The year 2020 was a roller coaster ride for the whole world. Covid-19 has caused so many damages to the people and the country. Mauritius was on complete lockdown on the 31th of March 2020. Now, have you ever thought how the companies were and are still struggling to manage all the financial tensions to keep their businesses running? Let`s give it a thought, decrease of demand for products and services, the border closure, lack of funding, difficulties in finding local supplier and others affected the smooth running of businesses in Mauritius. The covid-19 pandemic led to a prolonged exposure to stress and panic. However, could there be any positive impacts of Covid-19 on businesses in Mauritius?
Top 9 Challenges faced by companies in Mauritius.
First let us see the top 9 challenges faced by companies in Mauritius. According to a research done by Statistics of Mauritius and a survey done by Business Mauritius, Covid-19 is blamed for the delay in deliveries because of the shortage of shipping and air freight. Apparently 67% companies declared that there is a decrease of demand for product and services, one perfect reason for this will be unemployment. During the pandemic a lot of people lost their job or were not getting paid thus many of them did not have any choice but to reduce their expenses. The border closure is affecting all the companies but probably the most affected is the Tourism Industry and the Textile industries. The tourism industry relies on international tourists and their income comes from them, no tourist no income.
Difficulties faced by companies to manage their business and workplace.
The covid-19 has triggered one of the most jobs crises since the Great Depression. Many companies across the world are trying their best to manage their workplace but due to many challenges faced because of covid-19 some businesses had to take actions and remove their employees. According to the statistics of Mauritius, 27% companies are planning to reduce their staffs due to the sharp economic downturn. Reducing staffs is one option to reduce costs. Also, there are 64% companies that have not even operated during lockdown. Lack of funding can be one of the reasons why many companies have not operated. Some of them cannot simply operate online for example, beauty salons and construction companies. The 67% companies that have not worked suggest that many employees were left unpaid and unemployed.
Are there any positive impacts of covid-19 on businesses?
It may sound weird to some of you or thinking why will there be any positive impact of covid-19 on businesses? But hey, there is… who would have thought that in just 3 weeks we will switch from face-to-face learning to online classes or working from home? Things that we thought would take years to achieve was done in only few weeks of time. However, this does not mean that covid-19 was not harmful or depressing for the entire world. The idea is covid-19 brought some good changes as we saw what can be achieved when there are distractions and how it pushed the companies to look for solutions that would not never be implemented if the pandemic never hit us. Covid-19 has pushed companies to use a new form of working and are using technology to its fullest and to some extent working from home is becoming our “new normal”.
