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In today’s hyper-connected business landscape, establishing a robust business community network has become a game-changing strategy for companies striving to flourish. A powerful business community network acts as a catalyst, fostering collaboration, sparking innovation, and generating exceptional growth prospects. By forging meaningful connections with fellow entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and prospective clients, businesses gain access to a vast reservoir of knowledge, indispensable resources, and unwavering support. At WymBee, we’ve witnessed the transformative power of these principles firsthand, and we’re already witnessing positive results, though we won’t divulge specific connections and partnerships at this stage. In this article, we delve into the transformative potential of building a strong business community network and its profound impact on unleashing growth and collaboration.
The influence of potent community networks has evolved into the predominant strategy embraced by global corporations for ensuring their survival and asserting dominance. Leading technology giants like Oracle, Microsoft, AWS, Google, and IBM have, over the years, made significant investments in nurturing developer and startup communities. Their overarching objective is to cement their technologies as the preferred foundation for entire generations, underscoring the pivotal role that robust community networks play in shaping the future of industries and markets. Similarly, banks have a long history of leveraging community ties for loyalty and customer validation. An exemplary case is Equity Bank, one of East Africa’s largest banking institutions, which strategically harnessed community networks to solidify its position in the market.
This transformative phenomenon hits close to home for us at WymBee, as we’ve been fortunate beneficiaries of Microsoft’s MSFT For Startups Founders Hub community. The support we’ve encountered within this program, encompassing invaluable mentorship, readily available infrastructure, and more, leaves an enduring imprint, creating an unparalleled magnetic network effect. The impact has been so profound that I’ve lost count of the founders and engineers to whom I’ve wholeheartedly recommended Azure, OpenAI, & more even though I haven’t used Windows OS in my PC since 2014.
https://medium.com/media/cbef4547a925d414fea48cf9cd35fd12/hrefThe impact has been so profound that I’ve lost count of the founders and engineers to whom I’ve wholeheartedly recommended Azure, OpenAI, & more even though I haven’t used Windows OS in my PC since 2014.
A well-established business community network offers an array of benefits, transcending mere access to partnerships and markets. It cultivates a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning, empowering businesses to stay ahead of industry trends, adapt to evolving customer needs, and gain a competitive edge. Moreover, a robust business community network provides a platform for the exchange of ideas, best practices, and invaluable insights. From mentoring programs to networking events, the advantages of actively participating in a business community are manifold.
Building a business community network is an extremely difficult thing to do. You have to genuinely enjoy it (it also takes a while to get this state of mind). As a company that is developing business community infrastructure for MSMEs, WymBee can attest to this fact. It takes relationship building with bankers, government officials, business owners, suppliers, etc. through an obscene amount of time and face-to-face interactions. Authenticity, patience, & knowledge accumulation are paramount, as there are no shortcuts to winning the trust and loyalty of your customers. Tech, then is reduced to a mere tool, kind of like that hammer you like - serving as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. I’m sure our patrons over at the JobTech Alliance would likely agree with this thesis as well.
WymBee (Kenya) - Jobtech Alliance
Community infrastructure is a linchpin for the survival of underdog enterprises and labor interests engaged in corporate or government bodies. It embodies collective bargaining, whether on the supplier or consumer end. Ever wondered how it is that retail prices in various community-associated stores in town remain consistent, irrespective of location.
The tragedy today is that business collaboration in the region has slowly become the preserve of medium & large companies. This shift is surprising given that, for the past century, business community participation was predominantly the practice of micro and small businesses. As the collaboration gap widens, micro-retailers and SMEs face an elevated risk of failure. Currently, the rate of failure among African SMEs stands at approximately 84% within the first 5 years of operation. Micro and small businesses are struggling with their ability to adapt to market dynamics, meeting customer expectations, and innovating at the same pace as their collaborative, larger counterparts. This situation leads to market erosion as SMEs lose ground to mainstream competitors and face reducing resilience during economic uncertainty or crises.
The GTM strategy executed at WymBee revolves around the use of business community infrastructure to resolve deadstock accumulation for our portfolio businesses. We are determined to ensure that MSMEs are not stuck with inventory they cannot sell for longer than necessary, especially since for heavily leveraged small businesses, unsold inventory is not a hedge against inflation but an interest-accruing liability.
It takes relationship building with bankers, government officials, business owners, suppliers, etc. through an obscene amount of time and face-to-face interactions.
You can read more articles from us in our LinkedIn newsletter or the WymBee Blog.
The Lazarus Network By WymBee | LinkedIn
