HELPING SMES ACHIEVE RECURRING GROWTH AMIDST CHALLENGING TIMES

When the pandemic hit countries worldwide, livelihood and business operations were at stake. Disruption took place at every level and businesses had to respond on multiple fronts in order to safeguard their operational viability, which came under strain from the shock that affected supply chains.

- POOVENRAJ KANAGARAJ

Against this grim backdrop, supply chains continue to operate fairly efficiently after an initial severe disruption as logistics, cargo handling and transportation came to almost a grinding halt due to the movement restrictions and lockdowns.

Since the first outbreak, there have been encouraging signs of rebound in international trade volumes, however recovery is still very much uncertain.

In a chat with BusinessToday, Jonathan Oh, CoFounder and Chief Executive Officer of Supplycart shares his thoughts on the current situation facing SMEs and how he plans to ease their struggles.

“When the pandemic hit, SMEs’ supply chain network was hit badly as it was difficult to get materials for their business. Remote work to manage business processes and workflow became much more difficult as compared to previously everyone was used to manual, traditional and physical ways of doing things,” he says.

This had also added towards the negative cash flow and impacted the bottom line mainly due decline in revenue, rising cost and late payments.

Jonathan also highlights that SME business owners would want to lower their business costs, improve productivity and have recurring growth to be better prepared in managing supply chains for the business to be geared for the global market.