10 Important Aspects of Starting a Business in Egypt Post-Pandemic
It’s been very challenging over the past two years to dream, plan and execute with everything going on in the world. All calculations were disturbed and all plans changed. The pandemic affected all aspects of our lives. And businesses were certainly not spared. It wasn’t easy for a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners to cope with everything happening. So it certainly became doubly challenging to think about launching a new business.
For an ambitious few the challenges that come in these times are not shied away from. It may seem scary to start a business in this circumstance, the landscape has changed so much. But out of the challenging time that we faced a new normal has sprung up and with it came new opportunities for businesses to operate more efficiently and more successfully.
This article will dive into the 10 most important aspects you need to consider when you start a business.
1. Sustainable business ideas
When you first start thinking about starting a business you should consider how sustainable it is. Considering the environmental aspect when starting a business isn’t new but lately more than ever after the pandemic, even the smallest business owners are considering reducing the environmental cost.
What does sustainability in business mean?
It’s beyond building a green business or not using plastic anymore. A sustainable business approach is more comprehensive, it’s how you lead your business to operate in the ecological, social, and economic environment, which leads us to three main points:
Finding sustainable business ideas
When you start a business you think about ideas that can live long. A business idea that you can develop and grow. Without considering sustainability you are only planning to end before even starting. According to NYU Stern research for 2020, businesses that are not using a sustainable approach to doing things will be left behind. Sustainably marketed products grow 7x faster than products not based on sustainability.
Consumers said it all
Jonathon Porritt said “The future will be green, or not at all.” Consumers have a higher awareness of the importance of sustainability and environmentalism and are more likely to support businesses that adhere to that. Whether they are animal lovers, sea life protectors, plants and forests advocates, or just care to leave behind a place for the new generation to live, they will choose sustainable solutions whenever they can. Also mentioned in the NYU Stern research for 2020, around 52% of consumers look for products with recycled packaging, and 44% want products that include natural ingredients.
All fields are capable of sustainability
Don’t limit yourself when you decide to start a business, all fields are able to adjust to sustainability. Medical, education, constructions, catering, finance, energy, entertainment, art, fashion, food industry and more are evolving to support the process of sustainable businesses. You can check out these articles (39 Green Business Ideas for Sustainable Entrepreneurs) and the Forbes list for (10 Sustainable Companies In MENA) to get inspired to start your own sustainable business.
2. More agile organizations
The most common structure that companies follow is the hierarchal system. But nowadays this system can feel too rigid for some companies especially coming out of the pandemic. A flatter system has been proven to be more flexible and offers more opportunities for growth. Being more agile helps organizations to adapt to changes and have more constructive processes. Agility for companies extends all the way to the physical workplace of companies and we offer the space for companies to be flexible with our workspace solutions.
Why being agile is important for a new business?
The Agile Methodology was first highlighted in 2001 by 17 software engineers that wanted to find a way to work together with ease and so they agreed on certain values and they shared common principles that will ease their working experience. Agility is being able to move quickly and easily in harmony with your team and suppliers to overcome market challenges and make your production more efficient.
Just ask yourself how you will
Respond to the new market circumstances and competition
Workaround problems to solve it
Be innovative, adaptable, and creative
Save resources and minimize the time consumed internally
3. Technology Trends
If you are starting a business in 2022, you can not under any circumstances neglect integrating technology. According to Finance online 2020/2021 Market Share Analysis & Data, 52% of entrepreneurs use technology to reinforce their business growth and 42% use it to support the end-users needs, this simply means that the consumer and the business owner agree that tech is the way to build, manage, sell, create and buy. It’s normal considering all the new tech trends rising such as 5G, Web 3.0, AI, VR, data security, robotics, and more.
How can the technology trends of 2021 support a starting business?
To be included in the next 10 years of the business world, you need to understand that adopting and working with new technologies will guarantee your growth. You might have been caught off guard when Mark Zuckerberg announced the new vision for the metaverse and convinced everyone that it will be the new norm and totally in reach. So start a business that takes this into consideration.
But don’t let this overwhelm you. There are a few easy steps you can take to focus on building a business and communication strategy that depends on technology is tech-forward.
Depend on automation
Automation makes all communication easier. Not only communication with internal teams and outsourced resources but also it helps to manage and solve problems. It is instant and efficient so you can take action when needed regardless of the time and place.
According to Zapier, 88% of small businesses believe that they can compete with larger organizations due to automation.
Unify your software
Using software tools to increase the speed of your process is the key to success nowadays. It allows you to execute multiple tasks and achieve many goals in a short span of time. And now with the magic of integration, you can unify and cross-function on many platforms easily. Not to mention that most software and tools are working to increase integrations.
Focus on cybersecurity
You might think to yourself: “Who would target a small company that’s just starting?” The answer is, there are 60% of other small business owners according to BullGuard who thought the same and they were wrong. Act like a big company now and protect yourself from cyber attacks and grow more easily in the long run.
4. Future of Work
It’s not the new norm to change how employment operates it is actually just the norm. The way we relied on technology after the pandemic hit, the future of work changed and it’s exciting for us at Consoleya to be able to be a part of that. So when you consider starting a business or building a company you need to research how you will prepare your business to adjust to the future of work, it’s not about freelancing and outsourcing anymore like it was in 2016, now it’s about mobility, reducing cost, technology, and networking.
What are future work trends to consider?
1. Alignment between human workers and artificial intelligence (AI)
Earlier we talked about automation and how it decreases the load and stress on team members. Automation is part of AI you just give a bunch of conditions and everything goes smoothly but with the growing effect of artificial intelligence, a lot of tasks is handed to them and this leaves human workers wondering what the actual role they are playing and you as a decision-maker will be responsible for the distribution and alignment. Choosing how to operate, what tools to use, what roles will be AI play in your business, and how your team is prepared to cope with it.
2. Remote onboarding and working
For a part of the time, it wasn’t really a choice to work and run a business remotely. During Covid, if you wanted your company to survive you had to make it work but now after a lot of countries are not under lockdown it’s a choice that 16% of businesses make gladly. Now mastering remote management for a business opens multiple doors for entrepreneurs, business owners, and job seekers to strive. It is something we live among at Consoleya as a lot of remote workers and freelancers are using our workspaces to be productive and work.
Technology made it really easy to meet, track and manage team members and now it sounds efficient, productive, and super professional too. As someone who wants to start a business, it’s a must to consider this option and embrace all the benefits that come with it.
3. Resilience is topping efficiency
Efficiency was the goal to reach when creating a business plan until recently 2019 when entrepreneurs decided that they need resilience and flexibility much more. The efficient way is for an employee to know a specific role focusing on supply chain and workflow but resilience is about adapting and it is something that we all seek after all changes, technology, climate, economy, and health. From this perspective, cross-functional knowledge and skill training will increase the agility and flexibility of organizations.
How does Consoleya support the modern work environment?
Consoleya is a roster of plug-and-play offices & working spaces, meticulously designed to serve different offices and workspaces needs, from hot-desks to meeting rooms, to fully-equipped offices. Where small companies can act like big ones and big companies can be agile and benefit from all the facilities and services that Consoleya offers. Such as
Virtual offices to support cloud-based businesses
Hot desks to support freelancers and remote workers
Meeting rooms and event spaces to support businesses that work remotely but needs to meet
Cafe corners and lounges to support networking and knowledge exchange
Private offices with highly furnished
Tech friendly work environment
5. New finance (Fin-tech)
One of the most growing industries is Fintech or in another world financial industry. The fact that many solutions have come to life in the past decay made it really easy for financial transactions to occur. First, it was for big financial institutions, then business, and now reaching to individuals’ hands.
The expert in this area has a priority as Statista mentioned 80% of the strategies and plan is to enhance the user financial digital experience and this is a worldwide approach. Since the focus is on consumers now, you need to consider how you are going to benefit from this and what financial systems you need to include. How your customer will pay for you and how you will transfer this money and to what for.
What are the Fintech innovations to look at when starting a business?
Fintech is the new approach companies and businesses take to automate financial transactions and protect their business from fraud. The very interesting here is that customers are included in the process now and it is an advantage to meet their expectations and offer several methods to financially communicate with them and form the 3 following Fintech trends are best to tell
Digital Banking
Banks are on a totally different level now, the thought behind this fintech wonder lies in incorporating the advantages of the globalized economy and digital currencies into an across-the-board banking administration for the customer market.For example, now consumers are able to use master cards to pay for global goods with no extra fees
Electronic payment
This the most interesting part for businesses just started, to move fast forward when it comes to introducing different electronic payment methods which would need a new article on their own but for you to check them outE-wallets
Bank transfer
Cards Payments
Mobile payments
Cryptocurrencies
Payment Gateway
ID verification tech
Security-oriented machine learning
E-commerce security
If you are building an online store or a whole e-commerce website, it is important to make sure that you are protected against fraud. Adding AI platforms that support your payment systems with different solutions such as multiple payment methods, chargeback guarantees, and dynamic checkouts.
6. Future of supply chain
Leading supply chain organizations are focusing now on including apps and tools that help them make faster decisions and be informed with their business in better ways. Part of this tech rise reached using Ai (artificial intelligence) and detailed analytical tools to understand the data better. After the pandemic, they felt the need to move faster to worlds technology than the rest of us. According to Granter, 50% of supply chain organizations will invest in applications that support AI.
What are the challenges the future supply chain needs to overcome?
The local and global economy after covid
The focus on sustainability
The technological evolution the world is experiencing
7. Contactless relations
Starting a new business in this time is challenging but worthy, one of the big challenging and worthy aspects is The contactless world. We were working to build it a few years ago as a prediction that comfy and convenience will need us to go there. Then the break out came and we were forced to be separated at least 1 meter away from us. I know it seems like a sad story but actually, it opened a lot of doors for entrepreneurs and different talents to communicate. Now it is border-less and we can get things done in many ways.
How do contactless relations affect the consumer?
A couple of years ago, big numbers of people didn’t believe in online transactions, remote communication, and distance decision-making. Especially generation X. They struggled with trusting the online process but now after having a break and being forced to act from distance using technology almost everyone is familiar with cloud-based purchasing and consuming. The following points are the most popular forms of contactless online relations
Online payment
We talked in the Fintech paragraph about online payments and the different methods of it. Clearly, any contactless transaction needs to use online payment as a first step. And again anyone starting a business needs to know it’s highly important to consider multiple methods that consumers can choose from in order to buy your products or services.Online shopping
It’s one of the most affected businesses types during the Corona Virus outbreak. Online shopping thrived in the past two years. Online shoppers in 2021 are more than 2 billion shoppers. What makes a hit besides the obvious reasons of safety and convenience, it is everywhere. You can shop online on websites, apps, and social media. No E-commerce successful minds think about the shopping experience to enhance and change regularly/ You can buy any product online, it’s easy, personalized, efficient, and flexible. So think about it this way, can you sell online? Where and how?Online education
The education process is really affected by the pandemic, around 190 countries closed schools and universities. The relationship between educators and students was a contactless relationship as they were obligated to study at home and attend lectures and lessons with video conferences. This was a push towards the future of education and how the system is changing.Telemedicine
Healthcare and medical service were some of the sectors that grew rapidly during the past two years. They found ways to deliver the service if the patient doesn’t need the necessary physical intervention from doctors. They could use the telemedicine methods through phone calls for hot numbers and video calls for private clinics.
8. Digital existence
We have been emphasizing digital communication and technology aris but actually, digital branding and advertising are not so new but we have to mention it in this article. It will never go out of style to market yourself digitally and for you to build a digital brand. As an entrepreneur who aims to start a business or a business owner who needs to check out your digital marketing plan. This field is expanding and is in an ongoing innovation ride to come up with the best. It’s how your customers find you in the new era. If your brand is not online simply it’s nowhere.
What are the 5 digital marketing trends still strongly in?
Influencer Marketing
Gamification
Interactive Content
Responsive websites
Social Media
9. Authenticity
Let’s start by sharing this quote for Simon Mainwaring“ The keys to brand success are self-definition, transparency, authenticity, and accountability.” Today you targeting people that believe in individuality and always looking for stories to be part of and ideas to belong to. When you start a business and you consider all the modern aspects of a business success put on top of how you will connect with your customers in the most authentic way. How they will believe your story and take your words and your brand for it.
Being unique and innovative is not easy but when you do you will have a very strong base for your business. Brands are selling stories, opinions, and causes now, not just products and services.
10. Crises management new concept
Crises management is the main point that determines your business is successful or not. Most ambitious entrepreneurs look into all the possibilities and crises that may happen before even starting a business. Of course, it comes with implementation and experience. The pandemic harmed the business world. Businesses went bankrupt, and others thrived. One of the examples of companies that went bankrupt due to covid was the American clothes brand Brooks Brother. Brooks Brother was founded in 1818, and they filed for bankruptcy in July 2020. Such strong business that was going and succeeding for decays and dressed generations had to announce having a crisis. We all are sure they had a great crisis management plan, but they didn’t consider a fatal global pandemic in the 21st century. A pandemic that will make their clothes worthless and so people won’t buy.
When planning your crisis management, we used to think about the global economy, industry trends, financial funds, team and skill management, and the local environment. After covid, it’s all about being ready for anything, even if it is a global lockdown for a year an half. Here are some tips that might help
Plan to be flexible
Ensure strong leadership
Develop a Management crisis strategy and immediate action list
Communicate constantly with the stakeholder and team
List your known threats and risks
Update your crisis management plan frequently
11. Conclusion:
Starting your own business is challenging, but getting to make your vision real is worth the challenge. Business opportunities are endless, with unlimited numbers of possibilities. If you are planning to start a business, it’s important to consider all the above points and customize the outcomes to fit your vision. We have been there, starting with just an idea that bloomed in an effective business model.
In Consoleya we are surrounded by brilliant entrepreneurs and successful business owners, so believe us with presentence and determination you will get there.
Now more than ever the world is scaling to fit everyone, and there is always room for more creative and leading people. Use technology, get inspired from others, plan and execute. To start a business is like everything, need you to take the first step.
Don’t forget to check out our blog to check out new articles and updates, and tell us in the comment what aspect you think will or is affecting your business the most?
