The Corvus | August 2018
overhaul of services or well enshrined operational structures , for small businesses it often entails not so much than “ a tweak here and a turn there ” in terms of their business plan or the direction adopted by the business owner . This is a good thing for small business owners , who , although may have started their ventures as a basic means of tackling personal unemployment , could transform it into a sustainable enterprise that can create long term value . The challenge then is , how do small businesses leverage connectivity to remain sustainable well into the future ? The answer is best illustrated by the practices of the past .
The difference between now and what is increasingly the past is that , whilst the latter involved finding somewhere - either in a village square or in an ultra-modern international market - to connect with customers , the former entails creating the sort of value that would be so relevant , customers would seek to , and can , connect to us , wherever we may be . Hence , with the advent and rapid penetration of the internet - and the internet of things - the business plan of small businesses no longer have to depend on a physical location for connectivity , they already have it , rather , they must now seek to create the sort of value that transcends proximity in the same way that the internet and mobile technology , which is our new source of connectivity , has . Connectivity as a source of competitive advantage is not a new concept . In fact , it is as age-old as man ’ s venture into commerce .
The e-Commerce sector has a great deal of good examples of small businesses creating the aforementioned value . From single room retail outlets that offer home delivery of goods to office-less service providers that offer to satisfy customer needs wherever they may be , these small businesses demonstrate the premium on value that the age of connected systems demands . Yet , putting up contact details and a few pictures of what it does isn ’ t enough to declare a small business and “ positioned for the future ”, which is why platforms like the SME Markethub , which maximizes the value created by individual businesses by pooling them together , serve a very important purpose . And even then , this alone is not enough . If small businesses in Nigeria are to become enterprises positioned for the future and capable of creating value in the long term , then they would not only have to get online , but also adopt a business model that constantly demands innovation with regards to what to serve customers , and indeed , how to serve customers . This way , the ever present risk of being put out of business would be drastically reduced whilst achieving the need to stay in touch with ever evolving customer needs
7 Advertising the Future