Globally, small businesses are desperately grasping for survival, clinging to every available means possible to stay alive, as the coronavirus pandemic deals a socio-economic blow on all enterprise. They are in a somewhat volatile life-support mechanism to remain afloat in the face of uncertain economic realities. This state is even more vivid in developing nations where opportunities, resources and business protection mechanism are seemingly limited.
Worse still, the negative economic impact on Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria are multi-folds. Asides from the obvious and most devastating Coronavirus pandemic, businesses were hit last year by the destruction from the hijacked #EndSARS protest nationwide. Shops, buildings, and factories were heavily looted and destroyed, and investments worth billions of Naira plundered.
For the farming community in the country, other crushing perils added to the pandemic woes. The outbreak of the African Swine Fever (ASF) in June 2020 and a severe flooding a couple of months later have left thousands of investors in tears with billions of Naira in financial losses.
At the beginning of the New Year, at least 300 business owners have fallen victims to fire disasters across the country. In January 2021, no fewer than 400 fully stocked shops were razed in fire incidents recorded in Kugbo Furniture Market, Asokoro, Abuja, and retail markets in Shomolu and Ijesha in Lagos.
This litany of calamity prove the need for MSMEs to own “protective masks” to withstand this onslaught of these economic pandemics. By protective masks, we mean identifying the risks associated with your business and proffering a sustainable management technique to insulate your business from being ravaged by inevitable incidents.
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This business solution was further buttressed in detail at the just concluded seminar organized by Leadway Assurance Company Limited, in partnership with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, to upskill knowledge of MSMEs in Lagos State on the modern-day tools for risk identification and management as means to building a sustainable enterprise.
Olufemi Abiodun, a Senior Risk Analyst at Leadway Assurance, explained risk management as a decision-making process for a business owner to identify and analyse exposures to risks, examine feasible alternative techniques, select the best risk management technique, and have policy protection to be assured of not incurring financial losses in the event these risks occur.
Leadway Assurance, with five decades of experience in risk identification and management for thousands of businesses, recommends this unique “protective mask” to help small businesses survive the prevailing anxieties across the world. With their diverse insurance product offerings, Leadway is committed to providing innovative ways to equip every Nigerian entrepreneur with the tools needed to mitigate risks whilst adopting insurance as a top choice for wealth creation.
To know more about how you can get your business protective mask, call our professional advisors today via our virtual communication channels – 08088578050 Social Media handles @LeadwayAssurance on Facebook & Instagram @Leadwayinsure on Twitter or send an email to [email protected]. You can also request a call back from our experienced advisors by visiting www.leadway.com/call-me
