SME CLINIC With Kola Owolabi
There is a proverb which happens to be the mother of all proverbs where I come from. It is translated thus. “Proverb is the horse that words ride on: If you are trying to look for the right word for a particular situation and you can’t easily find one, just look for the proverb that fits the situation and everybody will understand what you are trying to say”.
The same thing is what research does for a business. If you have run into a problem in your business, for example maybe you are confronted with dwindling sales or low staff morale, the tool that you use to look for the root cause of the problem in order to come up with the right solution is research.
When things are not going too well in your business, don’t rush to the bank or finance house to raise more money for the business. That is the mistake most entrepreneurs make. Immediately they notice that they are not making as much money that they used to make, they jump to the conclusion that they need more capital. Most of the time, it is not an issue of inadequate capital. Capital inadequacy is what exposes the fact that you have a problem in the first place, however, capital inadequacy is not the real problem that the business itself is being confronted with.
We are usually bombarded as consultants by so many people that they need more capital to get their struggling businesses back on track. Actually almost 99% of people who come to us come in the name of wanting more capital. They are convinced that once they are able to lay their hands on more capital, all will be well. However, have you given it a thought that if you have a bucket that has a hole somewhere at the bottom, no matter how small the hole is, trying to put water in that bucket is a sheer waste of time? If you discovered that the bucket has been failing to retain water, you don’t keep pouring more water into that same bucket.
That won’t be a sensible thing to do. The sensible thing to do is to look all over the bucket in order to find out what is happening that is making it not to retain water. After you must have discovered where the bucket is leaking, the next thing to do is to seal the place where it is leaking. When you are going to seal it, you have to use a material that is strong and durable enough so that the bucket will not start leaking again.
Anything you do to a business that has not addressed the root cause of the issue of concern is a waste of time and resources. If you have access to a billion Naira to pour into a business that has a challenge that has not been fixed, that big money will go down the drain without anything to show for it. I think it is better to use the money to seal the point where the business is leaking (thank God sealing leaks is not an expensive endeavour at all).
Research is what helps you to locate where your business is leaking and also provide a solution that should be applied so that the leak is permanently sealed to enable the business regain viability and market relevance.
Kola Owolabi FIMC, 08023203198, is the CEO of David Richard Associates based in Igbesa, a surburb of greater Lagos, in the vicinity of Crawford University. The organization has had the opportunity to execute landmark business development (business plan preparation and conduct of feasibility studies) and market research briefs for organizations both within and outside Nigeria. He can be reached by phone or WhatsApp through 08023203198.
