This archive report was first published on 21 April 2020.
With the coronavirus pandemic driving companies into early graves, only the strongest and smartest firms will survive this economic maelstrom occasioned by Covid-19, which has infected nearly 2.5 million people worldwide, including 281 cases in Kenya as of yesterday.
Businesses with nearly zero chances of diversifying their revenue streams and with thin balance sheets have frantically gone for the scissors to restructure their operations. Some have instituted deep pay cuts and massively chopped their workforces to stay afloat, while others have sent their employees on unpaid leave.
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, so some businesses have backtracked from their long-held values to venture into new frontiers to snap up opportunities that the pandemic has presented. With consumers increasingly getting uptight as their sources of income dry up, some businesses have crafted inventive ways of extracting an extra dime from broke Kenyans.
With people being asked to stay at home, the new normal is home delivery. It is not just supermarkets and e-commerce companies that have gone into home deliveries; so have beverage companies such as East Africa Breweries Ltd. Many tech companies around the world are also seeing surging demand for their services.
Kenya Airways, for instance, has converted some of its passenger planes into cargo planes to stay afloat despite facing fierce headwinds. The airline has dispatched a cargo flight operated by its Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger aircraft from Nairobi to London loaded with 40 tonnes of fresh produce.
Hotels have also felt the weight of this pandemic after the government prohibited social gatherings. A few of them have been presented with glimpses of opportunity which they have latched onto with both hands. Two of them, Boma Hotels and Pride Inn Hotels, have been quarantine facilities for those forced to isolate themselves by the government to prevent the spread of the disease.
Some schools and colleges have also been cashing in by converting their empty classrooms and halls into holding facilities for people suspected to have been in contact with those who have tested positive for Covid-19. Institutions of learning have been making at least Sh2,000 per night per person.
