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Bengu commented that reaching out to clients during “In a nutshell,” said Mvundura, “business has to be true
Covid 19 was very difficult for Ithala as many of the to itself. Be compliant, have robust systems in place
SMMEs that Ithala services are in the agricultural sector, to be able to change quickly and have great leaders
located in deep rural areas and the business owners to lead and drive the team to be able to navigate any
have limited access to data. problems to be faced.”
The importance of communication was emphasized by “In order to succeed in business, one has to have the
Dr Cassius Lubisi. He commented, “We had to ramp up courage to win,” says Sewnarain and to be brave in
communication in a big way. We had to keep society light of all the challenges and issues we are experiencing
informed. We realised that if we moved on our own, we in our business. He added that we, “require courage,
will leave everyone behind and they won’t know what hope and faith, love and unity to unite against the
we are doing or why we are doing things in the manner common enemy.”
in which we are doing them.”
“To remain relevant and sustainable, business must be
He added,“We had to mobilise all sectors of society. agile and adaptable. Planning needs to be relied on
We needed everyone to buy into the strategy including less because plans change often. At the beginning it
trade unions, business leaders, churches and faith- was about survival, now it’s about revival, reshaping,
based organisations, and civil society. This meant restructuring your business for the future,” said De
both informing and consulting with them over the Klerk. “Our end goal is to thrive again, to future proof
management of the pandemic.” our businesses to be prosperous again.”
Business Systems To be sustainable, many businesses are reviewing their
In addition to effective communication, said Mvundura, environment, social and governance (ESG) objectives
the ability to withstand the effects of Covid 19 was using the United Nations Sustainable Development
based on THINK’s investment in technology, to improve Goals as a guide. As said Masilela, “We cannot fail in the
its systems, that had been put in place prior to the delivery of sustainable development goals.” However,
pandemic. However, said Mvundura, “The pandemic he added, “For us not to fail we have to depend on the
gave us an opportunity to test that the systems were private sector to bring their intellectual and financial
effective and efficient.” capital and their systems.”
The general conclusion was that the use of systems is Masilela left a conundrum, asking, ”Is this the best
increasing becoming fundamental to how businesses of times or the worst of times? He added, “There is
effectively function and an evolution of these in our a silver lining in South Africa; for the first time since
own operations is essential. 1994 a social compact is becoming possible. There
Conclusion has never been this amount of collaboration between
Acknowledging the huge impact of Covid-19 on the government and the private sector to achieve the
same cause.”
business environment needs no emphasis, however, it
is important to be aware that there are always going to As concluded David White, “Covid-19 is an awesome
be changes and challenges in the business world but opportunity for business leaders to work together to
we have to be ready for them. empower others.”

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