Rewane, Dozie urges digital mindset for entrepreneurial success

Leading digital bank, Sparkle, on Thursday hosted renowned economist and CEO of Financial Derivatives, Bismarck Rewane; Founder of The Dew Center, OmonAnenih, and CEO of Sparkle, UzomaDozie in a virtual session to discuss cash flow management strategies for small businesses.

In the 90-minute session, the experts analysed the current prevailing macroeconomic challenges in the country and emphasised the importance of adopting a digital mindset for entrepreneurial success.

The webinar titled, ‘Keeping Your Cash Flowing: Simple Tips for Small Business Owners’, was attended by more than 140 business owners from across Nigeria keen to gain insights to navigating their businesses. In a 20-minute presentation that preceded the panel discussion and Q & A session, Rewane provided an overview of Nigeria’s evolving economic landscape. He highlighted the impacts of currency devaluation, FX losses, minimum wage reviews, high inflation, interest rates and borrowing costs, squeezed margins, and the declining consumption, on businesses in general.

He said, “In 2014, Nigeria was Africa’s largest economy; about 23% of Africa’s GDP was in Nigeria and we were the sixth largest oil producer in the world. 10 years later, things have changed. By 2017 we had gone into recession, followed by Covid-19 and another recession in 2020. …these factors all have a significant impact on small businesses today…’’

Despite these challenges, he stressed that small businesses can still succeed by adopting a digital mindset, building efficient operating models, and tapping into high growth sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, telecommunications, media, renewable energy, real estate, and tourism. Rewane also encouraged small business owners to persevere, noting that many mega-corporations, including Amazon, started as small businesses. He cited Amazon’s journey from a garage-based online bookstore in 1994 to a $2 trillion enterprise.

Speaking at the webinar, Uzoma Dozie highlighted that adopting a digital mindset can enhance small business operations, reduce costs, and enable data-driven decision-making. He shared that Sparkle supports this transition by providing tools for expense tracking, invoicing, payments, performance monitoring, payroll, savings, and investments, all through a mobile app.

Omon Anenih shared her entrepreneurial journey, advising small business owners to manage cash flow effectively by planning, tracking expenses, cutting costs without sacrificing value, staying lean, making data-driven decisions, and diversifying revenue streams. She underscored the importance of digital tools in boosting productivity and profitability, saying, “Cash flow is the lifeblood… digital is your friend.”

Sparkle Business simplifies business management for small and medium enterprises, allowing them to monitor activities, manage products and customers, identify top-selling products and high-patronage customers, and track business metrics, all from a mobile device.

The webinar was moderated by NnekaOkekearu, Director of the Enterprise Development Centre at Pan-Atlantic University

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