Training and upskilling will benefit SMMEs in a post-Covid world
South Africa's SMMEs have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic. As businesses struggle to remain afloat, it becomes clear that there is one single attribute that will help some succeed, and that is skills training.
Photo by Vanessa Garcia© from Pexels
This is the belief of Michelle Page of ServiceGurus, an enterprise dedicated to training and upskilling small businesses.
“Throughout my career, I maintained very high standards, especially when it came to service delivery and customer satisfaction. I also enjoyed training, developing and upskilling my team,” she explains.
Combining these interests with her natural flair for entrepreneurship, Page partnered with ServiceGurus founder Shireen Onia to create an organisation that today specialises in providing not only training and development, but also services such as content development and project management. ServiceGurus further offers e-learning solutions and digitisation of existing material.
Training will benefit SMMEs
Page maintains that any company that invests in training will benefit from enhanced efficiencies, improved customer service experience and, ultimately, increased revenue. Page says that SMMEs, especially, stand to benefit from upskilling their staff.
“The reality is that many SMMEs are disadvantaged by a lack of access to information, support and mentorship. Some don’t have the basic know-how necessary to run a business, while some entrepreneurs simply feel overwhelmed” – a feeling that Michelle can well identify with, given her own experience in the struggle to give a start-up wings.
This, she says, has honed her understanding of what customers need: “We understand that change doesn’t happen overnight, but we also know that hard as it is, adults enjoy learning. If you harness this, you can achieve sustainable results.”
Be prepared for unique challenges
Again, SMME owners face unique challenges here. They may have the drive and desire to build their skills, but time weighs against them. Onia points out that small business owners are best able to keep up their training initiatives if they are able to find all the information they need on a single platform, from templates, guidelines and regulations to access to potential clients and networking.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created additional hurdles – which, again, is why training is more important than ever, according to Page. “A lot more is expected from our teams. Customers are more alert to everything they experience – any small perceived misdemeanour can set off a list of other potential problems,” she points out. The solution, she says, lies in putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, no matter what you’re doing, developing or selling. “Understanding their needs is vital,” she insists.
Upskilling is not a magic bullet. It must be backed by support in the form of information about, and access to, health and wellness services, and communication. Keeping an ear open to current concerns, such as diversity in the workplace, also goes a long way to ensuring your employees know you have their back.
Savvy businesses are to be alert to opportunity, and be swift to adapt where necessary.
“Many companies have cut their training budgets, but SMMEs need a great deal of support in this area following Covid,” concluded Page.
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