Sidumisile Mabena
Judith Phiri [email protected]
FBC Holdings Limited’s financial technology firm, Xarani has called on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to continuously innovate and adopt digital technologies as innovation is no longer optional, but a must.
Speaking at the World SME Day: Commemoration Seminar in Bulawayo on Tuesday, Xarani Managing Director, Mr Agrippa Mugwagwa said innovation starts with problems.
“True innovation is rooted in understanding the problem space rather than just brainstorming bright ideas. As MSMEs, identify customer pain, then come up with ideas, experiment, learn, improve, scale and go back to customer,” he said.
“You must be aware that innovation is no longer optional, you need to develop new products, enter new markets, provide new services, have new revenues and new customers.”
He said a traditional SME uses paper, cash, manual operations, focuses on local markets and is reactive while, a digital SME uses cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, data, focuses on global markets and is proactive.
Mr Mugwagwa said in this day and age, agility beats size as a company’s ability to adapt quickly to market changes and customer needs was more valuable than having massive scale or resources.
“Agile companies outmaneuver larger, slower competitors by making decisions faster, testing ideas cheaply and pivoting without bureaucratic red tape.
“It is not the biggest businesses that survive, it is the fastest learners. Characteristics of agile SMEs include customer obsessed, experiment fast, learn quickly, use data, collaborate and adapt continuously,” he added.
He said AI was changing everything from marketing, finance, human resources (HR), sales, operations, customer service, innovation and decision making.
Mr Mugwagwa, however, said AI will not replace entrepreneurs as it was there to make them super entrepreneurs.
“People using AI will outperform people who do not. There is affordable AI every SME can use for marketing, content, sales, quotations, finance, forecasting, HR, recruitment, customer service, chatbots, operations, automation, innovation and idea generation,” he said.
He said digital payments build better businesses as a customer could make a digital payment to a business which will store data while being able to check their customers’ credit profile.
Mr Mugwagwa said data was the new competitive advantage which allowed businesses to know the kind of customers they are dealing with, be able to predict, personalise the products and services as well as grow their clientele base.
“The roadmap to becoming a digital SME include being able to digitise your products and services, automating, accepting digital payments, storing data on cloud, being able to use AI and being a connected business.”
He said future-ready SMEs think like ecosystems, continuously adapting on how to improve engagement with customers, Government, partners, employees, suppliers, banks, AI and fintech to ensure that everything in connected.
Mr Mugwagwa said five commitments for every SME were to think digital, innovate constantly, adopt AI, use digital finance and never stop learning.
“The businesses that will shape tomorrow are those that embrace innovation today, leverage AI intelligently, and partner with trusted institutions to scale sustainably.”
The event hosted by FBC Bank ran under the theme: “Future- Ready SMEs: Unlocking Growth Through AI and Inclusive Digital Finance.”
Online Reporter