COVID-19: Experts task SMEs on social media platforms for survival
The experts said the SMEs needed to think out of the box to survive the challenge occassioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former Director, National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Mr Nerus Ekezie, said SMEs must strive to survive in spite of the current third wave of the pandemic.
“They should all have some form of online presence and explore other social media marketing tools.
“Harnessing these tools will enable them to retain their customers and gain traction,” Ekezie said.
He noted that utilising these digital platforms would reduce operational cost and control the community to community transmission of the virus in the third wave.
Ekezie added the three tiers of government should collaborate more so as to inoculate more people and return the economy to normalcy.
Also speaking, Dr McAntony Dike, former President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, said the Federal Government had granted tax relief to SME sector to cushion the effect of the pandemic.
“The tax incentives were for businesses whose turnover is below N25 million in this COVID-19 era.
“We expect businesses in this bracket to benefit and contend with the weak economy triggered by the pandemic,” Dike said.
He noted that small businesses must restrategise to remain in business.
“They should be more innovative and begin to render other close services in their value chain.
“For instance most of the bike hailing companies which were banned by the Lagos State Government have moved to offering digital courier services,” he said.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said the country had been recording a sharp increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases since July, as global anxiety over the Delta variant continued to spread.
Rising cases of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 pandemic are seen in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Rivers, Kano, Plateau states and the FCT, Abuja.
