By Adedapo Adesanya
Experts in the finance sector, including the renowned economist and chief executive of Financial Derivatives, Mr Bismarck Rewane; the founder of The Dew Center, Ms Omon Anenih; and the chief executive of Sparkle, Mr Uzoma Dozie, have called on business owners in Nigeria to embrace a digital mindset for better cash flow management amid the current economic clime.
They tasked entrepreneurs with this during a virtual session to discuss cash flow management strategies for small businesses. The event was organised by the digital bank, Sparkle, on Thursday.
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 was moderated by Ms Nneka Okekearu, Director of the Enterprise Development Centre at Pan-Atlantic University.
During his presentation, Mr Rewane provided an overview of Nigeria’s evolving economic landscape and 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.
“In 2014, Nigeria was Africa’s largest economy; about 23 per cent 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,” he said.
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.
Mr 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, Mr 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.
Ms 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.”
The company noted that 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.