FIDAS Insights

Over the last six months, reports on employees’ turnover in most businesses around the world have been quite alarming. Figures from the hospitability and service sector of the United States of America have been particularly overwhelming. According to the US Labour Department, about 4 million people quit their jobs in April alone, and about 1 million of these people worked in the leisure and hospitality industry which include jobs in hotels, restaurants, theme parks and entertainment venues. Since April, more than 19 Million US workers have turned in their resignation, and this is still counting, noted in a McKinsey quarterly report on the great attrition and attraction.

Recently, fast-foods and grocery stores in the US are folding up in disturbing frequency due to labour scarcity; McDonald says it is open to stepping up

The Paradigm is Shifting. Humanity’s value system and work ethics are changing with the growing innovations in the digital-data space. The Covid-19 Pandemic came with eye-opening experiences suggesting how businesses and the global economy will be shaped by digital ingenuity for years to come. Hence, the scope and relevance of the digital-data ecosystem is fast transcending the Information Communication Technology sector to other spheres like Agriculture, Health, Trade and Commerce, Education and Government etc. According to a McKinsey report cited in the Harvard Business Review, data-driven application of artificial intelligence will generate 13 Trillion US Dollars in new global economic activity by 2030, possibly determining the next world order much like oil production had determined economi

The Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing disruption in the global supply chain, consumer price inflation, as well as the new health and security policies, have created a lot of market frictions and opportunities for stakeholders in the agritech industry.

The pandemic came with a lot of epiphanies and eye-opening experiences suggesting how businesses and the future global economy will be shaped by more than digital ingenuity. There is also a need to avoid culture lag by enhancing a corresponding adjustment in culture and attitude towards work. Hence, Stakeholders in Africa’s agritech industry are expected to seek the broader perspective in navigating barriers and exploring opportunities in the new normal.

According to a recent McKinsey report on how leaders can adapt to a very different future, five action points are suggested for well-meaning entrepreneurs and business leaders in the post-covid-19 economy. First is that

Snail is a member of the mollusk family popularly known for its dietary and nutritional value but is also a source of raw materials to the non-food industries, particularly the cosmetic, construction and pharmaceuticals. Heliculture, the practice of rearing snails for direct consumption and commercial purposes is commonest in Europe and some parts of the Mediterranean region. In 2014, the cumulative global consumption of snails was estimated at 450,000 Metric Tons with a market value of 12 Billion US Dollars per annum. About 15 percent of the total snails consumed globally are collected from the snail breeding units and the remaining 85 percent are collected from nature in poor countries where hunting and animal picking are common. Countries such as Spain, Morocco, China, France, and Italy have the highest per capita consumption of snails.

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Not a few business owners give precedence to cash flow in the day-to-day operations of their businesses. This is understandably so, especially given the popular notion that businesses are out to make money and keep an impressive financial record. But is cash flow all there is about building a sustainable and enduring brand?

A report by Small Business Administration cited in investopedia.com shows that 20 percent of small businesses fail in the first year, 50 percent fold up after five years and 67 percent find it difficult to persist further than the first 10 years.  According to the report, the most common reasons start-ups fail are lack of funding, inability to retain talents and build a strong management team, a faulty business model, unsuccessful marketing initiatives, etc. From the foregoing, it is clear that cash flow is just one out of several reasons a business can survive the test of time.