Growing with limited resources

The world is currently in a state of uncertainty. People are having to deal with a worldwide health emergency and worry about keeping themselves safe. Despite this, they also have to earn income and in a world that was grounded to a halt only a few months ago, that is not as easy as it used to be.

Several countries around the world are experiencing some form of recession or the other. But what does all of this mean for businesses and startups in Africa? According to Harvard Business Review, only 9% of businesses do well after a recession, and 17% don’t even make it at all.

This is why, for startups doing business in these times, it is important to think strategically about how to channel limited resources to achieve organisational goals and objectives. This in essence is the focus of growth in any organisation.

Growth is a word that is becoming more common in the dictionary of big Fortune 100 companies and startups the world over. New titles around growth personnel have emerged in recent times for example, ‘Director of Growth’ or ‘Chief Growth Officer’. This is not by chance. Startups and SME’s are beginning to realise that to drive revenue and sales at a faster pace, growth has to be systemised in the routines and processes of the business.

There are a number of routes to achieving growth in an organisation. At alGROWithm however, we believe that growth engineering is a sustainable approach to driving growth for startups particularly in an emerging market like Africa. Growth engineering is a mindset and process in that it is conceptualised and systemically engineered across the scope of the value chain from product to marketing and operations.

Systematically engineering growth in a way that optimises resources for startups will require a shift from traditional marketing efforts where resources are expended based on forecasts and assumptions. Rather, the growth engineering process focuses on analysing growth bottlenecks, formulating strategies to tackle these bottle necks and rapidly testing to see if these strategies are moving the organisation towards the desired goals. This process ensures that startups expend limited resources on strategies that have been tested and proven to drive the organisation towards achieving its growth targets or objectives.

The growth ecosystem in Africa is an emerging one and at first glance it may seem like a daunting task to drive growth within the context of an organisation with multiple variables. At alGROWithm we have curated resources and tools to support founders, tech startups and SME’s to gain growth knowledge and drive growth objectives in their organisation.

You can take our alGROWithm growth quiz here to assess how much you know about growth

You can also register for our basics or advanced growth course here to bridge your knowledge gaps about growth and also gain tools and resources to start driving growth in your start-up.