Covid 19 – the abrupt chaos, fear, panic, social distancing, isolation, global shutdowns, deaths, cries and indeed a complete halt to daily hustling and living patterns all across the globe. It would be an understatement to say that the novel coronavirus pandemic has altered the planet. The virus has upended people’s lives in this little span of two and half years since it first appeared. Nonetheless, the world has weathered this unprecedented phase and is still in the midst of it, but humanity is gradually learning how to approach the crisis, its dynamics, and how to deal with it. Despite the fact that the pandemic has shaken the chores of our daily lives upside down and left us in distraught, it is imperative that we find a way out and return to normalcy.
From education to entertainment, recreational, traveling, fashion, agricultural and constructional industries, the pandemic has left everyone vulnerable. Hundreds of millions of businesses were facing the existential threat. Nearly half of the world’s 3.3 billion workers were on the verge of losing their jobs. Workers in the informal economy were particularly vulnerable as they lack social security, as well as having lost access to productive assets. Because of the lack of income, many people were unable to feed themselves and their families throughout the lockdowns. For the vast majority of people, no money means no food, or at the absolute least, less food and a precarious financial situation.
In the similar way, pandemic has been an unprecedented crisis for small scale ventures. Despite the fact that the global startup economy is still vast, with a worth of roughly $3 trillion, the Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on it. The pandemic has proven to be a “mass extinction event” for enterprises, according to Startup Genome’s latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report. In Pakistan, the economic consequences of the pandemic and accompanying lockdowns are especially severe for startups and small enterprises, given that many have had to halt operations, implement wage cutbacks, and fire or furlough their workforces to get through this period. Pre-Covid-19, Pakistan’s startup ecosystem was thriving; nevertheless, enterprises in the travel/e-tourism, e-commerce, mobility (transit), and on-demand sectors were among the hardest damaged by the pandemic. According to a study, 49 percent of the 101 startups that took part in the poll temporarily ceased their operations.
Following such testing times, most firms found it difficult to keep their financial wheels moving during the lockdown era due to lower revenue churn; yet, the current atmosphere is an ambitious time for entrepreneurs to develop the startup of their dreams. The virus has not been eradicated, but society has learned to live with it by accepting the ‘new normal,’ and as a result, world affairs have returned to normal and the corporate sector is evolving at the same rate as before. In the current scenario, entrepreneurs must work to rebuild their startups and they should not consider the impacts of the pandemic as an excuse for their failure anymore. To limit risks and endure the delay induced by the impact of COVID19, startup businesses are required to adapt to a new set of laws and survival methods.
The fact that Covid 19 has transformed the nature of business is necessary to keep in mind in order to rebuild the enterprise in the post pandemic era. You may need to think about how your company can pivot to accommodate a new normal. If you previously relied on foot traffic to a physical site for sales, you may need to consider a digital expansion to suit the growing number of consumers who shop from home. The pandemic ushered in a new era of digitization that was previously unimaginable. Similarly, the pandemic has highlighted the value of multistakeholder engagement and the importance of systemic resilience. The fabric of trust must be instilled among seemingly disparate parties in order to properly create these components. For businesses to rebuild their operational capacity, systemic cooperation will also be essential.
Aside from that, the first stage in designing a COVID-19 recovery plan is determining how badly the specific startup has been harmed and assessing the financial damage so that financial resources can be discovered to compensate for the loss. Finally, the entrepreneurs must devise a rebuilding schedule. You may have a number of things you need or want to do to recover from COVID-19, but achieving everything at once is unlikely. Having a timeline to follow that prioritizes your most important things first will help.
While we may not yet be at the end of the pandemic, many business executives may see a glimmer of hope. The world is slowly recovering from the effects of Covid 19, startups who are having trouble regaining their previous market position will need to take other roads and change their business models and adopt an innovation in their venture which is a ‘new normal.’
