Business owners should be aware of competition and its impact on the success of their business. They should study the market and learn to do things differently to position their business. Finding out who the big players, small players are and how many, will help them plan better and take hard decisions
By Nwokolo Charles Ike
Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises are one of the driving forces in Nigeria’s economy. They create jobs, empower the poor, and promote economic growth and enhance the production of goods and services. Despite their capacity to create jobs, wealth and social empowerment, they face enormous challenges of poor infrastructure, Power, and regulations etc. Under this present economic conditions, there are needs for these Entrepreneurs to pay greater attention to the running of their business, handling their finances and managing people.
Innovate
They should think their business, innovate and find a better way of doing things. They should improve their revenue stream by identifying various sources of Income. They should know how to attract and win more business and solve business problems.
Budgeting for essential needs
They should plan for their needs by forecasting their monthly revenue, costs and other expenses and expressed #them in form budgeted profit and loss Account and cash flow statement. Monitoring the budget to prevent frivolous spending, wastefulness and mismanagement of scarce resources will yield a rewarding outcome.
It is vital to have plan and regular review of operations and compare performance weekly, monthly or quarterly to see how far the business is doing, whether or not the business is making progress as planned
Management and financial skills
Entrepreneurs must understand their obligations as business owners and provide the right leadership to move their business forward. They should determine the hours of work they put in and build network of professional advisers to provide guidance on best way to manage people, finances, customer relationship in order to drive the business and ensure future growth.
Considering Competitors
Business owners should be aware of competition and its impact on the success of their business. They should study the market and learn to do things differently to position their business. Finding out who the big players, small players are and how many, will help them plan better and take hard decisions, whether or not they can play on service delivery, quality or price to get their business running profitably.
Keeping Records and preparing financial statements.
It essential for Entrepreneurs to regularly prepare financial Statements to evaluate performance. Keeping adequate records and providing reliable and timely information on key operation metrics, periodic spending, customers’ needs and preferences, cost-benefit analysis enhance economic decision making.
Review of Operation and seeking Improvement.
It is vital to have plan and regular review of operations and compare performance weekly, monthly or quarterly to see how far the business is doing, whether or not the business is making progress as planned and if not to find out what remedial action should be taken to arrest ugly development.
Salary for Entrepreneur
An Entrepreneur should plan to pay himself or herself Salary by approving monthly Income and make regular payment to his or her personal Account. This will make it easy to separate business expenses and promote financial discipline and prudent management of business funds.
It is hope that all these will help in understanding of some issues with SMEs and processes of handling them to make progress.
•Consultant, cinwokolo@gmail.com
08030599774.
