amazing pizza but they’ve understood seamlessness getting a pizza to you as quickly as possible because they have the Ten Second App.” The basis of understanding seamlessness is understanding what people want, especially during this time.



“And of course, that is going to differ depending on what industry you are in and depending on where you are, but this is where entrepreneurs can step up because the smaller your business is, the more local it is, the easier it is for you to make adjustments and shift and think ‘what can I do for my clients, my customers, what else can I do for them’?” says Codrington.



3. “REINVENT”



It has been reiterated by economists that businesses may have to close their doors and millions of people will find themselves unemployed if they haven’t already. However, futurists are certain that in situations like this, it’s best to either reinvent your business model – or reinvent yourself.



“Any advice I give to entrepreneurs is based on this principle that they must look for a gap. Ask yourself the question ‘what makes you most excited, and what can you bring to the world that’s uniquely yours, what is uniquely, and authentically me?’ And in that process, what we do is we add value to the world based on what we are here to do,” Sanei says.



“This is what every entrepreneur does and knows every single day,” Codrington adds. “If you add real value, and people see the value that you’re adding, they’ll buy from you. And so it obviously isn’t that simple for everybody. Because it’s tough. You know this is a tough economy. It’s a tough situation. But whether it’s tough or easy, that’s the right mindset. ‘What do people need, why should they buy it from me?’ If you ask those two questions and find answers, you’ll get through this.”



4. “GO BACK TO BASICS”



Codrington believes that this would be a perfect time to reeducate yourself on the basic structures of running a business. However, this can only happen after you have accepted that your business has suffered during this time but there is light at the end of the tunnel.



“Because now you basically don’t cry about what could have been any more, but you say ‘what is and what exists now’. That’s what I think distinguishes entrepreneurs from corporate people anyway. Because entrepreneurs get up every morning saying, ‘I’ve got to make something happen today’,” Codrington says. It always comes back to what the consumer needs, and that is the main focus that gives the entrepreneur drive, Codrington says. 



He further adds that during this crisis, adapting your business model to suit the time is what could preserve your business in the long haul. A practical example is how some hotels around the world have turned their businesses into ‘work from home’ offices.



“So they are saying, ‘you can’t go into the office, but you don’t want to be stuck at home, so why don’t you rent a room in our hotel, we’ll give you free bottomless coffee, we’ll give you room service’. You’re comfortable with the hotel. There’s no bed, you’re not sleeping at the hotel. You arrive in the morning. You go into a room, it’ll be your room only,” says Codrington.



5.“LEAVE THE OLD WORLD AND EMBRACE CHANGE”



Business models, such as supply and demand models, are not needed anymore. Having to expect people to walk into a shop and buy something is an old model that needs to be eradicated. Sanei further adds that because the world has “this thing called the internet”, passion for your business is all that is necessary.



“If your business is taking strain, and your business is dying, and you are nervous about it, it means that you haven’t understood a digital-first world. Which means that you haven’t understood that the world we’re going into has new rules attached. You need to understand that if your business is dying, the reason is because it’s not really for this world,” Sanai says.



As daunting as this time may be, endless opportunities await entrepreneurs. What guarantees your success during this time will be your behavior.



“And so the entrepreneurs of the future are the ones that understand that they are the machine, they are the business, and that they are the ones who are going to be making things happen. Not the ones relying on a sector, or a subject or a technology, because you have no idea and cannot guarantee and hedge your bets on anything that’s coming in the future,” Sanei says.

Asian entrepreneur closing business due to Covid-19 outbreak

How The Covid Carnage Can Help Create The Entrepreneurs Of The Future

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Covid-19: Beyond The Lockdown: What Big Business Is Doing Now

On June 1, CNBC Africa celebrates 13 years of relaying boundless stories of economic growth and prosperity on the African continent. It achieved its objective of changing the narrative and continues to do so with relentless reporting in the time of Covid-19.



There are mixed emotions as we celebrate CNBC Africa’s 13th birthday this year. There is untold joy in the reality that we have accomplished so much in the last 13 years. On June 1, 2007, there was a flutter of activity at Sandown Mews in Sandton in Johannesburg, as hundreds of guests came to witness the launch of the first pan-African business news television station.



The channel was born of a dire need to provide the world boundless stories of economic growth and prosperity on the African continent. All that was reported were stories of gloom, doom and despotic leadership; that was not representative of the paradigm shift of an Africa rising. CNBC Africa, under the ABN Group, achieved the objective of changing the narrative and is today a leading voice in telling the African story of economic prosperity; this is validated as we continue to receive glowing tributes from all captains of industry and policy-makers from across the continent.



This glory has not come without its challenges. The industry has evolved more rapidly and has been impacted by technology and the changing consumption patterns of its customers more than most other businesses. It’s indisputable that good and relevant content will always remain king but in order to remain ahead of the curve, the content also needs to be tailored increasingly to the customers’ (viewers) needs on the one hand and the clients’ (advertisers) needs on the other. While internet-delivered content will continue to grow, blended businesses like traditional TV provide an experience that will remain superior to digital-only businesses, as they have both features. The science of content creation and delivery will always be at the cutting-edge of our business.



The welcome change that we are going to witness is the alteration in the distribution models. Internet-based aggregators are likely to grow exponentially and will herald the decline of the monopolistic and highly inefficient subscription business currently prevalent. With further tariff reductions and alliances with telcos, we will see more value provided to customers through competitive pricing models and an equitable distribution of income to content producers, many of who are impaired by the incongruity of the current subscription model.



The current pandemic (Covid-19) has had a devastating impact on the media industry as a whole but on niche broadcasters in particular. On the one hand, media provides an essential service to all citizens by keeping everyone updated, revenue has all but dried up through this period, threatening the existence of a lot of businesses. We have made a humble appeal to all our advertisers and supporters to continue working with and supporting media companies through this crisis. We cannot succeed in our mission without the support of our viewers, advertisers and stakeholders to whom we remain eternally grateful for their backing over this long journey.



No tribute is complete without a thumping appreciation to our team that has worked endlessly to see this dream become a reality. In all parts of the continent, they have adapted to change, met challenges and continued to give their best under the leadership of Roberta Naicker, Sid Wahi, Chris Bishop, Jean Landsberg, Thameshan Sooriah, Fred VandeVyver and Denham Pons. I salute each one of them for their commitment and hard work.



The current crisis will see us coming out stronger, leaner and ready for the ‘new normal’ that awaits us.



– The writer is Founder and Publisher, FORBES AFRICA, and Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, ABN Group

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The Leading Voice In Telling The African Story

Like any self-respecting cult, the Stepchickens follow a strict code of conduct as dictated by their absolute leader, Mother Hen, a comedian named Melissa who posts on TikTok as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@chunkysdead</a>. Mother Hen&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6827103874424376582?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has widely preached</a>&nbsp;a message of peace, telling her 1.7 million TikTok followers: “We do not rule by being cruel, we shine by being kind.” Further, she has asked all Stepchickens to make themselves easily identifiable and make her photo their TikTok profile picture.



Mother Hen has created TikTok’s first “cult.” (Her word.) Boiled down, she is a social media influencer, and the Stepchickens are her fans, just as more famous TikTok influencers—Charli D’Amelio,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@addisonre?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Addison Rae</a>&nbsp;and the like—all have their fanbases. But Mother Hen’s presence and style is quite singular, particularly in the way she communicates with her followers, what she asks them to do and how the Stepchickens respond to her. After all, not every member of the Charli hive use her image as their profile pictures.



“These influencers are looking for a way to build community and figure out how to monetize their community. That&#8217;s the No. 1 most important thing for a creator or an influencer,” says&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/tiffany-zhong/">Tiffany Zhong</a>, cofounder of ZebraIQ, a community and trends platform. “It&#8217;s become a positive for Gen Z, where you&#8217;re proud to be part of this cult—part of this community. They are dying to be part of a community. So it&#8217;s easy to get sucked in.”



Mother Hen, who didn’t return a request to comment for this story, already had a popular comedy vlog-style TikTok account on May 6&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6823732594560027910?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">when she asked</a>&nbsp;her followers to send suggestions for what they could name their cult. From the ideas offered up, she chose Stepchickens, and in the 19 days since, her following has more than doubled. (It was around 700,000 back at the beginning of this month.) She has posted videos&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6825025000567753989?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">about taking edibles</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6826138962034232582?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">her celebrity lookalikes</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6825303907648965893?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">her relationship status</a>&nbsp;(“all this cult power, still no boyfriend”). And perhaps in violation of her first-do-no-harm credo, Mother Hen has implored her followers to embark on “battles” and “raids,” where Stepchickens comment bomb other influencers’ videos, posting messages en masse. She has become the mother of millions: TikTok videos with #stepchickens have generated 102 million views on the app, and her own videos have received 54.6 million likes.



Mother Hen is now concentrating on feathering her nest. She has launched&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stepchickens.com/shop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a large range of merch</a>: smartphone cases ($24), hoodies ($44), t-shirts ($28) and beanies ($28). Corporate sponsorships seem within reach, too. TikTok accounts for the Houston Rockets, Tampa Bay Rays and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6826826102409809158" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one for the</a>&nbsp;Chicago Bulls mascot, Benny, all changed their profile picture to the image distributed by Mother Hen. The Rays sent her a box of swag, addressing the package to “Mother Hen,” of course. She dressed up in the gear (two hats, a fanny pack, a tank top) and recorded herself wearing it&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chunkysdead/video/6830515719269141765" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in a TikTok</a>, a common move by influencers to express gratitude and signal that they’re open to business sponsorship opportunities. Mother Hen has launched a YouTube channel, too, where she’ll earn ad revenue based on the views that her 43,000 subscribers generate by watching her content.



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Then there is the Stepchickens app available on Apple devices. This digital roost is a thriving message feed—it resembles a Slack channel or a Discord server—where Stepchickens congregate, chat and coordinate their raids. They can also use it to create videos, ones “to glorify mother hen,” the app’s instructions read.



The app launched last Monday and has already attracted more than 100,000 users, a benchmark that most apps do not ever see and the best reach within months of starting. Since its debut, it has ranked as high as the ninth most popular social media app in the world on the download charts and in the Top 75 most downloaded across all types of apps. The Stepchickens have traded 135,000 messages, and the app’s most devoted users are spending as long as 10 hours a day on it, says Sam Mueller, the cofounder and CEO of Blink Labs who built the Stepchickens app.



“There&#8217;s this emergence of a more active—a more dedicated—fan base and following. A lot of the influencers on TikTok are kind of dancing around, doing some very broadcast-y type content. Their followers might not mobilize nearly as much as” the Stepchickens, says Mueller. Mother Hen’s flock, by contrast, “feel like they&#8217;re part of something, feel like they&#8217;re connected. They can have fun and be together for something bigger than what they&#8217;re doing right now, which is kind of being at home bored and lonely. There&#8217;s untapped value here.”



&#8211;

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Birds Of A Feather: The Stepchickens Cult On TikTok Is The Next Evolution Of The Influencer Business

For continental traders like Robert Mensah and Nomkhosi Shongwe who sell organic soaps made of cocoa, the border bans induced by the pandemic have meant undelivered products and a backlog of work.



Ghana, the beautiful country in West Africa, famous for its cocoa, is one of the world’s largest exporters of the natural product. The humble bean is also used to make organic black soap, favored by many for its dermatological benefits.



But the current Covid 19-induced lockdown in the country has meant that Accra-based traders like Robert Mensah are not seeing any monetary returns for their esoteric organic cocoa products.



The brand he founded, named Akwaaba, produces and supplies ‘raw African black soap’, organic cocoa butter and even shea butter (another West African specialty) to overseas markets.



Mensah’s entrepreneurial journey had initially even included a stint in South Africa, when he sold djembe drums in the quaint old suburb of Yeoville in Johannesburg, but then, decided to return home to Ghana for good and start selling the soap.



“I left South Africa about three years ago to set up this organic black soap business to sell locally and internationally. The business has been operating for over two years, employing three people; two of assist with packaging and the remaining one is a dispatch driver,” he says.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="768" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Robert-Mensah-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44381" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Robert-Mensah-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Robert-Mensah-300x400.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Robert-Mensah-600x800.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Robert-Mensah-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Robert-Mensah.jpg 810w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /><figcaption>Robert Mensah</figcaption></figure>



Like most other countries in Africa, Ghana too has travel restrictions, so this means Mensah cannot make deliveries to other towns.



“International trading is one of our biggest challenges as all borders and airports are closed.”



Mensah had orders that were meant for overseas deliveries but at the moment, his goods are stuck, although production is ongoing.



“It’s very tough, that is how the world has come to be, for now,” he says.



All he can do, for now, is mentally travel back and forth in time.



In 2018, when his business was still new, he recalls receiving an order online from Nomkhosi Shongwe, a South African curious about his organic skin products.



Shongwe, an advertising professional in Johannesburg, who is now Mensah’s business associate, had been researching organic products when she stumbled upon the black soaps.



“I just saw the benefits of African soap and shea butter online and searched for an African supplier and Mensah’s name popped up. I ordered the soaps to try them out and possibly sell. People liked it and I promoted the business on social media and I now sell it nationally.”



From Ghana to South Africa, her woes are the same as Mensah’s.



She says business has also been slow since the lockdown effected in South Africa from March 27. She is unable to collect the supply delivered prior to the lockdown because of travel restrictions. &nbsp;



“The product is in high demand globally and locally; customers locally have even made deposits in case they run out of money post the lockdown.”



Luckily, Shongwe has another source of income so is not solely reliant on the sales of the organic products.



But the business is dependent on social media promotions, as she regularly posts and educates people about the organic products.



“I am comfortable knowing that the information about the product is out there and whoever searches for skin solutions might come across my page and all the information is there. So the business manages itself while I am still busy with my nine-to-five [other job],” she offers.

Nomkhosi Shongwe

The Dark Patch In The Black Soap Business

A salon owner in the township of Soweto in South Africa laments how she has no option but to dip into her savings and await the relief fund promised by the government after the lockdown.



At a time when self-preservation has become far more important than keeping up with the Joneses, retail establishments offering grooming and hair treatment services have taken the cut, not listed as ‘essential services’ in the 35-day lockdown period in South Africa.



Le Salon is one such, founded by Thembeka Nkosi in South Africa’s sprawling township of Soweto in 2014 after she won a national hair competition, and received R10,000 ($536) in cash and a year’s supply of hair products and equipment, and she started working with major hair brands.



Nkosi was able to grow her business, but the coronavirus pandemic has now derailed all the progress she made.



“The business has been operating for six years and I employ three people paid weekly based on commissions. Now it is very difficult for the employees and myself because if there is no work, there is no income,” laments Nkosi, who is now dipping into her savings to sustain herself.



She urges people to abide by the rules of the lockdown to help flatten the curve, so life can return to normal and people like her can go back to business.



“I had applied for the relief fund promised by the government for small businesses, but the problem is that the money is needed now. We are not open now and not having an income now, but we’ll wait for that money which will help when we reopen, however, the problem is now!”



Before the lockdown, Nkosi had a couple of orders for wigs and is currently working on them.



“Luckily, I had enough stock [hair to make wigs], but even though I can’t deliver them, hopefully, after the lockdown, people will be able to get their hair. I will also lower prices when we reopen and work long hours to generate the money lost.”



Hopefully, she will be able to make up for lost time.

Thembeka Nkosi

Wigs, Weaves And Woes: Beauty Not Priority In Crisis

Sheryl Sandberg has the weight of the world on her shoulders. The chief operating officer of Facebook isn’t just responsible for helping to lead one of the world’s most polarizing companies through a global pandemic, but for the 2.26 billion people who visit its platforms every day. With about one third of the global population at her fingertips, the World Health Organization is counting on the social media giant to help in the fight against COVID-19.



“This crisis is unprecedented,” says Sandberg. “I take my responsibility really seriously.” Just last week, Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/04/coronavirus/#coronavirus-info-center" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched</a>&nbsp;its coronavirus information center, a module at the top of users’ news feeds with real-time updates from the WHO, and on April 9, the organizations partnered on WhatsApp health alerts that will answer frequently asked questions about coronavirus.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Facebook’s recent failures to protect users from data breaches and misinformation are not lost on the tech executive. These missteps, she says, have prepared the company for this very situation. “We have been working towards not just regaining trust but doing the right thing all the way through,” Sandberg says. “We now know what misinformation is and how to find it. We know how to take it down—and we also know we need to rely on other people [like the WHO and CDC], because we can’t get this right ourselves.”



Sandberg also believes that the strength she’s gained through her personal hardships, namely, the death of her husband Dave Goldberg five years ago, have better equipped her to lead through this crisis. “The biggest challenge I ever faced, which dwarfs anything else I ever went through, was losing my husband and losing him very suddenly,” she says. “And that is a totally different thing than what is going on with coronavirus. But there are some similarities in anything that happens suddenly and is a negative event. The work I did for my book,&nbsp;<a href="https://optionb.org/book" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Option B</a>, was all about figuring out what we do in these negative events and how we grow from them,” she explains.&nbsp;



Sandberg says that she, like many Americans, has been inspired by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who in a recent daily briefing, mentioned finding joy in the face of hardship. “Everyone has heard about post traumatic stress disorder,” she says. “But more people actually experience post traumatic growth than PTSD, even though no one has heard of it,” Sandberg adds. The thinking is that traumatic events help us learn and grow. “The surprising conclusion in this is that we can actually improve our lives through the things that are hardest,” says Sandberg. “I learned so much from Dave dying. But my life is very different, and in many ways, there’s really big things I learned, like to find the good and find the community and that through real hardship, you develop strength. If I could give all that learning back to have Dave back, I would—very much, but I can’t.” She adds that even in the darkest of times there are lessons to be learned. “Even in the face of losing my husband, can you find moments of joy? Absolutely. You can and you should. And that is the way we recover and learn from these types of events.”



So far, those lessons seem to have served her well. Facebook, which relies heavily on small businesses for advertising revenue, was among the first of the major tech companies to provide aid. “We talk to small businesses all the time and what they told us they needed [most] was just financial help,” Sandberg says. On March 17, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maneetahuja/2020/03/17/facebook-announces-100-million-grant-for-small-businesses-being-impacted-by-coronavirus/#1d8b21524d4c">announced</a>&nbsp;$100 million in grants for small businesses. As of Saturday April 11, the company had already received over half a million emails of interest in the program. Of the $100 million, $40 million will be allocated to 10,000 small businesses in the U.S. across 34 cities, with 50% being reserved for women, minority and veteran-owned businesses.&nbsp;The other $60 million will be distributed to small business owners throughout the world.



“Everyone is concerned about the effects of coronavirus, but women and women of color are much more disproportionately affected,” Sandberg says, citing new&nbsp;<a href="https://leanin.org/article/the-coronavirus-is-a-financial-crisis-for-women" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a>&nbsp;by her Lean In initiative, which finds employed women are nearly twice as likely as their male counterparts to not be able to pay for necessities for more than a month if they lost their personal income. “It’s like everything else, women are the backbone of our families and communities and women get hit hardest.”



The company is also working with the U.S. Small Business Administration to send notifications encouraging an estimated 30 million small business owners around the nation to apply for relief loans. While one third of U.S. small businesses don’t have a website, most have Facebook pages, putting the platform in a unique position to get the word out.&nbsp;



“Small business&nbsp;is&nbsp;our business,” Sandberg says. “We have 140 million small businesses around the world that use our products every single day and our goal is to help them get through this.”&nbsp;To that end, the tech behemoth has rolled out various tools to support small businesses during this unique time, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/business" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">digital gift cards</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/fundraisers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fundraisers</a>&nbsp;and easier ways for businesses to communicate service changes to their customers.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5e95b21301879f0006d28805/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Sheryl Sandberg meets with small business owners in London earlier this year. "/><figcaption>Sheryl Sandberg meets with small business owners in London earlier this year.&nbsp;FACEBOOK</figcaption></figure>



According to a recent <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/10000-small-businesses/US/no-time-to-waste/" target="_blank">survey</a> by Goldman Sachs, 96% of small business owners report having been impacted by COVID-19, while more than half say they will not be able to operate their business beyond three months. Sandberg believes social media can help. “We’re seeing amazing things happen because businesses can’t do business the way they normally do,” Sandberg says. “So on the one hand, some businesses need to shut but on the other hand, some businesses can pivot.” 



<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Leanne.MagicArtsStudio/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Magic Arts Studio</a>, for example, a Morrisville, Pennsylvania, arts and crafts business, has embraced online learning, with its teachers offering free classes via Facebook Live. Sandberg’s favorite example is Bristol, England-based&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thismumruns.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">This Mum Runs</a>, an e-commerce business that started as a Facebook group for running enthusiasts that has recruited more than 250 volunteers to make grocery and pharmacy deliveries for those in need.&nbsp;“This Mum Runs is an organization that has community and purpose baked into its DNA,&#8221; says Mel Bound, founder and CEO of This Mum Runs. &#8220;These are the things that have enabled us to respond quickly and in a meaningful way to the crisis affecting us all—to support those most in need whilst keeping our community safe and active.&#8221; As small businesses around the world face an uncertain path forward, businesses like these may serve as inspiration for others to find innovative ways to operate in this new normal.&nbsp;“This is people rejuvenating their own businesses, shifting their businesses online and reaching people in a different way,” Sandberg says. “And so I do think there’s very much a new Main Street happening right now.”



Small businesses are not the only ones Facebook is trying to actively support. Last month, Facebook launched its Business Resource Hub, featuring resources and recommendations to help all businesses stay connected and on track, as well as direct access to credible information about COVID-19 to help them stay informed. This past week, the company launched a series of “vertical playbooks”, or resiliency guides for businesses like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/resource/restaurants?lead_source=business-resource-hub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">restaurants and cafes</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/resource/retail?lead_source=business-resource-hub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">retail</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/resource/salonandspa?lead_source=business-resource-hub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">salons and spas</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/resource/fitness?lead_source=business-resource-hub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fitness and recreation centers</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/resource/partners?lead_source=business-resource-hub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partners and agencies</a>&nbsp;and even&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/solutions/coronavirus-resources" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">media and publishers</a>.&nbsp;



Whether or not Facebook’s efforts will make a difference for small businesses, only time will tell. The same can be said for the company’s attempts to earn back people’s trust. “I’m not saying people have always understood this but we’ve actually been trying to do the right thing all along,” explains Sandberg. “When the mistakes happened, we certainly didn’t do them on purpose and we looked to fix them as quickly as possible. And I think we did act responsibly, all the way through. Now it may be that people are able to see things differently because the world has shifted so dramatically. But our approach is to always do the right thing and to make sure we address the problems and look to prevent the next one,” Sandberg says. “And that’s the same approach we’ve had all along.”



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maneetahuja/">Maneet Ahuja</a>, Forbes Staff.

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Exclusive: Sheryl Sandberg On Leading Through Crisis And Facebook’s Efforts To Save American Businesses

Tshepo Phiri has had to shut down his branding and printing business but is turning to online marketing to pay his bills during the lockdown.  



Riding motorbikes as a hobby and having a passion for visuals led to Tshepo Phiri from Mabopane, a township in the north of Pretoria in South Africa, to found Prodigy Studios in 2016, a video and photography business that soon expanded to branding, printing and social media marketing for mostly the motorsports industry. &nbsp;



During the three-week lockdown imposed by South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, Phiri’s small business has also been affected – he has closed shop and hopes good times will roll again. &nbsp;&nbsp;



“The lockdown hasn’t been good to us; we feel the effect of the virus. Suppliers have increased prices and we on the other hand couldn’t suddenly increase ours, because of the current orders we had already been busy with. We just had to take the fall for it.”



Young Phiri, nonetheless, understands the need for the lockdown, but says that with the whole world panicking and stock markets crashing, who will pay attention to small entrepreneurs like him?



“I can say I am fortunate enough to have the likes of MFE Motors and Ducati South Africa as my clients. I am busy with a large order I had received prior to the shutdown which I’m currently finishing, but again, the lockdown might come as a hindrance to delivering and that may obviously have its effects on getting paid on time,” he rues.



But it’s not a losing battle yet for Phiri; he runs social media pages for clients on month-to-month contractual agreements and is using that income to help him survive this period.



The motorbikes are parked away and silent, and so too the engines of the economy.

Tshepo Phiri

‘We Feel The Effect Of The Virus’: This Entrepreneur is Turning To Online After Business Shutdown

Some of these fads were slowly building in the previous decade, others are still nascent, but need your full attention to prepare your business for the times ahead.



1. AI and machine learning



Key takeaway: Automate repetitive tasks, but be wary of automating inefficiencies and biases.



You’re surrounded by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning: from the recommendations Netflix makes based on your viewing history to those pesky adverts that track you around the internet. As Bronwyn Williams, a trend analyst at Flux Trends in South Africa, explains, “Most of what you think is AI is actually machine learning.” Williams emphasizes that fears about AI “stealing jobs” are overrated, and most businesses will see the arduous, repetitive tasks given to machines, freeing up humans for analysis and critical thinking. She warns businesses to remember it’s the human interaction that differentiates one offering from another. “Don&#8217;t automate away your value. Look under the hood and make sure you understand why you are automating something – and be careful not to automate inefficiencies.” Looking at automated HR processes, companies have discovered that even unconscious human biases are learned by machines (for example, CVs belonging to certain genders and races are discredited. Machines are not born neutral – especially if they’re learning from humans.) Embrace machine learning, but do so with a pinch of salt.



2. Driverless cars and the supply chain



Key takeaway: Autonomous cars are still about 15 years away, but it’s best to prepare your fleet and supply chain choice now.



The automotive industry is going through some major changes: electric cars, the growth of services like Uber and Lift, and lastly, the development of autonomous vehicles. Though the first two will impact everyday consumer experiences, it’s self-driving cars that will massively alter businesses and their supply chains across Africa in the next decade. “As convenience and efficiency are the cornerstones of the fleet industry, there is no doubt self-driving vehicles will start making a play for their share of the fleet industry sooner rather than later,” explains Sudesh Pillay on fleet management company EQSTRA’s online platform. The supply chain will no longer be affected by driver fatigue and human error. Driverless cars will also dramatically impact accident rates (lowering them by 90%, according to some estimates) and supply chain efficiency. As Innovation Group’s Future Now report indicates, autonomous cars face some serious challenges across Africa before they can become a practical alternative to human drivers. “There is a vision, in the not-too-distant future, in which self-driving cars hold a lot of promise…. Others are more skeptical about the practical feasibility, especially in Africa where the infrastructural limitations (roads, electricity etc.) hold back the vision, at least in the foreseeable future. Our research indicates that self-driving cars may only become a reality in South Africa in [15] or more years and that this may spur innovative advances in infrastructure, energy services and ultimately the look and feel of roads and cities.”



3. Climate crises and



natural disasters



Key takeaway: Hire a Chief Sustainability Officer to



start building climate resilience into your business.



“Now is the time to start thinking seriously about resilience,” says Hugh Tyrrell, Director at Green Edge, a corporate mentoring initiative in Cape Town that helps businesses develop sustainably. “The big brands have Chief Sustainability Officers (CSO). This role is in the C-suite and is forward-thinking,” Tyrell explains. CSOs look at how businesses can start developing their own power, lower their eco-footprint and manage their resources better. Looking to the big corporate trendsetters, there are some major shifts in corporate strategy focusing on a sustainable business model instead of growth at all costs. Unilever, for example, is holding their suppliers to the same eco-friendly standards that they themselves are working at, says Tyrrell. Natural disasters associated with the climate crisis are already affecting African businesses too. Explains Tyrrell, “In agriculture, which is a big sector in Africa, we are seeing the effect of droughts or floods. Others have to work more closely with their suppliers to ensure supplies come in good condition and on time.” Mining is another industry heavily impacted by the climate crisis – and the push by consumers for more environmental-friendly solutions.&nbsp;



4. The age of cyberattacks and data breaches



Key takeaway: Make sure your IT department includes



skilled data protection specialists.



As businesses innovate and rely less on physical hardware like servers, and start instead relying on the cloud, they can expect to see a massive uptick in cyberattacks and subsequent data breaches. This trend increased exponentially in 2019 (even the City of Johannesburg in South Africa was held by ransomware) and is set to explode in the coming decade. Added to this, businesses are collecting more data than ever before, particularly for marketing purposes and to tailor their product offerings. Because of this, businesses should prepare themselves for the onslaught by firstly, taking their online security very seriously, secondly, training their staff (employees are the weakest link in any security chain) and thirdly, putting more budget behind appropriate security measures. “The demand for narrow cybersecurity expertise is driven by a constantly changing threat landscape, as well as evolving technologies, such as cloud or IoT. As a result, we see the bigger demand in, for example, threat intelligence analysts and dedicated threat intelligence services, and experts for cloud platform protection. The call for data protection specialists is seen in both technical and regulatory and compliance aspects,” says Alexander Moiseev, Chief Business Officer at online security software Kaspersky.



5. The remote workforce



Key takeaway: Flexi-hours and working remotely are practical ways to combat challenges like loadshedding and traffic.



With intermittent power supply (particularly in South Africa), increasing traffic and less reliance on physical IT infrastructure like servers, the remote and flexible workforce is becoming a norm. Says Moiseev, “The working model is already being changed, with 40% of small and medium companies regularly allowing their employees to work at locations outside the office — from home or while traveling.” In addition, health scares like the coronavirus are amplifying these trends. “Apps that enable remote working are having a moment,” explains Williams. “You now get filters to add makeup to video conferences so you don’t have to dress up when you’re working from home.” Many employees expect the flexibility of remote working when job hunting, and businesses reap the benefits of agility.  



-Samantha Steele

Computing and malware concept

The Five Trends To Future-Proof Your Business

The historic Vilakazi Street in South Africa is now eerily quiet. With the lockdown, small entrepreneurs here like Sifiso Moyo are pondering new ways to resuscitate life into the precinct.



Sifiso Moyo is the co-founder of The Box Shop in one of South Africa’s most historic tourist hubs.



The lifestyle and retail outlet he founded with his business partner, Bernard Msimango, is on Vilakazi Street, known for being the only street that has famously housed two Nobel Peace Prize winners, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in South Africa’s township of Soweto in Johannesburg.



Even before South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the national lockdown from March 27, Moyo says he had been seeing dwindling visitors to the street and The Box Shop.



South Africa had confirmed its first Covid-19 case on March 5.&nbsp;



“The street is literally on lockdown. All businesses, especially formal establishments, have ceased operations, however, businesses that will survive on Vilakazi Street post the pandemic are those that didn’t invest [much] in attracting and appealing to international tourists,” says Moyo.



The Box Shop will need to start dropping prices, he adds, to attract more locals to the outlet.



“We need to position the street as a destination that is futuristic, cutting-edge and tourism-friendly, especially to the locals. So we are strategizing, decreasing our prices, marketing ourselves aggressively to the locals and addressing ourselves as a destination of choice.”



Moyo predicts it will take four months for global tourism to return to normal, but will South Africa be one of the preferred destinations?



“We at The Box Shop and some operations on Vilakazi have positioned ourselves so well that we appeal to the locals too, but looking at the economic impact of the virus, we have less cash circulating in the market and that affects all of us. So as a precinct, we have to start thinking differently,” he says.



The Box Shop has taken the lead in integrating technology into its operations, developing an app for the upcoming Youth Day; a South African public holiday in June. The app shares the Vilakazi Street experience and allows people to book tables and make advance payments for the event.



All this, only if the coronavirus has been brought under control by then.



For the period of the lockdown, the shop is not trading, and Moyo says they too are applying for a relief fund from the government.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We are feeling the effects, we really need subsidy from government, otherwise there is a threat that the entire precinct might shut down and it will need to be resuscitated and re-established which will mean all the 20 years of effort that has been put in to develop the street will go down the drain,” he laments.



For now, responding to the situation using technology and some clever marketing seems to be the only way forward for most small businesses like The Box Shop.

Founders of The Box Shop Bernard Msimango and Sifiso Moyo; pic supplied

A Famous Street Falls Silent: Luring Locals Only Way After The Lockdown

It was
recently reported by ratings agency S&amp;P Global that the coronavirus
outbreak has plunged the world into a recession. On the home front, a sudden
surge in COVID-19 cases in the country resulted in the President of South
Africa imposing a 21-day country-wide lockdown, starting from Thursday, 26 March
2020. Combine this with the fact that the country also recently announced to be
in its third recession since 1994 it’s safe to say that many businesses are
beginning to feel the effects of the pandemic.



The impact of the coronavirus on small
businesses is likely to be substantial, especially for local businesses who are
already feeling the pinch, as financial and market uncertainty can easily
translate into an emotional crisis that can overwhelm our systems. However,
help is on the way as the Department of Small Business Development announced
that a Debt Relief Fund has been set up to assist small, medium and micro
enterprises impacted by COVID-19.



While this
relief is welcomed, it is still vital for leaders to step up. The
world has been through crises before, but during these significantly difficult
times, the economic impact may be as severe or possibly worse. As such, those
in leadership positions must use past crises as examples and apply what was
learnt to keep the country on course and minimise the impact of the pandemic.



Karl Westvig,
CEO at<a href="http://www.retailcapital.co.za/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> </a><a href="http://www.retailcapital.co.za/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Retail Capital</a>, has pinpointed the visible areas that are affected
and outlined a few pointers to help small business owners weather the storm.



Liquidity



The first
victim of panic is liquidity – banks, asset managers and funders stop lending.
When they cannot calculate the potential risk, they will not lend.&nbsp; Therefore,
it is critical to shore up cash by drawing down on available facilities and
suspending any unnecessary investments. Reduce expenses and manage cash flow
daily.



Get Your Best
Team on It



When a
business is growing, we tend to shift our best people into roles linked to
growth and new initiatives. In a crisis, these people need to move into the
highest priority roles. These roles would include collecting from customers,
raising facilities or engaging key clients.



Morale and
Communication



People need
leadership. This would include authentic and regular communication about the
situation, what the business requires and how this will be achieved. You can’t
control the circumstances, but you can control the response and actions. This
will create more certainty. 



Hands-on



Events evolve
quickly and every day is critical. Leaders must be hands-on. They have to be in
touch with customers, suppliers, funders and staff. They have to collect data
on everything – the mood, the financial metrics, even customer stories. Some of
the best information is anecdotal, not just big data. 



Policies



It’s tough to
lead when you don’t understand all the underlying levers. These can change in a
crisis. What worked in a stable environment can go out of the window in an
instant. The best approach is to start again, listen to customers and then
adapt your policies within your framework.



“This is not a manual on how to handle the current crisis, but hopefully, the points mentioned above can add to what you are already doing. In simple terms, it is easy to be overwhelmed, so tackle a few things very quickly and with commitment. This will create certainty and lead to action. The alternative is paralysis,” concludes Westvig.

Businessman holds SMEs Small to Medium Enterprises.

5 Tips For SMEs To Counter The Covid-19 Crisis

As coronavirus cases have surged, so have the number of companies asking their employees to work from home, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en-US/News/2020/03/north-american-companies-take-steps-to-protect-employees-from-coronavirus-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">46% of American businesses</a>&nbsp;having implemented remote-work policies as of mid-February. While telecommuting has become more mainstream in recent years—the remote workforce grew 159% between 2005 and 2017—when just&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/flexjobs-gwa-report-remote-growth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">3.4% of Americans work from home</a>&nbsp;at least half of the time, it’s not unreasonable to think that many of the employees who have been asked to work from home due to the coronavirus may have little to no experience doing so, or at least not for an extended period of time.



Whether you’re a first-time telecommuter struggling to be as productive from your couch as you are from your cube, or a manager looking for ways to keep your newly remote team engaged, here’s everything you need to know about working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. We’ll be adding to this guide as the situation develops, so check back for updates.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">How To Work From Home</h3>



As the coronavirus has continued to spread, some of the world’s biggest businesses have asked employees to work from home. But if you’re working remotely for an extended period of time, how can you ensure that you’re just as productive from your couch as you are from your cube? <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenmenabney/2020/03/06/what-you-need-to-know-to-start-working-from-home/">These six tips</a> may be key to your success.



Many organizations have encouraged their workers to curb, if not cancel, business trips. If yours hasn’t, you may be wondering whether your boss can <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomspiggle/2020/03/06/can-employees-refuse-to-travel-out-of-fear-of-contracting-the-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/#4fc6f4a61eef">make you travel during an outbreak</a>. The short answer: Maybe. 



If you can’t telecommute and have to miss work due to being quarantined, can you lose your job?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomspiggle/2020/02/26/the-coronavirus-keeping-your-job-if-you-get-quarantined/">Here’s what you need to know</a>&nbsp;about your rights.



March is typically a strong hiring month, but as COVID-19 continues to spread, the job market may experience a slowdown. Whatever you do, don’t abandon your search—<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kourtneywhitehead/2020/03/01/3-things-you-need-to-know-about-a-march-job-search/">heed this advice</a> to achieve the best possible outcome.



If you’re a member of the class of 2020, with just weeks to go until graduation, chances are you’ve got more than a few questions about how, if at all, the coronavirus may affect your job hunt.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/03/10/how-recent-college-graduates-can-successfully-interview-in-a-covid-19-world/">Here’s what you need to know</a>.&nbsp;



Hiring may slow down, but it’s not likely to come to a grinding halt. There will always be a demand for top talent, even in a down market, and if you’re responsive to potential employers, open to alternative arrangements and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecenizalevine/2020/03/08/how-to-keep-your-job-search-going-when-hiring-slows-down/">follow these steps</a>, you’ll be better equipped to keep your search alive.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">How To Manage A Remote Team</h3>



As COVID-19 forces employers to embrace remote work, leaders have found themselves faced with a unique challenge: engaging employees from afar.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2020/03/02/what-managers-need-to-know-as-coronavirus-expands-our-remote-workforce/">Here’s how to get started</a>.



Despite the widespread adoption of telecommuting, remote-work advocates aren’t necessarily celebrating. Going remote may seem simple, but without the proper processes in place, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2020/03/05/ironically-remote-work-advocates-warn-companies-about-covid-19-work-from-home-strategies/">experts warn that such arrangements can have serious consequences</a> for companies.



In times of uncertainty, people look to their leaders for answers. But you don’t have to know everything about COVID-19 to effectively address your team’s concerns—what you do need is a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloedemrovsky/2020/03/03/why-the-business-impact-of-the-coronavirus-will-linger-and-what-to-do-about-it/">crisis communications plan</a>.



Leaders would also do well to stick to the facts and avoid any absolutes, exaggerations or otherwise emotive language. In other words, don’t say <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2020/03/08/ten-words-leaders-should-avoid-when-discussing-coronavirus-with-their-employees/">these 10 things</a>.



The bottom line: Keep calm. Panic is contagious, but so is courage, and by following<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/margiewarrell/2020/03/08/leading-through-coronavirus-how-those-in-charge-can-navigate-the-uncertainty-with-calm--courage/"> these six steps</a>, you’ll be better equipped to lead through tumultuous times.



&#8211; <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/vickyvalet/">Vicky Valet</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/careers">Careers</a>

Tag: Business

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