Randy Bikraj: Helping SMEs Rise With Technological Tools
One of the sectors hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic is the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This phenomenon is ubiquitous the world over. In the United States alone, mom and pop stores continued to fail as the coronavirus cases rose, despite COVID relief funds.
Painting a much disturbing scenario, are SMEs stuck in less developed countries scattered across sub-Saharan Africa. They felt the stinging pain of the lockdown in the absence of government assistance. And where such support exists, the resources are scarce. All these inadequacies were already present in a weak economic system pre-COVID-19.
But while SMEs slump to their demise, large corporations wax stronger using technology to accelerate profit margins. This seemed to be the model of the pandemic.
However, Randy Bikraj who partook in the MTN-led The Revv Program, asserted that small and medium businesses could attain the same success level when they tap into freely available technological applications to drive their business.
Currently, he assumes the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO). He is in charge of the company-wide strategy and backend systems that align and improve all IT functions and support business objectives.
Before now, he was the Chief Information Officer IT Shared Services (Hub) for the MTN Group until he joined MTN Nigeria in 2016.
With a voracious appetite for knowledge towards advancing his professional career, Bikraj obtained several professional and technical courses, some of which include; The Management Advancement Program (MAP) of the University of Witwatersrand (WITS) Business school, South Africa and The Global Advancement Program at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).
Marking his mark, Bikraj provided helpful insight to SMEs owners who aspired to grow their businesses using tech tools.
The Revv Program is a give-back initiative proposed by MTN Nigeria. It is geared towards impacting vitality on over 10,000 SMEs. The Revv Platform helps SMEs prioritize growth through relearning, rethinking, and retooling their businesses in a digital economy.
Attached to it is a series of business-related programs such as the Masterclass that is fashioned to impart relevant skills and knowledge to business owners. Here professionals guide business owners on how to maximise the output by leveraging available technological assets.
Also, an Advisory service was set up to provide daily insights and access to free digital training, advice from experts, and provision of bespoke suites to work more efficiently to increase sales and profits.
The Productivity Support is a compilation of practical tools, business resources and opportunities; including Solutions to help manage businesses remotely; etc. the additional feature of Access to New Markets is where MTN utilises its online real estate to create and drive awareness for SMEs.
In the end, a select number of SMEs, 200 precisely, were inducted into the Y’ello 200. An exclusive platform MTN Nigeria will be supporting the delivery of empowerment tools and awareness creation opportunities.
“Technology cost is extremely important to small businesses that are just starting up, and when you are in a start-up situation, you don’t have a lot of funding to put towards technology investments,” Bikraj said at The program that held virtually over Zoom, pointing out the problem SMEs face sourcing technological products.
He continued: “So you have to be very prudent with where you put your money. In reference to how important it is to have an online presence, look at cloud technology as opposed to having to build big data centres, deploy servers, storage, network etc… it is important for small businesses to look at alternative information that is available.
“Open sources applications will very easily support small businesses. When you go into larger corporate, larger enterprises… they are more tending towards the larger OEMs such as Oracle and Microsoft. But for a small business to be able to afford those sort of robust, major solutions, is certainly out of the way. Investments in technology are something that is an ongoing thing, and you have to continue investing in innovative technologies to grow your business.
“Technology is there to enable your business, and you should, as a small business, not have to focus all of your energy and time on technology solutions. And this is why there is so much available in the cloud space. Something like office 365, something from Microsoft, gives you your entire office suite. If you want to set up a business, an online presence is extremely important, but at the same time, you may want to service your customer. You need things like email, chat capabilities, you need to also use technology to set up your business.
“Our social media is based on technology. But it is a technology that is freely available. Things like Facebook, Instagram, we use to promote your business. It is all freely available. I will recommend small businesses to look at the most popular, cheaply available, online cloud-based solutions for a start-up,” he concluded.
Bikraj his a Higher Diploma (part Bachelor of Science) in Datametrics, Information Systems and Computer Science from the University of South Africa and is currently studying for an MBA from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland
