April 14th, 2021 | Updated on June 28th, 2022
SME Loans under various Government schemes are the best available options in the market for enterprises to get that most needed round of funding, whether it is a completely new start up or a well-established business looking for further expansion of business.
The government of India has launched ample number of such schemes including the most popular MUDRA, PMEGP, CGTMSE to help new businesses and also existing businesses to flourish and provide more employment opportunities to workers who face seasonal employment issues, although, they have all the required skills and abilities to start an independent business of their own but cannot get through the never ending hurdles to fulfil the traditional business loan requirement.
SME loan is approved and disbursed and you have started your entrepreneurial journey, but now these Enterprise owners face the biggest challenge of their life which is the existence and successes of their business.
Below are a few important points discussed to help your SME not just stay strong and survive when markets are irrational but also to take it to the next level.
Digitalization
Transforming businesses into digital form is now more important than it ever was, SMEs need to research ways and come up with tactics and strategies to move their business processes and procedures online seamlessly, opening the door to a much larger customer base.
The exponential growth of the e-commerce industry has created a general sentiment among people globally that online shopping is completely realistic and after Covid19 which is the most unprecedented and shocking catastrophe that no one might have ever imagined in their scariest nightmares, has resulted in an increasing demand for online purchasing & contactless delivery option.
SMEs should start small and invest existing resources to digitize part of their business after exercising due diligence and proceed to adequately expand it on the basis of trial and error.
With the increase in delivery service companies it is now a lot easier to deploy your services on any online platforms making it available for consumers to view and place orders online via any payment wallets like Google Pay.
Online Presence
Businesses having an online presence have an added advantage to popularize their special flagship products to appropriate audiences looking for that very same product in a short span of time.
Whether you are advertising it online on popular and well known websites like YouTube and Google or if you are using the power of social media tools to the fullest, it explicitly targets the audience that needs that particular product.
Online Advertisement agencies offer you Ad-targeting accuracy of more than 90%, which more or less means that your product Advertisement will reach out to the correct audience 90% of the time, correct as in consumers who have been looking for such products or services online and are actively interested in it.
Social media is accoutring unimaginable options and benefits to businesses in this day and age.
You have influencer accounts online to promote your brand, advertising options and your own presence which is roughly available to more than 4 billion social media users worldwide as per the Global Overview Report.
And with time as we divulge more into the digital age this number is only going to increase and exceed all expectations of the remarkable impact of social media.
You can find below a simple table displaying some benefits of online mode of business over offline.
Mode of business: Online | Mode of business: Offline |
Consumers have the convenience to stay at home and order | Consumers need to visit store/business |
Available to more than 4 billion people on the Internet | Available to only a limited number of people |
Advertisements reach targeted audience | Advertisements reach everyone which reduces the ad-targeting accuracy. |
The best way to start is to have a website and you can do that by going through this long and simple article, the best part is you do not need to possess any technical knowledge or web development skills to make this happen.
Next is to have an account on all well-established social media platforms like a Facebook page for your business and loyal consumers to interact with your support teams and suggest ideas pertaining to areas of improvement and inclusion of new features.
Twitter, YouTube and Instagram also have a humungous user base all over the world and SMEs definitely should have an account to be promoting the brand actively attracting attention from larger customer base.
Restructure Finance Guidelines And Procedures
Financial management is the core aspect for any Small and Medium Enterprise to operate, generate cash flow and grow.
After the covid19 pandemic it is very much clear that the working capital was the biggest reason why most of the SMEs were unable to continue their operations. SME owners and partners need to build good finance management habits which includes.
- Planning ahead of time.
- Monitoring activities and calculations on a daily basis.
- A strong focus on expenditures in order to improve the ROI.
- Cost cutting wherever possible.
If you are planning ahead of a disaster then you would most likely have abundant resources and time to make beneficial decisions in times of exigency, after all preparation is half the battle!
Next comes monitoring all the daily activities, tasks and trying to come up with solutions that can enhance the way your enterprise works.
Calculations play an important role in business operations and if you are calculative enough to use the data available from customers then you can save up a lot of your effort in terms of managing the workforce, expenses and overseeing any financial risk that may occur due to miscalculations.
A reduction in expenditures is directly proportional to the return on your investment. The lower you can take down the expenses the more money you will be able save up and aggrandize the ROI, also keep in mind that getting 100% ROI as fast as possible is very good for business if you have applied for any SME loans to expand your business, as it gives a huge room for growth once you are free of all the liabilities.
Cost cutting is one of the old school strategies which has almost always helped businesses to not just function but also grow in situations where business as usual was not at all possible. Find the easy and applicable cost cutting strategies in the article at the bottom of the page.
Adaptability To Change
Agile framework is applicable to all types of businesses and has proven to be a very powerful business strategy since decades to ensure the business does not go insolvent.
The strategy is basically to be ready for a change and embrace it to the levels where the whole business procedures and protocols might need to be reformed while at the same time coming up with new alternative solutions and business models to survive in the market.
SMEs need to make it a habit to continuously reform their ways of doing business as per the industry demands.
Agile not only helps SMEs to survive in the market but also ceases the unrequired expenditures due to the old school methodologies, resulting in addition to the ROI percentage and taking it to acclivity. Go to this link to read more about Agile.
Government Relief Programmes
Government’s globally including the Government of India have released a lot of special schemes for businesses and individuals who are severely impacted by Covid19.
The schemes provide additional money in line with the SME loans and in some cases help with technical expertise or resources that appear to be a hindrance for business operations.
Government also declared that they will provide Tax relief in most of the sectors and water & electricity bill extension to ease the drastic impact of Covid on citizens and businesses.
The Government of Kerala specifically provided an aid of 2000 Crore for Small and Medium Enterprises that are unable to operate due to the pandemic and are shutting down their services.
It does require some rigorous research and hard work to find and apply for the best suitable scheme to your business but it is of great help which is/was available to make your business finances stronger.
Be A Conglomerate
Creating a business and offering services in a particular industry is an outdated business model.
To survive and grow in 21st century enterprises need to be more than just a single service or business, you need to start offering a plethora of other sub-divisions under one umbrella which are to a greater extent related to your core business.
A good example is starting a consulting service for Enterprises who have the capital and idea but are lacking the expert knowledge to get into the markets.
It’s beneficial as you make money consulting and providing them with the required knowledge of business structure and tools necessary to operate while on the other hand you have your core business running on the side-lines.
Think of many other such businesses that are possible without much funding needs and can pretty much be attained without the need of additional expensive resources.
Being a Conglomerate will mitigate the damage as one or the other business will be generating revenues in case a particular industry is in danger. This improves your financial strength and makes your enterprise stronger than ever in 2021.
Another way is to allow other small businesses to operate under you to generate extra cash flow. Assuming you have a Hotel business you can give space to bakery business or catering service and make steady income out of it.
There are countless such strategies you can think of and be a successful Conglomerate to get to the top in the year 2021.