No matter which part of the African continent once it’s an electioneering period from large to small businesses start to experience a shift in customer purchasing behavior and investors being reluctant to venture into new investments.
Remember that the person who gets to be the President determines the future of your business this comes from the taxes, agreements, policies or bills that get to be implemented within his term in office.
In the time of posting this article it will be 21 days to the Kenyan General Elections which occurs after every five years. Through my interactions with micros small medium enterprises(MSMEs) owners one thing that stands out is the uncertainty that comes with the elections and most are on the let’s wait and see mode which I like to call “energy saving mode” operating with bear minimum costs just to get through this period.
As a consumer this is no different currently the cost of goods has really gone up and as of June 2022 Kenya’s inflation rate is at 7.9% up from 7.1% in May 2022 (source: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics). When consumers have limited purchasing power it has a direct impact to small businesses which do not have large capital reserve like the large businesses to get them through.
Which pegs the question how are Kenyan small businesses supposed to cope during an election period?
Here are some suggested approaches:
1. Create a plan
With the elections happening every 5 years it’s good practice to have a plan can be 3-5 years that includes the amount of savings you require to carry you through during this period, the business model to use in the event of increase of production costs, fuel prices or even introduction of taxes an example: The Finance Act 2022 imposed a 10 percent excise duty on the importation of cellular phones in addition to Sh50 excise duty on every imported ready-to-use SIM card. This shall lead to increase of mobile phone prices.
2. Automate your business operations
Covid-19 was a major wakeup call on how businesses operate be it large or small. It’s becoming more of a requirement than an option for small businesses to embrace technology in their day today operations.
As a small business owner this could mean automating your record keeping ,having a customer and supplier database which could be of help whatever the political outcome. Worth noting is also the consumers purchasing behavior changed most started embracing online purchases as a small business are you active on social media (social commerce). You can to automate your payroll and invoice generation as well.
3. Talk to your employees
If you have employees talk to them as they are human, they have their own fears and doubts as well despite smiling and serving your customers.
How well can you boost their morale during this period? There challenging seasons in business and the political season is one of the many your employees need to feel heard, consider your management style, create a conducive communication channel how the election tends to affect the business and their compensation be open to working out formula that they are part of.
Quoting Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group “take care of your employees and they’ll take care of your business”
Feel free to add more comment and share your thoughts on the same.
