By now everyone must have realised that what we have is a socio-economic disaster that will not go away in a hurry. This is a business cycle worsened by a pandemic, and the full impact is still unfolding. Even before the pandemic, the microfinance industry was already struggling. What with the rising volume of Non-Performing Loans (NPL), increasing insolvency and closure of many operators, some of which shut down voluntarily while others received regulatory action? It is just unfortunate though that COVID-19 happened when oil price was racing south, on account of many variables led by the crisis between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and the slowing down of the China industrial machine.
We have spent one quarter of the year doubting the nature of what hit us, then believing it is what it is, denying again and finally accepting that the trouble at the door is COVID-19 – not a respecter of skin colours, and that hot weather is, at best an uncertain deterrent. Therefore, there is little or no time left for sermonisation, even on the pulpit. We have used up all the time we had for economic jargons and theorising. The only time left now is for taking practical steps to protect our citizens and their different economic endeavours. It is even more urgent for us in microfinance. The people of faith will always go back to seek God in the churches and mosque, when the weather improves. However, a microenterprise one destroyed cannot come back.
The general rule for now, and despite the easing of the lockdown, is to maintain the mandatory two metres or six feet gap between persons, use sanitizer and wear the face mask. There should be no physical meeting with clients, even as we go out to work this week. We should begin plans to make all services available online, including applications and appraisal of credit. Charity must begin at home. In that regard, we should protect our staff and be flexible in dealing with them, especially with women who have little children to nurse. It may be appropriate to seek alternative and friendly work schedules for them.
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It should be company priority to report any illness or signs of illness to a doctor or the relevant authorities, as quickly as possible. Keeping staff safe by providing free gloves, hand sanitizers, and gloves where necessary will be evidence that we truly mean business when we say “our staff are our best resources”. Keep all meetings short as staff may lower their guards unconsciously, if meetings drag and workers become worn out. Staff must be taught how to react to suspected cases of infection. They must not panic nor mistreat suspected victims. It may be appropriate to appoint a Crisis Manager, with support staff, that have the right aptitude, to deal with eventualities and follow up on any crisis, with regard to health.
Working from home could be quite tasking as we have all seen over the past several weeks. First, we need to find a secure place where we can have relative peace and be able to keep the children away to gain concentration. It is important that we be reachable on telephone, just in case a client or colleague needs our attention. We must ensure that regular normal work practices are not discarded, just because we are working from home. Proper dressing and regular meetings, like Monday morning meetings, should as much as possible be maintained. Of course, proper dressing should be adhered to, especially when clients are involved and videos are used in online meetings. At the end of the week, obtain the regular weekly Activity Report, and where possible obtain Daily Activity report, made as precise as possible. There are a number of digital infrastructures that can be used, including Zoom, Skype, Google Team, WhatsApp, Slack and Hangout. This is the time to begin to gain capacity as things are going that direction for good.
We should be busy taking necessary steps to ensure that our business will come ashore, when all the ill-wind settles. In doing that, a major task is activating our business continuity programmes. This is more so important as most of us, having not experienced any disasters before, are likely not have had a proper Disaster Recovery Plan; at least not one that addresses a virus attack. Accordingly, the immediate task in addition to self-preservation and everyone contributing to efforts to cut the transmission of COVID-19, is to help restart our economic engines. Business Continuity Plans are critical and they begin by identifying the relevant likely risks, analysing them and their likely impact on the business and developing a strategy to prevent or deal with them.
It should be company priority to report any illness or signs of illness to a doctor or the relevant authorities, as quickly as possible. Keeping staff safe by providing free gloves, hand sanitizers, and gloves where necessary will be evidence that we truly mean business when we say our staff are our best resources
Such a plan also shows the company’s response capability and readiness to guarantee that business will continue whatever the disaster may be. We cannot do this successfully without showing interest in the affairs of our clients. This is the time to show them that we are not a group of Shylocks. Indeed, this is the time for raising hope among your stakeholders. Both staff and clients need to be kept hopeful. Many are already broken by irreparable losses. As the world tends to go virtual and online, there is need to help those that are not computer savvy to be rest assured that they are not going out of fashion. Plans should therefore be made to update their competencies and give hem new skills.
