The Kenyan economy has struggled during the current difficult situation on Covid-19. With a further increase in national restrictions, businesses have struggled to maintain their revenues, let alone think about expansion and new markets.
The latest World Bank economic analysis for Kenya projected the economy to contract by between 1.0 percent and 1.5 percent in 2020, as ongoing COVID-19 containment measures and behavioral responses restrict activity in Kenya and its trading partners.
Source: World Bank
One in three Kenyan workers are employed by firms facing high risk of temporary or permanent closure and reduced revenues, highlighting the vulnerability of household incomes.
Source: World Bank
How can we help?
In such a turbulent environment, one may wonder what value operations excellence and operations consulting could bring to their firm.
There are several benefits of using an operations service, and we chose to focus on 3 key areas in this article:
1 – Adapt
“When you ask people, ‘What’s the opposite of fragile?,’ they tend to say robust, resilient, adaptable, solid, strong. That’s not it. The opposite of fragile is something that gains from disorder.”
Nassib Nicholas Taleb
The ability to be adaptable and flexible is going to be key to successes that want to walk out of the pandemic still surviving. With experience spanning several markets and industries, OpsCon can help you adapt your business, whether that means thinking about new product lines, or about new ways to market your existing products.
2 – SOPs
The current down time might be a good opportunity to think about legacy and historic processes that you have wanted to improve and make more efficient in your business.
SOPs, Standard Operating Practices, are a great way to bring order to chaotic processes. Typically difficult to implement in running business conditions, the quiet period is a good time to engage with your teams, identify failure modes that you would like to address (think things like stock processes, accounting and reporting) and improve, and work together to achieve a more streamlined business.
With 35+ years of experience in SOPs, we’d be happy to lend a helping hand.
3 – Data Analysis
This might be a good opportunity to use our expertise in data analysis and identify any trends and gaps. For example, with a particular focus on identifying non-moving stock, we can work with you to define strategies and clearance policies. By running through your data, we may be able to provide key metrics on areas to focus more on, areas to keep growing in, and areas within your business that need some further development (which, by working together with you, we will be able to help with too!)
Get in touch with us to discuss how we can help you reinvent your business to seize new opportunities.