Experts urge entrepreneurs to acquire risk management skills

Following the continual demise of businesses in the small- and medium-scale (SME) category, experts have tasked entrepreneurs to acquire risk management skills to ensure that their businesses outlive them.

“Our ultimate goal should be to minimise threats and maximise opportunities,’’ said Joachim Adewusi, chief executive officer, Conrad Clark, during a recent BusinessDay-organised SME Forum held in Lagos.

He pointed out that a good SME manager must acquire knowledge of strategic objectives and be capable of identifying, assessing and evaluating risks, while also compiling a risk register. The entrepreneur must equally be ready to suggest risk treatment actions and implement action plans, he said. 

Experts often see risks as effects of uncertainties on objectives. In some cases, it is seen as the chance that an investment’s actual return will be different from what is expected.

Hence to manage these uncertainties which are inextricably linked with all businesses, analysts say entrepreneurs  must be able to identify, assess, and prioritise these risks. They say budding entrepreneurs must be capable of forecasting and evaluating financial risks, together with identifying procedures to avoid or minimise their impact. 

‘’The question is what do you see that others have not seen,’’ said Tunde Alabi, an expert on risk management, during the event.

‘’You cannot reap the fruit of a plant if your root or shoot is bad. You can call the root purpose, passion and perseverance, and  the shoot  message, offerings and channels. You may also see the fruit of these two as revenue, satisfaction and retention,’’ he added.

“I will not buy your business ideas if you do not show me your research. Do your research and analyse it, ‘’ he enthused, adding that most enterprises are built on passion, research, marketing, management, people, process and sales.

The consensus of most experts is that risk management skills are not necessarily acquired in institutions of learning but requires conscious and calculated efforts on the part of the individual business owner to learn issues around their environment. They say it is not an exclusive preserve of any individual or group but one skill that can make businesses or mar them (if absent).  

‘’We all have to take responsibility. We can all make a difference and be the change we wish to see in the world,’’ said David Hilson, global risk management consultant, popularly known as Risk Doctor.

 ODINAKA ANUDU