This week has seen an uptick in economic activity as restaurants, casinos, nail bars, hair salons join essential services and other businesses that have been allowed to open previously.
Saleem Sonday, Head of Group Savings and Investments at Allan Gray says, “While this is the first necessary step that aims to lessen the heavy blow of COVID-19 on businesses, many will continue to be under severe threat, whether from reduced trade, or severe cash flow shortages.”
Sonday adds that the road of recovery for businesses amidst an economic backdrop of rising unemployment, continued retrenchments and increasing costs, will not be easy. While the economic toll on businesses as a result of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown is yet to be calculated, looking forward, many business owners are still concerned for their future.
“Conversations by business owners are underpinned by uncertainty, with many worrying how they are going to survive, how they are going to support staff and put food on the table for their families. Many simply don’t know what decisions to make,” he says.
Data captured at a recent Allan Gray webinar, in which 370 business owners participated confirms this. Around 65% of attendees indicated that they had either temporarily shutdown or permanently closed their businesses as a result of the lockdown, with one-third of these businesses employing between 11 and 50 people.
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses will undoubtedly linger for months to come. Business owners need to focus on what measures they can adopt to ensure that their businesses survive and thrive during COVID-19 and beyond,” says Sonday.
To this end, Allan Gray is inviting all business owners to join their free, 10-part, interactive business webinar series, “Survive and thrive”. Over the next few months, various thought leaders and business experts will present a blueprint of strategies via the series that business owners can tap into to boost their business’s longevity and help it reach its full potential. The first four webinars will cover:
Webinar 1: Fight or flight – deciding the next steps for your business
Date: 26 June 2020
Time: 10:00
Speakers: Tony Manning: Independent business strategy specialist and Anthony Leeming: Sun International Group CEO
Webinar 2: Financing your business beyond relief funding
Date: 17 July 2020
Time: 10:00
Speakers: David Hurwitz: Transaction Capital CEO
Webinar 3: Leveraging innovation and technology for a strong recovery
Date: 31 July 2020
Time: 10:00
Speakers: Musa Kalenga: Author, marketer, and entrepreneur and Carl Wazen: Yoco co-founder
Webinar 4: A business playbook for managing human capital post COVID-19
Date: 14 August 2020
Time: 10:00
Speakers: Palesa Sibeko: BetterWork, SiGNL and GIT co-founder
To attend the webinars, sign up to reserve your spot by visiting this link: https://www.allangray.co.za/survive-and-thrive-10-part-webinar-series/.