Category Archives: Business Administration

– #Dishonesty is a treasonous abomination

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Unauthorised debit orders, “concealed” contract terms, undisclosed essential information, misrepresentation of facts, flagrant lies among others, are common deception afflicting consumers and businesses alike. At the heart of the deception is the willingness to want to gain inequitably.

Just as lying in one’s curriculum vitae is a crime with a possible charge of fraud, perhaps it’s time examples are made of some common dishonest dealings not considered a crime, so as to put an end to this malaise. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 September 2019. Continue reading →

– Be good to customers and generous to loyal ones

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When economic hardship increases and prolongs, chivalry often dies. It’s as if the root of all successes is in rudeness, officiousness, generalisations and all other nasty “nesses” out there. Perhaps we worship materialism and its abundance in our lives proves our closeness to our “material god” that a lack thereof, reveals our distance from our “material deity”.

Big companies, despite having resources to attract and retain customers, often resort to draconian and often “suicidal” rules to guard their revenue generation despite the impact on customers. No wonder loyalty is beginning to wane, with customers easily switching to competitors when their offers are seen as sustainable and dependable alternatives. Entrepreneurs should seize the moment and use the economic downturn as the opportunity to build a solid and loyal client base by maintaining good customer care practices, acquiring true knowledge of their customers, showing appreciation to loyal customers and offering customers, especially loyal ones, more flexibility to their offerings. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 August 2019. Continue reading →

– Unprecedented #Unemployment Levels

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Mahlamba Ndlopfu, not Houston, we have a problem!

According to Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the official unemployment rate is now 29.0% for the second quarter of 2019. This figure represents a percentage of those still seeking employment, estimated at 6.7 million. This implies we have a bigger unemployment rate problem if we also consider the number of those having given up looking for work. The number of unemployed represents a significant portion of the population, now estimated at 58.8 million. With only 16.3 million (~28%) people employed, we have many dependent on the few for survival.

About 20% of the population lives in despair with no sight of a solution soon. If anything, this is a national disaster requiring us to collaborate in finding simple, effective and localised solutions. We cannot ignore the problem any longer simply because we have some means, though thinly spread for some, enabling us live for another day. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 July 2019. Continue reading →

– #Resistance, an imperative for #advancement

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It’s somewhat obvious that without some resistance, there would be no strengthening and weakness would increase. This applies to our physical strength and to anything else created. Though good for us, we are uncomfortable and resent experiencing any resistance. Our natural reaction to experiencing resistance is either avoiding the situation causing it, or removing the source of resistance. Rarely do we focus on increasing our strength so the initial resistance feels less and insignificant even when it has not diminished. Perhaps we know that increasing our strength does not occur overnight, but through regular persistent practice and training.

Resistance is everywhere. In fact, from a business perspective, it is impossible for business to operate without experiencing some resistance. Resistance is as prevalent as night and day, or good and evil. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 June 2019. Continue reading →

– Pay Attention To Your #BusinessRisks

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Whatever you do, do not take those business risks for granted. Of all the risks, the most ignored is the need for diversification of the business, its offerings and focus. It’s understandable why the mitigation of this type of risk is often trivialised and not prioritised. That’s because many small-business owners either focus on increasing the scale of their businesses or their specialisation, that thoughts about introducing new offerings to reduce risks to the business are not foremost.

But some owners do not even bother focusing on expanding their businesses, but are quickly excited by increased turnover of their businesses and have shifted their focus on their lifestyles. You see them working fewer hours and spending most time galivanting the world when they could be opening new branches or adding new offerings or buying new businesses to diversify their business portfolios.

While commendable that entrepreneurship enables some to have a better life, it is also easy for one small change in the market to disrupt it all and for the business to lose everything resulting in premature permanent closure. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 May 2019. Continue reading →

– Balance #CustomerExperience in your #BusinessExpansion Efforts

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One thing I like about engaging good small companies is having a one-stop-shop in the resolution of problems. Often, when you hire good small-businesses and they encounter a problem requiring specialists, they do not pass the buck to the client, but own up the problem and try to find a suitable expert to attend to it. They avoid piecemeal resolution of problems, and shield clients from having to interact with many service providers, unless by the client’s request.

Corporates and small-businesses growing into departments on the other hand, tend to provide more specialisation that come at the expense of good customer experience.

When engaging with bigger companies, it is as if one needs an intense technical understanding of the problem, diagnose it properly, identify relevant experts and fully describe the problem to ensure the involvement of the right team. Failing which, and if the service provider involves skilled trade workers, you risk paying different teams’ call-out fees besides costs for the diagnostic report and related resolution of the problem.

Business expansion and departmentalisation should not be at the expense of good customer experience. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 April 2019. Continue reading →

– Taking One’s Craft Seriously

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It’s encouraging seeing small-business owners taking their craft seriously in managing customer relations. The mistake many small-business owners make is taking things personal when concerns about aspects of their businesses are raised. Owners are not necessarily good managers of businesses. It makes sense sometimes, having someone else as a manager of the business than the owner being one. Considering challenges faced by many small-businesses, it is understandable that many owners are also managers of their businesses. However, such owners should also invest in skills to manage those businesses, learn about the importance of maintaining good reputation and humility, and taking every customer, including potential customers, seriously.

If small-business owners do not take themselves seriously, why should customers? Business owners are like captains of their armies. They should try to show zeal and interest always, and be energetic. No follower will be inspired by following a lethargic leader. Customers too, take the cue from the behaviour of small-business owners. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 March 2019.

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– Tis time for gate-keeping business model review

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You may loathe the so called “Ambulance Chasers” but you cannot easily fault their business model. Personal Injury lawyers may be hated for different reasons, but their business model for poor clients is among the best in the market. They work on a contingency fee model of no win, no pay.

These lawyers are so confident of their capabilities and risk management expertise that they are prepared to put their money where their mouths are. In this slow economic growth era we find ourselves in, such a business engagement model should be in use and common across many sectors. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 January 2019. Continue reading →

– #Digitisation gone wrong

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Sometimes I wonder what is best: whether to continue experiencing cumbersome processes and face tired and often hostile staff to receive a service, or be irritated by incessant irrelevant messages from organisations that took the trouble to digitise their operations, but are now abusing my trust and disclosure of my private information by send me spam messages? By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 December 2018. Continue reading →

– South Africa Grossly Underutilises Technology

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I had the pleasure of serving as a mentor to some participants in the recently held 2030 NDP Hackathon organised by the State Information Technology Agency. The creativity of participants further showed that we do not lack ideas to solve problems in this country, but opportunities to do so. It also reminded me of my biggest bugbear, of government and many large companies failing to take advantage of technology to not only improve their offerings, but deliver services.

I do, however, understand the reluctance by government and some private companies in automating functions traditionally performed by people. In my professional career spanning more than two decades, I have seen how IT functions in many organisations I had been exposed to, struggling to deliver on promises made to business. Common among those problems were budget and timelines overruns. IT leaders responsible for jointly directing those initiatives with business leaders would often cite unforeseen circumstances as one of many reasons for failure to deliver.

I am thus not surprised seeing many organisations reluctant or failing to introduce more technology in automating some functions and digitising their environment. The increasing notoriety of IT functions in overpromising and underdelivering is, but one of the reasons we still see government departments and other companies still relying on solutions causing significant inconvenience to consumers and beneficiaries of their services. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 November 2018. Continue reading →