The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the usual way of doing business as many operations are going digital.
The pandemic came with its disruption and now, the new way of doing business is through virtual business. It is cost effective, gives room for more creativity, and reduces office bureaucracy.
During the lockdown many Nigerians resorted to doing business and working from home. Deals were signed; businesses and transactions were carried out successfully without physical contact or even handshakes.
“COVID-19 has opened our eyes to see the reality in doing business in an unusual way. Our normal has turned to abnormal. Our abnormal now is more cost effective than the usual normal,” said Israel Obatunde, the Chief Creative Officer, Iomedia.ng, a virtual media business.
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Iomedia.ng is one of the creative businesses that latched on to the benefits of working virtually which has provided seamless opportunities for the business to work with professionals with unique expertise in marketing communication around the world, hence the wake-up call by its founder.
The pandemic has forced people to now work anywhere at any time and still deliver optimal business results. As much as COVID-19 hit some businesses hard, some others made more profits even in the heat of the pandemic.
Electric car pioneer company, Tesla amid the lockdown in July 2020 hit its stride. The sales of the company, owned by billionaire, Elon Musk held up well, with growth in China and other overseas markets offsetting the loss in the United States.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigeria gained 2.5 million subscribers during the lockdown in April 2020. Also, in Q2 2020, Internet users hit 7.5 million, taking the total number of data users in Nigeria to 143.3 million as of June 2020.
Telcos financial reports during these periods showed growth although the numbers were said not to be impressive, compared to revenues from previous quarters. Obatunde said despite these, the advertising industry took the lockdown in its stride.
“Advertising agencies in Nigeria were among the first industries to realize that you can work from home or anywhere. This is because clients could get their deliverables while people worked from home. This was even faster,” he said.
