CalBank PLC has hosted a maiden webinar for clients in line with efforts to provide sustainable solutions for the growth of business in the digital ecosystem. The first in the series of webinars was targeted at Small and Medium Scale Enterprises on how they can create value using digital channels.
Addressing a host of participants at the webinar, Innovation and Partnerships Manager at Wineyola Digital, Mr. Simon Alangde urged SMEs to adopt contemporary practices in the digital space to stay relevant and deliver value for their customers.
According to him, digital technologies have the potential to enhance the productivity and relevance of SMEs while ensuring growth, but they will have to make a conscious effort to embrace digital solutions to compete and survive.
Speaking at a CalBank webinar on “How SMEs can create value using digital channels”, Mr. Alangde urged businesses to retool and rebuild their skills to transform their businesses.
“For businesses to understand or leverage digital channels and create value, they first need to understand the benefits of having a business online.
They need to understand that the digital ecosystem basically allows you to target specific groups which enable you to narrow down your marketing.
So if you know that your potential customers are, maybe female, based on your demographics, or are people who have a job from nine to five, you can build a profile to target that.
This means that you can put these demographics into your digital campaigns and save cost compared to the traditional means of advertising. It also allows you to analyze and get more insights about your business to influence your next decision,” he said.
He also emphasized the need for re-marketing where they can implement a tracking code on their social media handles which can allow them to re-market the brand and build customer loyalty and retention and use it to build data or customer information.
“One of the key things that businesses can do is to have data. To have data is to have information and to have information is to have power.
Today there is a scientific approach about everything, so SME’s should use data and trend analysis to stay relevant,” he added.
He made these remarks against the backdrop of existing data which revealed the harsh realities faced by SMEs in the wake of the global pandemic.
Recent data from the Ghana Statistical Service indicates that over 150,000 service-oriented businesses closed down during the lockdown period, while 96,276 businesses remained closed in May and June.
According to reports many small-medium enterprises (SMEs) have been the most affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Participants expressed satisfaction with the discussions. One customer remarked, ‘’We are excited to be part of this informative session and we look forward to another exciting series from CalBank’’
CalBank PLC, one of Ghana’s indigenous Banks presently offers a bouquet of tailor-made SME products as well convenient banking solutions such as Mobile Banking USSD *771#, CalNET, CalBank App and CalPay for its clients.
