This Saturday, March 11, marks the three-year anniversary of the declaration of a Covid-19 pandemic in Mexico. At the time we thought we would only be in quarantine for a couple of weeks, however, social distancing went on for months.
During this health crisis, we are facing great loss of loved ones, jobs, economic crisis and the disruption of our way of life to shape the “New Normal”. However, recent years have also shown us solidarity, innovation and resilience.
We asked some of the most successful entrepreneurs and executives what they’ve learned from the pandemic and if they had any advice for their pre-Covid-19 selves to share with our readers to prepare for a future crisis.
This was the response of Nicolás Cresci, Chief Growth Officer and co-founder of WAO!, a social e-commerce platform that bets that micro-entrepreneurs can generate extra money for their finances through their technology using their social networks.
Painting critical paths are essential factors for success: Nicolás Cresci
“For me the Covid-19 pandemic left many lessons. As an Argentinian entrepreneur with a lot of experience and therefore with a lot of experience in the subject, my first lesson was to adapt quickly to uncertainty. For a moment the world stopped and no one knew for sure what to do.
This is about the second learning that I think is to accept and be open to change ALWAYS. My company, WAO, was born in the midst of a pandemic in a 100% digital way and with remote teams distributed throughout the entire American continent. Therefore, we adapted very quickly to what was coming and this type of flexibility has allowed us to survive and grow.
As a third teaching being a technology startup, I can say that in many cases it helped us so that the most repetitive and tedious tasks were not the focus of the teams’ attention. That they can concentrate on generating real value for the company with innovative initiatives.
The fourth -and here I put two in one-, are the processes and efficiency. Knowing, understanding and painting the critical paths are essential factors for a company to be successful in the long term.
Always have a Plan B on hand
Fifth and last, it is necessary to understand that companies and consumers changed the way they transact forever and there is really no return to the previous way. Ecommerce, the industry to which I belong, took off definitively in the pandemic, at the mercy of people’s need to continue consuming products and services.
This prompted the ‘Talk to my friend who sells this or that’ or ‘My neighbor has a company of X item and he sends it to you’. In short, business by referral and by trust.
Now, to me three years ago, I would recommend that you be more efficient in controlling inventories and expenses to ensure constant liquidity. Make use of credit lines to leverage the business and always have at hand, thought and rethought, a Plan B, that alternative that can get you out of a problem quickly”.
March Violante Martha Elena Violante (March Violante) is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emprendedor.com and has a 10+ year career in digital journalism. She has interviewed figures such as Randi Zuckerberg, Daniele Lamarre, Zoe Saldana, among others. She has worked in media such as Entrepreneur in Spanish and English, Alto Nivel, Cine PREMIERE, México Desconocido, among others. “We are entrepreneur.com”