Damola Adesina
Lagos is a city where traffic can change everything. Two days ago, what many people expected to be another normal busy day turned into hours of frustration for thousands of commuters. Major roads and connecting routes were heavily affected, leaving many people stuck in traffic for several hours.
For the average commuter, it was a painful experience. But for entrepreneurs and business owners, the situation meant much more than wasted time. It meant lost money, delayed businesses, unhappy customers and, for some, unexpected opportunities.
In Lagos, traffic is not just a transportation problem. It has become part of doing business. One of the biggest victims of traffic gridlock is the small business owner. Considering a business that has three deliveries to make for such a day. If traffic turns a twenty minutes trip into an eight-hour journey, the business may never complete any delivery that day. The result is lost revenue and additional expenses.
Fuelling as part of the big concern, vehicles spent hours moving slowly or remaining in one position atimes for 30–60minutes, consuming fuel without covering much distance. For logistics companies, laundry businesses, food vendors and other businesses that depended on movement, this significantly increased operating costs. Businesses dealing with perishable goods faced even bigger problem. Food, vegetables, frozen products and other items got spoilt as deliveries were delayed for several hours. By the time the goods arrived, part of the expected profit may already be gone.
Then, the issue of time. An entrepreneur who spent five or six hours in traffic may have lost valuable time that could have been spent meeting a client, supervising staff, looking for new business or solving an important problem. Time is money, especially for a small business owner. Customers felt the repull effect.
The gridlock affected relationship between businesses and their customers. A customer who ordered food and expected it within an hour. A company that promised to deliver clothes, documents or products on a particular day, but the delivery vehicle is trapped in traffic, the business ended disappointing the customer.
The interesting flip atimes is that the customer understands, and sometimes they do not. Repeated delays can affect trust and reputation. This is why entrepreneurs operating in Lagos must think beyond simply providing a good product or service. They must also think about how traffic can affect their ability to deliver.
On another side of the dice, is that traffic gridlock also creates opportunities. Interestingly, while some businesses lose money because of traffic, others make money from it. Anyone who has been stuck in Lagos traffic knows the roadside traders’ approach. The moment traffic becomes heavy, vendors appear with water, snacks, fruits, drinks, phone chargers, car wipers and other items. For the person trapped in traffic, these products provides convenience. For the roadside trader, the same traffic represents a market that has suddenly become concentrated in one place. This is one of the interesting things about entrepreneurship. One person’s problem can sometimes become another person’s opportunity.
Traffic has also created opportunities for businesses that help people avoid the roads. Motorcycle delivery services, for example, can sometimes move through areas where cars and trucks struggle. In that same vein, opportunities for motorcycles popularly knows as okada riders, to become the prevailing means of transportation at such as time, navigating through narrow paths vehicle can’t. As much as the congestion of road can be caused by road construction/rehabilitation, violation of traffic rules, or driving one way, consideration should be given to alternate roads and other means of transportation, where applicable.
The simple take for me in all of these is that businesses should learn to adapt. The recent gridlock should make every Lagos entrepreneur put into consideration this major factor, the risks that come with transportation and movement in Lagos.
In this consideration, some of these questions should be attended to. Can some meetings be held virtually?
Can deliveries be planned at different times? Can inventory be kept closer to customers? Can the business use more than one delivery option? Can employees work remotely when traffic becomes unusually difficult? These questions are no longer luxuries. For many businesses, they are becoming part of business survival. Good entrepreneurs do not pretend that problems do not exist. They look at the problem, understand how it affects their business and find ways to work around it.
Beyond the Traffic, however, there is only so much that individual entrepreneurs can do. Lagos needs an efficient and well-connected transportation system that allows people and goods to move easily. Better roads, alternate roads, rail transportation, water transportation and improved traffic management can reduce the amount of time and money businesses lose on the road.
As entrepreneurs, cost of traffic is not only measured in litres of fuel or hours spent on the road. It is also measured in missed business opportunities, reduced productivity, damaged goods and frustrated customers. At the same time, the entrepreneurial spirit of Lagos continues to show itself. Where one person sees a problem, another person sees a market. Where one business is forced to slow down, another finds a new way to move.
That is the Lagos story. Traffic makes many entrepreneurs victims, but it also challenges them to adapt, innovate and find new opportunities. For the Lagos entrepreneur, therefore, the question is no longer simply, “How do we survive the traffic?” It is also, “How do we build a business that can continue to move, even when Lagos seems to stop moving?”
• Adesina is a business consultant based in Lagos