Agency trains SMEs on how to up productivity during lockdown

Despite the disruption of businesses caused by statewide lockdown order issued by the government to stem the spread of the infectious Coronavirus, small business owners have seized the chance to return to the drawing board to retool and restrategize for more productivity.

The opportunity for skill upgraded hosted online was presented by Nixxhash Communications, a Lagos-based media consultancy and capacity development firm. Tagged Brand Boost Clinic, the training targeted business services within the Small Medium Enterprises ecosystem who is the life wire of the nation’s economy.

Among practical skillsets designed for participants are designing using Canva, creating animation, accountability partners, content writing and marketing, sales funnel, how to set Facebook and IG ADs masterclasses.

The classes were handled by thought leaders and subject mastery experts including Wale Bakare of Webfala Digital Consulting, Jumoke Awe Esq, Octo Consult, Kehinde Olofintuyi, Pentacept, Solomon Archiving, DM Hackers, Timi Osunde of Farmer square and IITA, Adepeju Oluwamayowa, Adesewa Greg-Ighodaro, Somto Nwosu, Adeyemi Asaba, a business consultant and trainer, and Michelle Edoreh, a social media influencer.

According to the convener, Adenike Fagbemi, Founder, Nixxhash Communications, nobody was insulated from the vagaries of the harsh effect of the pandemic. She explained. “Nobody is happy about this pandemic. Everyone is affected. The news is everywhere. At the same time, business-minded people are still finding it hard to wrap their heads over what works and what doesn’t. What need to be dropped and what needs to be improved. Then, I thought within myself, be an answer to some set of people’s prayer. I spoke with my resourceful friends to sign-up to the project to join me to add value to SMEs who form a large pool of contributors to the GDP of any economy.”

Gauging feedback, the convener disclosed, “the stories have been that of the transformation of people’s mindset towards using Social Media and the online space, in general, to promote their business and make sales during this lockdown.

“A lockdown break doesn’t mean no sales, it only means you make your business more accessible and reposition it in a way people would need and desire it. Marketing strategies such as price slashed and giveaways too show that you care while trying to sell your market.”

Also sharing his experience, Kehinde Olofintuyi, a subjects matter expert on Understanding Customer Buying Psychology Online; How to drive sales using Neuro Logistic programming underscored the importance of small business owners to raise their game.

Kehinde noted that there is only one rule to run a successful and sustainable business. The rule remains “Innovate or Die”.

“We are all fighting for a market share and we cannot allow only one person to dominate the market. So we compete for our market share.

Why not focus on getting your own fair share of the market and maintaining them with your value-driven product/service?”, he noted.

In her feedback on the outcome of the skill upgrade sessions, a small business owner, Temitope Temitayo, Africanlola Collections, rated highly the opportunity created by Nixxhash Communications.

“NixxHash Communications have pushed me to. Restructure my brand identity irrespective of the lockdown. I have been charged to reposition my brand and make plans for survival after the pandemic. The business won’t be the same as before and there is a need to restructure to fit into this new phase of doing business which is exploring Online options,” she added.