FOR James Matshubeng, managing director of Matoto Technologies, an ICT consultancy firm, the Covid-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to not “let a good crisis go to waste”.
While the pandemic has wreaked havoc to the economy, leading to a number of businesses closing shop, Matshubeng had to make more adjustments including on service offerings and emphasising value for money by utilising software and applications that clients were and are already paying for.
Matoto Technologies is a 100% black-owned ICT solutions company. The company provides products and solutions to a wide spectrum of end-users, including blue-chip corporations, small businesses, government departments and commercial sectors. The company has been operating for 13 years.
“Covid-19 has been brutal to society, never mind business. One of the difficult adjustments we had to make was having to let go of some of the employees as their roles became absolute due to clients working remotely and at home,” said Matshubeng.
The pandemic forced him and his team to transform how they did business.
“The biggest challenge the pandemic presented was fewer human interactions and because of that, entrepreneurs were forced to rethink the impact the new normal would have on its business operations, employees and clients. Tough decisions had to be made and time was not on anyone's side. We understood this and although we were under pressure, we believe we did the best as we could for the business,” he said.
Although the pandemic brought unfavourable conditions at a noticeably short space of time, he said, for entrepreneurs it was a wake-up call.
“Because it realigned us with the core foundations of entrepreneurship. What distinguishes us is our exclusive partnerships with Software giants like Nagios and Druva, where we are the only African distributor.”
Matshubeng called on the government to assist businesses, especially those that are specialised, like his company.
“The ability to dig deep and utilise one’s entrepreneurial acumen has been the difference for many. I think such competencies allowed some entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive under the pandemic.
“Entrepreneurs do not receive much support in South Africa and we have had to do it on our own but many of us are continuing on the journey and trying to build our businesses again.”