How to improve your enterprise immunity to COVID-19? Some food for thought from SEED Indonesia Winner 2019 Mycotech

Pictured from left to right is the Mycotech team. (Front): Yusuf Nurhadi, Annisa Wibi, Arekha Bentang. (Middle): Robbi Zidna, Adi Reza, Erlambang Ajidarma. (Back): Ronaldiaz, Hasan. Photo credit: Mycotech. 

The term “survival of the fittest” suggests that organisms best adjusted to their environment are the most successful in surviving, it seems this also applies to business in tough times.

Adaptiveness is certainly a quality that Adi Reza Nugroho, the CEO of Mycotech, an enterprise producing leather and leather products from mushrooms, has in spades. Resilient to changes, positive but not too optimistic, he hopes for the best but prepares for the worst. Here he shares his coping strategies dealing with the COVID situation.

SCENARIO PLANNING

“Scenario planning is a good start for any enterprise facing the crisis. Think in 2 month, 4 month and 6 month scenarios”

Then, together with your team, plan a quick response to the situation. Reevaluate and adjust it according to the changing situation every week.

MONITORING MONEY

During the scenario planning, ask the question “how long is your cash runway?” If the answer is less than the expected ‘lockdown’ period then you have to adjust quickly.

For Mycotech, although we only consider the scenario of 2, 4 and 6 months realistic, we are fine with 1 year cash runway. If our business resumes in June – July for current customers and September for new orders, we are still able to handle this. Unless the lockdown lasts more than 6 months then we need to do the scenario thinking again.

MAKE (TOUGH) DECISIONS

Mycotech decided to “put its employee’s health first”  by reducing operational staff at any working shift to 50%. With this reduction in capacity, it has had to shut its production line and only keep the maintenance line (mushroom growing) running. Although at this stage, a pay cut for staff is not necessary, they monitor the situation closely and regularly re-evaluate it at the weekly scenario planning meeting, says Adi.

HUMAN TOUCH (Not literary!)

“Don’t social distance from your customer, keep them engaged in new ways”

Be sure to maintain a relationship with your customers at this time. Meanwhile, also try to find ways to explore and expand to new markets. Send them product samples, study their work cycle etc. and use your assumptions and experience in your scenario calculations as well.

MAINTAIN MENTAL HEALTH

Your team’s mental condition during this isolation time cannot be overlooked. Engage them in fun activities outside work to keep the team spirit going.