In today’s rapidly changing economic environment, for businesses big and small, another “AI” is key- adaptive intelligence! This is a competitive advantage for MSMEs. Coaching can enable your business to unlock this “AI” in the complex BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible) world we are in 2025. “AI” helps MSME leaders go beyond surviving every day—but into thriving—with (a) clear thinking, (b) productive people dynamics, and (c) impactful results.
How can Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) gain significant strategic, operational, and human capital advantages? First, consider these three MSME trends in the current year.
MSME Emerging Trends in India (2025)
The Role of Indian Manufacturing in the Viksit Bharat vision for 2047 can only be significant if these trends are specifically addressed.
- Digital Maturity: Out of 64 million MSMEs in India, only about 7.7 million (Only 12% or 1 in 8) have achieved digital maturity, indicating a significant gap to be replaced with opportunity for growth and development.
- AI Adoption: 70% of MSMEs are expected to embrace AI tools, achieving up to 30% productivity gains, despite challenges like cost and digital literacy.
- Learning & Development: 58% of Indian organisations have increased their learning and development budgets for FY25, focusing on areas like AI, machine learning, and data science.
We will see next how these trends restrict the power MSMEs need to unleash in 2025 and how coaching can help them step up to these challenges.
- Digital Transformation: With 60% of MSMEs set to digitise by 2025, coaching can guide leaders in effectively adopting and integrating new technologies.
- AI Integration: As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes central to operations, coaching can help MSMEs navigate its implementation and leverage its benefits.
- Sustainability Practices: With a growing emphasis on eco-friendly operations, coaching can assist MSMEs in integrating sustainable practices into their business models.
- SME Futures Global Market Access: Coaching can prepare MSMEs to meet international standards and expand into global markets, aligning with government initiatives.
- SME Street Regulatory Compliance: With evolving regulations, coaching can help MSMEs stay compliant and adapt to new legal frameworks.
Here are the top benefits coaching provides to MSMEs to create powerful opportunities.
Strategic Clarity and Focus: MSMEs often juggle multiple priorities with limited resources. Coaching helps leaders step back, reflect, and focus on what truly matters. To deal with the BANI challenges, one needs a clear vision and a purpose-led strategy. Better goal alignment across teams and early identification of market trends and pivots are key areas coaching can help with in the hyperdynamic changes of the market, technology, and geopolitical landscape.
Leadership Development and Owner Mindset Shift: MSME founders and managers often rise through hands-on experience but may lack structured leadership development. Opportunities unlocked include evolving from operator to strategic leader, empowered delegation and decision-making, improved team trust, and reduced founder dependency.
Team Performance and Culture Building: primarily focused on small teams that intensify people’s dynamics. Coaching supports healthy communication and a growth-oriented culture. Hence, unlocked opportunities include (a) enhanced collaboration and reduced conflict, (b) role clarity and accountability, and (c) motivation and retention of top talent.
Resilience and Adaptive Capacity: MSMEs are vulnerable to external shocks (market shifts, funding shortages, regulatory changes). Coaching builds adaptive strength. Opportunities unlocked are in Improved stress management and mental well-being, Stronger responses to uncertainty and failure, and the Capacity to innovate under pressure.
Preparation for getting coached
Many MSMEs get stuck in the “founder/family bottleneck.” Coaching introduces systems thinking for sustainable growth, with opportunities to shift from ad-hoc to process-driven operations, prepare for funding, partnerships, or expansion, and Better use technology and delegation.
Unfortunately, many MSMEs have not yet worked with coaches in India. Hence, they may not be very conversant about what coaching is or is not. This intervention, though quite common in corporates, is relatively new in the MSME environment. Hence, MSME needs some handholding initially to prepare for it and make it effective and efficient.
The best place to start is with the “Why”? Typically, small business owners have coaching goals to increase their revenue, improve profitability, and unlock long-term success. Next, since you are getting a coach, ensure you know how to select them and ask what they offer, like tools, framework, and systems to support your company’s performance, OKRs and other transformative journeys. Finally, to make engagements crisp, consider creating a coaching brief detailing your reasons and expectations for engaging a coach and what you want from them.
Below are some points to consider in this regard:
Although coaches’ operating methods may vary, they typically provide coaching and consulting support to small business clients, help clients grow revenue and profits using our proven frameworks, and customise client strategies based on industry, goals, and market trends. They also Utilise our proprietary tools, templates, and business systems, work remotely, and maintain a flexible schedule.
Typically, all Coaches have these credentials, including but not limited to decades of experience in business, coaching, consulting, leadership, or operations. They also have strong communication, critical thinking, and client relationship skills, a growth mindset with the ability to work independently, a genuine desire to support small business owners, and a proficiency in tools and frameworks to help MSME succeed.
Thus, in the fast-shifting landscape, MSME leaders in India face more than just business challenges, like disorienting dilemmas that cloud judgment, fragment teams, and stall execution. Leverage your coaching journey by design to cut through that fog. By blending strategic insight with grounded coaching practices, MSMEs can help move from confusion to clarity, from reactivity to resilience. Whether grappling with digital transformation, talent retention, or strategic direction, coaching equips you to lead decisively, communicate authentically, and execute brilliantly. This ensures your business not only survives 2025 but thrives beyond it adaptively.
