SME without wings – beginning of a new era?

Ilast sat on a flight from Kolkata to Dubai on March 6 this year. The connection tickets in two days to Istanbul were already bought and hotel room booked for my wife and me. Two separate tickets were in place for boys to reach Istanbul almost at the same time from Amsterdam. A young couple from Kolkata, Puja and Anshul, had arranged their marriage in Istanbul. Their parents, Debi and Alok, had made meticulous planning to make sure their friends and relatives reach for the joyous occasion and enjoy the best of their hospitality. Such was the time we lived; such was the global ambitions we could have during our old good days in 2019 BC (Before Corona).

Just on landing in Dubai, I received a call from Alok. “Suvra, looks like we are cancelling the destination marriage programme in Turkey. Doctors and even the airline are not allowing my mother and grandparents of the groom to travel. Looks like the virus has managed to travel out of China and create a furor everywhere. Sorry, we are calling off the party. Sorry for the inconveniences.”

I silently accepted their decision. My wife’s face was blank because like any lady, her plan had all the intricate details of what to wear when.

Reaching home from the airport, I contacted my Ukraine office and informed them that my Istanbul event is cancelled, so I would be reaching Kiev for business meetings. Then I picked up Khaleej Times to find out that some countries are considering to suspend air travel as it was believed that the virus would travel through cross-continent human movement. When media reports started to get too sterner to neglect, calls started coming from friends and colleagues, who were also frequent travellers like me: “What’s happening, man?”

One main reason why we expanded our presence to Dubai is the travel ease it offers. The number of countries and cities you can reach straight from Dubai and their frequency is unmatched when compared to Kiev. As a frequent flying family, we chose to live in the Mirdif area of Dubai, as reaching airport from our home is barely a ten-minute drive.

And now in November, I am still counting the months I have been stranded. My senses had been addicted to the roaring sound of aircraft and the bustling airport scenes. It was not easy for me to adjust with the void. The craving intensified every week until my senses started to accept the new normal.

Travel begets business; business begets travel — that’s what I had understood from the day I chose international business as my passion three decades back. I have been a witness to how international travel evolved over the years. I recall the days when smoking was allowed on board. Colourful tickets were purchased from the air companies or travel agents; boarding a flight was as easy as boarding a bus; and pilots showed cockpits if requested politely. Flights those days were very expensive and international travel was out of reach for most people. In contrast, in 2019, one could travel from one continent to the other with air tickets costing $300 or even cheaper if planned early.

Travel also helped SMEs in economically vibrant countries increase their global reach. Today, as a CEO of an SME, I have travelled more than 70 countries and established trade relations that are mutually beneficial. SMEs cannot afford to hire risk management experts. Super specialists that expensive business schools produce are beyond the budget of the SMEs. Frequent travelling, gathering information, meeting large number of market players and finally applying inhouse research and intuition are some of the methods SMEs employ to push viable business proposals.

Now, nine long months after grounding, airlines have no clue when the industry would return to the pre-Corona era. International trade model is based on constant travel. During trips, we find new partners; cement the contacts found on the net, exhibitions and conferences; evaluate risk; invoke trust; and grow new businesses. Certainly, digitisation has come to our rescue, but we are now aware its strengths and weaknesses.

So, when businesses don’t travel, we hear the call back to the future of localised business environment. Many air companies are on the verge of insolvency; and 200 airports in Europe are reported to be facing bankruptcy. Flying may become expensive, troublesome and complicated. Business would have to explore cheaper ways to fly.

In the new normal, can countries like Singapore attract foreign talents back on the island? Will Apple or Google get their Chinese, Indian or Russian engineers to agree to travel to the valley if they know they don’t have the option of travelling anytime anywhere anymore? Will Asian parents send their children to coveted foreign universities in large numbers? To what extent the globalisation empowered by inexpensive air travel can give way to localisation! Looks like the virus has clipped our wings for now, but it has thrown new challenges and opportunities at perpetual optimists. Time to think different.

And now in November, I am still counting the months I have been stranded. My senses had been addicted to the roaring sound of aircraft and the bustling airport scenes. It was not easy for me to adjust with the void.