Good Business Basics: More needs to be done to mitigate rolling power outages
With the economy appearing to finally be emerging from the devastation of the Covid pandemic, the last thing needed is more impediments and challenges.
A casual comment from my daughter the other day, that she had lost R750 odd rand in income due to Eskom’s load shedding got me thinking about the impact of power outages on, particularly, small businesses.
Given that small businesses are recognised as the drivers of employment creation, much more emphasis needs to be placed, in my view, on mitigating the debilitating effects of rolling power outages, which by all accounts is something we are going to live with as a country for many more years.
With the economy appearing to finally be emerging from the devastation of the Covid pandemic, the last thing needed is more impediments and challenges. Most small businesses, particularly those operating online or virtually that I have encountered, have impressed me with the levels of planning and professional management shown.
They generally operate off rigorous budgets and business plans. So how do they manage when their revenue is curtailed due to power cuts preventing them from servicing their clients, as was the case with my daughter’s online tutoring business.
So how are they expected to fill the revenue deficit, and still meet their other obligations such as rent, food and the like? Bearing in mind that Eskom imposes load shedding at extremely short notices, there is very little room to reschedule sessions.
Consider the case of a hair salon, that is unable to honour booked appointments due to short notice load shedding. A large proportion of cancelled appointments will never be rebooked, which means that the revenue that would have been generated is lost completely from the local economy.
The same with food outlets that rely on set periods, say, staff lunch breaks to generate the bulk of their business. Lost business is gone forever.
It beggars belief that the government of the day has subjected our economy to 14 years of power interruptions with what appears to be no plan or meaningful intention to bring it to an end.
Vijay Naidoo is the CEO of the Port Shepstone Business Forum. He writes in his personal capacity. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
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