Dealing with COVID-19 – Best Business Practices

Endeavor is an entrepreneur support organisation by and for entrepreneurs. Given the current situation,
Endeavor hosted an urgent webinar to discuss best practices on how entrepreneurs should weather through
this storm.

Over 60 entrepreneurs shared and discussed key priorities, best practices over the webinar. Here are our key
takeaways:

On main priorities to address:

 Role in Isolation
 Role as Debtors & Creditors (Cash flow)
 Traditional BCP
 Employee Welfare

Role in Isolation  Establish a close contact list of anyone who displays symptoms of COVID-19.
Definition of close contact = 2 metres OR interaction lasting more than 15 minutes.
The starting date of the list should be 14 days pre developing symptoms. Put it all
together, contact the Ministry of Health, and email the contact list out.
 Some companies shared that they’ve closed offices 2 weeks prior to the ‘lockdown’
as part of a ‘Rational Overreaction’. We did this because:
o It is a civic duty & responsibility
o Prevent any kind of spread
o Test BCP 2 weeks in advance
 This is a 1 in a 100 years occurrence so we need to respond accordingly with
extreme measures
 As founders/ CEO, 2020 is a write off as consumer spending is affected and won’t
recover anytime soon given the stage of the outbreak

Role as Debtors  There will be a liquidity crunch so #1 focus should be on cash flow. Create a daily
& Creditors 3-scenario simulation for the next 3 months:
(Cash flow) o #1: 3 months without zero cash coming into the business
o #2: No operating cash flow (cash flow cut by 50%)
o #3: Cash flow is cut by 25%
 Defer all non-essential spending (expansion plans, new office, printing press,
warehouses etc.) to conserve & inject cash back into daily operations and to fulfil
customer receipts
 Understand how much cash you have now:
o Call banks to understand how they can help you (they’ve learned in the
past that Central Banks will ease loans/ relax non-performing loans)
 As CEO, list out all cash in & out (payouts, net cash) of the business onto an
Excel sheet to understand what sucks the most cash
 Prioritise payments – you must make all statutory payments (EPF, Income Tax
Deductions) first before paying secured creditors (banks), unsecured creditors, and
trade creditors and so on.
 Traditional BCP  This is not your usual BCP where there’s a flood or when a group of employees fall
ill – this situation has 5-6 negative elements i.e. consumer sentiment, work from
home, supply shortage, offices closed, limited travel etc., that form a perfect storm.
 BCP will test team diversity & premise diversity – you will understand the
overabundance of office space you have given that you have to carry on work with
offices being closed.
 You have to always prepare for an infection to hit your workforce so you need clear
processes
o Split teams & sites into two groups – Team A & B, Site #1 & #2; do not
allow both teams to come in contact with each other at any location & time
e.g. toilet, surau, canteen.

Employee  Have a conscience – pay cuts are only done when entering survival mode; it is
Welfare highly irresponsible to cut employee costs to improve operational metrics e.g.
profitability.
 There are many steps you can take before initiating pay cuts or voluntary leave e.g.
reduce advertising, cut non-essential expenditure.
 If the business is at risk of closing down/ further retrenchment, have discussions
with employees across the board on voluntary time off or pay cuts (this is between
employers & employees and requires full and genuine consent)
Others  Speak to your board and align them – the business should be going into survival
mode and short term growth should be sacrificed to ensure the company
survives
 For B2B businesses – everyone is going through a cash crunch so you need to
profile your clients on how essential your product is to them. Work around it by
initiating virtual discussions, manage client expectations and relationships.
 Review your position when negotiating with suppliers/ partners e.g. ask for rental
subsidies for the next 3-6 months, mall are empty moving forward and they won’t
want to lose tenants & will find it hard to replace tenants.

Endeavor is a global entrepreneur support organisation that spans across 37 markets. We help entrepreneurs
grow and scale by providing them access to mentorship, talent, capital & markets. To learn more, visit
www.endeavor.org for more details.