THE COVID-19 SIEGE, A HUGE LOSE THAN GAIN FOR INDIVIDUALS, ORGANIZATIONS & COUNTRIES.

Never in a life time have humans and in fact world economies been shut down due to a single treat that brings fear to both the high and low, rich and poor, weak and strong, healthy and sick, at the same time. A treat that is looking to wipe the entire earth of almost its entire population if not strategically managed.

The Corona virus which originated in Wuhan in China in late 2019 is no longer news in any country of the world as it has held almost all countries in the world to a standstill and a lock down. Over 1.7 million humans already infected by the Virus and well over a hundred thousand recorded death cases worldwide, with Spain, Italy & US among the worst hit.

The economic impact on individuals, corporate organizations & economics is so hard that only the Airlines, Auto & Tourism sectors of the world have lost well over $250 Billion worldwide. Over 17 million jobs have been lost in the US alone not to mention the entire world.

Demand for oil, as well as oil price has dropped significantly, as most economies and corporate organizations are out of operations, also mono economies like Nigeria and other third world economies are revisiting their annual budget and are in complete disarray. Forecast of countries GDP expected to drop worldwide instead of an increased of 2.5 percent increase predicted by IMF for 2020.

The future of these pandemic really looks bleak, if medical discoveries in terms of vaccines, anti bodies and drugs are not gotten as fast as possible. There is never a time where the medical field has been so vulnerable worldwide. The very best of Medical doctors are sacrificing and losing their lives in the battle field with Corona virus, as well as other medical practitioners like nurses and elderly care centers. In fact the world is far short of Medical personnel at the moment, Hospitals and equipment are far short of expectations.

What then does the future holds? Predictions are:

·         There would be huge discoveries in the field of Medicine on the Covid-19 as well as other huge discoveries in this field, as scientists are working tirelessly to end this pandemic and to make another history for human race.

·        The governments of the world would pay more attention to Medicine & health care, huge financial budgets will be made towards this sector.

·        The shortage of staff in the field of Medicine will make this sector boom in this decade and the next to come. There will be huge scholarships to encourage scholars into this field as well as pay raise, as the sector is seriously in shortage of personnel.

·        Power tussle among countries and governments will surely heightened, for example China might benefit more from this as they are almost the only country strategically producing most of the equipment for other countries of the world to fight the virus, which is not going well with countries currently at the seat of power.

·        The world might experience another Recession; this will be as a result of the slow start of most economies and economies already calling for their reserves to cushion the effect of the heat of the pandemic as well as lack of resources.

·        The third world countries, as well as poor economies will be the worst losers of the pandemic, even though they are not the worst losers yet in terms of death and infection rate worldwide. Countries likes Nigeria are really not strategically positioned being mono economies; oil slump will hit hard on them. Also the “Fictitious Spending” spree is causing a huge hole in the government funds. This will also make them go borrowing.

·        There will be new discoveries in Science, Medicines & Technologies. This will also cause a strategic shift in businesses. Businesses that have IT as their strategic tool will benefit more as “Social Distancing” will have some effect. Zoom had 10 million subscribers before the pandemic, but now have over 200 million subscribers as most meetings in the world are held virtually through the zoom platform. If Google & Apple succeeds in building apps to know if the next person close to you is having Covid-19, this might lead to more demand in sophisticated devices like phones.

·        Companies with good Working Capital Management standing will start up strongly after the pandemic. This is as a result of slow inflows of funds into the economies, as well as other companies trying to watch the directions of the economy before involving too much. Individual, corporate and government spending will be low at a start.

·        Innovation & creativity towards service delivery will be key for companies, as consumers taste and priorities will shift a little bit towards health care. Needs over Wants will prevail for consumers over the first few months after the pandemic? Some companies might even fold up as a result of shift in consumers taste; this will also lead to new companies starting up.

·        This is not the best time for Capital Projects for companies using more of debt financing to finance its operations. This might affect the working capital and getting funds after the pandemic might not be very easy to come by, as financial institutions will be more stringent in issuing out facilities for the short term, because of the initial high demand for facility that will happen.

·         E-commerce & Online Marketing will be strengthened as the social distancing phrase will come to play. Companies that can do deliveries without much crowd in the market space will also benefit to some extent. SMEs will also benefit, as countries like the US has already started planning to fund their SMEs because it is an easy way out of the pandemic and fighting the foreseen recession and huge job lost by its citizens. Good business ideas might also benefit from loans and funding.

·        Diversified Economies & Companies might feel less of the impact. Economies with diversified sectors will feel less of the impact compared to those that are mono based like Nigeria. Some companies with one line of non essential business that are not strategically position, with poor financial background stands the risk of difficulty in continuing operations.

·        There will be up surge in Health insurance worldwide. This will help transfer the risk of health expenses from individuals, companies and government. It also will help for the foreseeable future in situations like this.

IN CONCLUSION

With the IMF already forecasting recession and drop in the GDP for sub Saharan African countries, as well as the huge death rate recorded globally from the Covid-19 pandemic, and also the European Union planning a bail-out package for its member countries, the USA also planning bail out for its SMEs and China already up and running, it is no longer news that countries in Africa are the worst hit of the pandemic and are likely to suffer more in terms of its economies and its resources. Good leadership, with implementation of good strategies & policies, with strategic spending, will go a long way in cushioning the effect of the pandemic on sub Saharan countries.