By Oscar Habeenzu | for Moakanyi Magazine
With the busy life that business executives, entrepreneurs, consultants and public figures are facing these days, sometimes your business needs a virtual assistant to grow!
As African economies dramatically and dynamically transform, there are two types of assistants that are needed by Consultants, Entrepreneurs, Diplomats, Retired Executives, Consultants, Academics, Preachers, Public Figures and Celebrities in Africa – Virtual Assistants, and Virtual Marketing Assistants.
A Virtual Assistant will perform various administrative tasks, including answering emails, scheduling meetings and making travel arrangements, able to handle administrative projects and deliver high-quality work under minimum supervision.
Some of the key responsibilities include Bookkeeping, Online Research, Database entries, Data presentations, Managing Email, Social tasks, Travel Research, Scheduling, Chasing business, and Industry knowledge preparations.
A Virtual Marketing Assistant is there for marketing needs of the business owner whose responsibilities include Blog Formatting, Social Media Graphics, Social Media Scheduling, Landing Page Design, Content Editing, Inbox Management, Content Research, Social Media Management, Freebie/Lead Magnet Design, Webinar Assistance, Keyword Research (SEO), PR/Marketing (Reach Out), Find Guest Post Opportunities, Track Your Business Stats, Customer Support, Organizational Tasks, Set Up Email Sequences, Email Newsletter Formatting, Calendar Management, and Proofreading.
The global phenomenon of working from home has brought the need to have virtual offices, and even virtual teams in many sectors in economies, Africa included.
A media company can be started, built and employ over hundred people, that are not even located in the same place, that is the power of the virtual office, and these offices need to be run by an administrator; therein lies the job of the Virtual Assistant.
Many retired executives have no time to be marketing their businesses as start-ups do, and the energy may not actually be there as it used to, hence need a person or people that do this virtually, including social media; therein the job of the virtual marketing assistant.
Public figures and celebrities are often accused of not being organised but truth of the matter is they are actually very busy because the home and life is actually on stage hence have not much time to have order in the back stage to ensure growth and profitability, that bringing a need for a person or people to do that; therein lies the job of the virtual assistant and virtual marketing assistant.
Due to transnational enterprise and trade in Africa, the well-travelled entrepreneur is often caught with the need to have a team that understands multi-economies than the resident market of the executive; therein lies the job of a virtual assistant.
A retired diplomat often finds it difficult to communicate with colleagues, access and exploit business opportunities available in previous engagements, as there is lack of dynamic coordination from an administrative perspective that can be a transitional bridge and spring-boarding the new dispensation of life; therein lies the job of a virtual assistant.
