Prioritise investment in technology

What you need to know:

If SMEs do not adopt new technologies, they will stand little to no chance of survival in the future.

Uganda’s economic growth has been mainly attributed to the influence of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that contribute above 25 per cent of the country’s GDP and makeup over 70 per cent of the economy. SMEs in Uganda are established across various industry sectors – agriculture, real estate, tourism and hospitality, mining, trade and services, and information technology.

SMEs are mainly operating by brick and mortar processes and this has hindered the realisation of their full potential. One of the major reasons that still hamper the progress of SMEs is access to capital. This has affected business growth and expansion which in turn has kept many SMEs in the brick and mortar phase for a long time and unfortunately led to the collapse of many.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, most SMEs comfortably had face to face or physical contact with customers and suppliers. But with the outbreak of Covid-19 and the need to ensure safety and social distancing, SMEs have had to limit physical contact and reduce the number of people operating in certain processes. Some of SMEs that were heavily reliant on physical interaction are now struggling with remote working and keeping up with meeting the Standard Operating Procedures that have been put in place. Those that had adopted some technological changes in their businesses have partly found it easy to continue with the business transformation.

For SMEs to survive in the new age of doing business, there is a need to invest in the technological transformation which is increasingly becoming a priority. The integration of new technologies and processes require financial investments and altering business processes to make way for the new resources. Investments in new technologies can also enable businesses to explore venturing into the creation of new products or make changes to their existing products.

Technology has softened the impact of the pandemic on some businesses. If SMEs do not adopt new technologies, they will stand little to no chance of survival in the future.

If SMEs are to survive and realise growth, there is a need to explore partnerships to attract ready capital. One such avenue is the Investment Club option which allows a group of like-minded people to pool resources towards the running of a business/investment. Additional perks include; access to proper management, financial advice and capital from financial institutions because of the organisation that comes with the investment clubs.       

Invest in tech

New technologies.

The integration of new technologies and processes require financial investments and altering business processes to make way for the new resources. Investments in new technologies can also enable businesses to explore venturing into the creation of new products or make changes to their existing products.

The author is  the BDE Clubs and SACCOs.