Watch List: 3 Post-Covid Business Opportunities
Business Opportunities are like buses. There’s always another one coming. It’s no longer news that the covid-19 world health pandemic has affected business growth in an unprecedented fashion.
All economic activity was grounded and it’s no longer news that companies are restructuring to stay profitable. Yet despite the situation, opportunities flourished for ‘essential businesses.’ Customers’ needs shifted to basic needs of food, health, and shelter.
Businesses in these basic industries will thank their stars for the lifetime opportunity to witness such a huge demand. Interestingly, research shows 68% more millionaire arise after a recession than at any given time. This is actually the best time to invest and start a business.
3 Key Business Opportunities (Post-Covid)
- E-commerce
- Online Education
- Agriculture
1. E-commerce
This refers to buy and selling or trade and commerce using electronic means. The earlier we start forgetting business as primarily about brick and mortar stores or Physical locations, the better we will become to embrace the new reality. Amazon and Alibaba are eCommerce ventures who have established billions of dollars in valuation.
Trillions as a matter of fact in Jeff Bezos’ Amazon. These particular businesses received their boom just after the past recessions and health pandemic in America and Asia respectively.
As most people turn to digital devices for information sources and purchase decisions, the earlier we move our businesses online, the better positioned we are to expand and grow. These days, most people are preferring and adapting to digital payment using their phones/devices than to spend hours in a bank queue.
We know that buyer behaviour influences Product sales. It’s important we meet the customer needs which include safety, comfort and convenience. Restructuring our businesses to align with e-commerce is a great opportunity to attract customer satisfaction and loyalty.
2. Online Education
We can already see massive growth in the industry at the moment. The rise of online education has been on geometric progression in recent years. Online degrees and certificates was already a growing trend before the pandemic lockdown period. Online Education is exponential rising as more schools and facilitators are fast adopting internet platforms to remain relevant.
Today, there’s a course for almost anything available. And the market is still growing. This is a perfect time to reap a harvest from business opportunities in online education.
You can offer education content or even help package courses for others. Most schools, trainers, coaches and teachers are looking for opportunities to innovate their services and reach customers. Equipped with the right knowledge and skills, you can earn good money helping them to setup online education platforms.
It is important to note that Education is an industry that will always flourish especially at this time when people have to learn, unlearn and relearn skills to stay relevant in the changing times.
3. Agriculture
This could easily be the first on the list because of its importance. Food is a vital need for human survival. Agriculture is the process of cultivating plants and animals for human consumption.
With the present economic situation, every government is focused increasing exports and reducing imports not just for health reasons, but to maintain a favourable balance of trade. It has never been more critical to invest in agriculture and forfeit spending on foreign goods.
In Nigeria, the annual food import budget is frightening for a country that has vast amounts of fertile land. With 200 million people, the consumer market is huge. Looking at market trends, people will spend more on food than any other segment.
There’s a huge need in the market for food at affordable cost. Only local production and not import can meet this food demand at reasonable prices. Further, Agriculture is a huge employer of labour throughout its chain.
Still on Nigeria, 3 out of 5 people were unemployed or underemployed before the pandemic. Agriculture has the capacity to reduce this unemployment margin which is steadily increasing as more companies lay off workers.
Summary
Covid19 pandemic is affecting economies not just in Nigeria but worldwide. However, there’s business opportunities in e-commerce, education and agriculture that smart entrepreneurs can take advantage of.
Business exist as long as there are customer needs and solutions available. Satisfying customers’ needs either in a pandemic or boom is the key to business success.
Grow your business and reach more customers with POCARTI. Book a free consultancy session today.
