Risk management institute counsels firms over COVID-19

BUSINESSES can absorb the impact caused by the coronavirus and protect operations by understanding where disruptions might sway value chains in case there was an outbreak in Zambia.

This is according to the Institute of Risk Management Zambia (IRMSA) Executive Director, Francis Ziba.

Mr Ziba observed that most businesses in Zambia were already experiencing the negative effects of supply chain interruption and that this was likely to get worse as the outbreak continued to spread.

e said the ust in time nature of man businesses su

strategies meant that many had little in-built to absorb delays of disruptions.

Supply chains, he said, particularly those in China had slowed down as manufacturing was not at full capacity and that with South

Africa restricting some of its borders, Zambia was bound to feel some of its effects.

Mr Ziba said this is a report prepared by his organisation tilled “Covid-19-How Ready if

Your Business?”

“Organisations should be contacting key suppliers to understand their plans and expectations on how they might be disrupted. It is also critical that they ask about their

su ier s e su iers, r Ziba said

He explained the need to recognise the amount of time before the actual impact occurred when assessing the impact of a disruption to the business ecosystem.

This, he said, was the best method for identifying gaps in the procedures and would give the businesses the highest chance of successful execution.

n organisation s abi it to effecti e res ond to a disru tion

of its workforce or critical third party not only depended on how effective you were in the planning process, but also how effective you were with the tools you have and the training you implemented.

“The tools you use to communicate, maintain situational

awareness, ro ide current information wi a so ha e a ma or

impact on the execution of the plan,” he said.