CIMSME : Council Members pledge unconditional support to micro, small enterprises

As you all know, Confederation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is an organisation which always aims at handholding and supporting entrepreneurs.

This festival season, let’s take a step ahead and aim to support each and every member of our community.

Businesses of all sizes have been hit hard in this challenging new age of social distancing and self-isolation, but the blow has been catastrophic for small operations that rely on in-person transactions.

We have always received support from you, and now we are writing this personal message to seek your help once more.

Confederation have 55-60% micro, small entrepreneurs from Textile, Fashion, Artists, Artisans, Gifts, and others.

A new survey of CIMSME found that 87 percent of small business owners say they are struggling due to the coronavirus.

In addition to state and central government aid, small businesses need our support right now. Here are 8 ways consumers can help.

1. Buy a gift card for a friend — and encourage them to buy for someone else

Purchasing gift cards is a great idea for businesses that you are going to use anyway. “It gives [businesses] like salons, hand made dress, gift and food some cash to support employees and reassures them that they will still have customers.”

If you have the means, think of approaching gift cards like you would a chain letter. Send a gift card to your favourite business to a local friend, and then ask them to do the same for another business.

If every customer purchased a gift card to give to a friend that didn’t have any prior awareness of the business before, that person who received the gift card is more likely to purchase at least one time, then depending on their experience and satisfaction, become a repeat customer over time. This can create a ripple effect on customer acquisition and retention over time. Confederation will be issuing gift coupon for smeglocal.com or nisttha.cimsme.in to promote micro, small enterprises through it.

2. Order takeout — it’s deemed safe by experts

Ordering takeout is one of the best ways to support restaurants right now, and provided you wash your hands thoroughly before and after eating, there is no added cause for concern over COVID-19 contamination. Local small businesses will be advised to publish their buy, sale and gifting advertisement on smeglocal.com for promoting gift card driven takeout. 

3. Social media shoutouts are free. Give them generously.

“With more businesses going digital and needing to build traction, ‘liking’, commenting, reposting, tagging us in your purchases and unboxing videos [on social media] really helps with engagement, which, in turn, leads to more visibility and sales,” says Nabomita Mazumdar, National Chairperson, CIMSME. Digital Transformation cluster will be leading this.

Social media plugs are a free way to show your support and the payoff is almost instantaneous.

4. Need soap, sanitizer? Visit a local artisan’s site

Remember: You don’t have to visit a physical store to shop at a local business, says Praveena Thota, National General Secretary, CIMSME. Many small stores have websites that take online orders. Mega-retailers like Amazon are struggling to keep up with demand for important items like soap, sanitizer so check in with local artisans in your area. You have to wash your hands more often anyway, so why not treat yourself to handmade soap?”

5. Shop at niche groceries and sign up for a CSB to support local farms

If you’re finding empty shelves and long lines at big retailers, please think about whether there is a small niche market nearby that you could support instead — especially if it’s a local market that supports local farms,” says Ms. Anju Bajaj, President, CIMSME. Smeglocal.com vendors and nisttha.cimsme.in users will be part of the CSB.

A lot of farms rely significantly on business from restaurants, so getting more orders from the local grocer will help to offset some of the setback. One practical way to give back and support the farms is to sign up for a CSB, or community supported businesses on smeglocal.com. We are offering our customers the opportunity this year to sign up for a CSB which will provide them with local and seasonal food throughout the entire summer and fall and in turn guarantees many small farmers a source of revenue throughout the growing season. It also supports our business as a small grocer in the community.

6. Donate your expertise with a free consultation

Business owners need legal, accounting and insurance help negotiating issues, outstanding debts and granular disputes,” Amit Singal, Vice Chairperson, says. If you are a CEO, CFO or in-house lawyer stuck at home, try calling your favorite local businesses to simply consult with them, help answer pressing questions and alleviate fears.

7. Been meaning to leave a positive review? Now’s the time to do it.

“People have more time to leave positive reviews and personal testimonies on amazon, Google and other online platforms,” Santosh Ganesh. “That can help to direct new clients to [the business].
Love adds that a glowing review also “helps us business owners stay sane by putting a smile on our faces”.

8. Be patient. We’re all adjusting to this new normal.

“The pandemic has disrupted nearly everything for businesses — including supply chains, vendor reliability and employee productivity,” says Mukesh Jagwani, National Joint Secretary. “Much of the business world is scrambling to keep things together and adjust to this new normal. It’s always uplifting and morale boosting when we hear from customers who are empathetic to what we’re going through.”

As Mahatma Gandhi said, let’s be the Change we want to see in the world.

We as a community have To Be The Change.

Let’s rewrite history.

About CIMSME: Confederation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CIMSME) and Centre of Excellence for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CEIIE) is unit of International Council of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering registered entity in India and a registered corporation in Delaware USA. Confederation is a national business network of 9,361+ leading entrepreneurs. Founded in recent past by a group of young entrepreneurs, Confederation enables business owners to learn from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life.

CIMSME: 120 Days of lockdown 

• Conducted various knowledge sessions
• Impacted 7000+ unique entrepreneurs last 120 days of lockdown
• Reinforced district, state and national council
• Conducted EDP with 2012 Participants
• Strong presents across 20+ states in India
• 11+ countries international trade collaboration
• Celebrated global leadership dialogue – 4 countries (sri lanka, netherlands, scotland, trinidad & tobago
• Signed up 6 agreements for centre of excellence for innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship
• Constituted global virtual industry cluster framework – national initiative for social, technological and trades holistic advancement (nisttha)
• Nisttha operating in kerala, tamil nadu and karnataka
• Launched smeglocal.com, nisttha.cimsme.in 
• Have active 9376+ active members