Uncertainty and business do not do well together. The global pandemic has resulted in a range of uncertainties around health, economic and social issues. Sound business principles are built on reliability, consistency and predictability. As we are currently experiencing, the absence of these will have a direct impact on your business. You may realise [...]
Sales are the channel that delivers the recurring cash flow vital for the survival of the business. No business can survive without selling – even not-for-profit companies and NGOs have to convince someone to make use of their products or services and convince the donors or sponsors of the worthiness of the cause. In [...]
We’ve all heard the phrase: “Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, cash is reality.” You need cash to buy goods and services, to pay your suppliers as agreed, to pay salaries, wages and taxes and to service loans. You also need cash for growth and expansion. Cash is vital for the survival of any [...]
I don’t like the word “workers” when referring to employees. To me, it feels a little demeaning, not recognising them for the invaluable role they play in your business. The 5Ms of resources required for business (being Material, Machines, Money, inforMation and Manpower) are all managed by people. This is the one real differentiator [...]
Freedom is widely regarded as the ability to make your own choices, to set your own course. As it happens, though, you cannot always do as you please and go where you want. Don't we know that too well right now? To feel like breaking out, I would sometimes do stuff that gave me [...]
It is interesting to observe human behaviour during the lockdown in South Africa and around the world. On the one hand, people went into shopping frenzies. Panic buying toilet paper and hand sanitiser, then board games and educational material, and as of late barber tools and hair dye. Others got up to all sort [...]
"Investing in management means building communication systems, business processes, feedback, and routines that let you scale the business and team as efficiently as possible." - WE Deming Sodwana Bay is a relatively short distance from Eswatini, and every ever so often we would shoot down for a scuba diving weekend. Regardless of the festivities [...]
We live in an age of constant distractions. People are paid to grab and keep your attention; they make money off selling your face-time to others. Whereas previously television, newspapers and magazines simply delivered an audience to advertisers on their terms, the levels of sophistication to engage and retain viewers have evolved exponentially. Smartphones [...]
“Business is a coward, it runs away from any uncertainty”. AT Dlamini, respected businessman and previous Prime Minister of Eswatini, made this statement in the early noughties while we were negotiating a business deal. And this rings true to this day. The uncertainty around the coronavirus has not only led to stock markets around [...]
