The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the world and our ways of life overnight. The World’s economy has dwindled, the signs of progress of businesses have been stalled, a lot of people have lost their jobs and some may not receive salaries in the coming months. Many organizations and businesses have recorded huge losses since the chaotic and rapidly evolving situation.
On March 11, 2020, a report on Independent.ng said Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, suffered a loss of about N240B in 5 hours. Twitter on the other hand, despite millions joining the platform for coronavirus news and updates, said it would suffer a drop in revenue in the first quarter of the year as the pandemic had made advertisers slash budgets. Other organizations and even the Federal Government of Nigeria have experienced a drop in the price of oil and revenue.
The number of confirmed cases in Nigeria has increased to 305 with 7 deaths and 46 recoveries. In these trying times, especially as the Federal Government may extend the current lockdown, and due to the nature of their businesses, some companies or organization will remain in business and continue to deliver goods and services during this pandemic.
Companies Providing Delivery Services
A growing number of businesses have closed due to the spread of the coronavirus, but delivery or courier companies are still operating. With many consumers afraid to leave their homes, as directed by the Federal and State governments, professional delivery services have stepped up to make sure goods are being delivered to homes and organizations. Nationwide, food and corporate delivery services like DHL, FedEx, Jumia, etc have been at an advantage, while local delivery services are also experiencing high demand.
Grocery Stores Patronage on Constant Rise
The entire public is adhering to the social distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19, most restaurants and eateries have closed, families and individuals are stocking up more on goods. This has helped large and most especially, small grocery stores experience increase in customer demand, not minding the outrageous hike in prices of items. However, large grocery stores with a wide range of goods have been forced to close down temporarily.
Banks And Other Financial Institutions
Financial services have changed a lot over time. It has gone from individuals having to go to a bank branch to make transactions on the ATM, to using a computer or mobile phone. Technology has made it possible for people to bank on their phones or gadgets without physical contact. The lockdown will alternatively increase consumers’ desire for digital banking services, which will generate funds for the institutions. Even after the lockdown, it is projected that more people would have embraced banking technology and services more than ever before.
Organizations Providing Technology Services
According to an article on Forbes’ Editorial Pick, Netflix has beaten Amazon, Disney+ and Hulu with over 42% as streaming doubles in the first quarter of the year. Netflix is undeniably the most popular streaming service among consumers right now. While other well-known tech companies are distressed about the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Netflix may become more important in the daily lives of Americans, Nigerians and those in other parts of the world, who are forced to stay at home and in front of their televisions.
According to Reelgood, Netflix has more than 2M subscribers to its streaming aggregation service. The most streamed movie in March 2020, “Spenser Confidential”, has over 5,067,000 viewers.
Marketwatch says, why Netflix has a higher advantage over other companies in 2020 is because of the volume of its catalog and the fact that it has completed most of its programming for the year. While others are still trying to build a catalog and coping with production shutdowns, Netflix is benefiting from the viral popularity of “Tiger King” and “Money Heist 4”.
A report on Historyville revealed that Eric Yuan, the founder, and CEO of Zoom has made about $4B in the first quarter of the year as there has been an increase in the usage of his video conferencing software due to COVID-19. Yuan was for the first time on April 7, 2020, included on Forbes’ list of billionaires with a net worth of $5.5B.
Tiktok is an American YouTube channel that has a net worth of about $5,000 as of April 2020, $2.1M as of March 2020. According to Sensortower, in February 2020, people downloaded TikTok 1.5B times in the App Store and Google Play store which made Tiktok the most downloaded non-gaming App in February. TikTok has the highest follower engagement rates across 100,000 user profiles sampled in an online research project conducted by Influencer Market Hub. There are more than 119M active users in India, 400M active users in China, 2M more active women users than men in the US, and more than 500M active users worldwide.
The coronavirus pandemic has dominated the headlines since January and has slashed more than half of the technology fortunes, yet Google is still one of the top richest billionaires in technology in 2020. Google was used by President Trump to set up a website for Americans to find nearby coronavirus screening sites and launched on March 16, 2020. It was able to provide information on four countries in California. CEO and board member of Google, Larry Page’s fortune has increased by $100M since late last year.
Internet Service providers
Service providers worldwide are reporting increased demand for broadband and entertainment services as the COVID-19 has led companies and businesses to instruct workers to work from home. Internet usage is now up about 60% in some parts of the world especially as more aspects of our daily lives have moved online. The coronavirus has made it such that physical education, doctors’ appointments, businesses, corporate work, etc have moved online, which requires 100% usage of the internet.
There is a huge surge on the internet, the majority of people now log on from home. Vodafone, which operates in about 65 countries, says it has already experienced data traffic in some markets. A good number of collaborative working platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft teams are reportedly trying to keep up with users’ demands.
More people have used the video-conferencing software zoom in the first quarter of 2020 than in any other year since its inception. Video views are increasing, live views are up, and video calls have replaced face-to-face interaction with family, friends, and colleagues.
The internet service providers seem to be doing just fine with the sudden burst of usage in its history. While other businesses have seen little or no patronage, for each stay-at-home entertainment, movie or video streaming, online gaming, video call or website usage, internet service providers gain more.
In conclusion, we can then say that, for most businesses, the Coronavirus crisis is driving the biggest expansion in years.
