When I stepped out of my KLM flight, and into the sweltering dry season heat of Monrovia, I had no idea what I was getting into.
It was 2016 and I had traveled down to Liberia - fresh faced and right out of the university classrooms - into The Field to conduct research on the impact of the Ebola Virus on Liberian entrepreneurs. Yes, what do entrepreneurs do when a health crisis creates a unique situation? What does that look like in an economy that is still recovering from conflict? And how do savvy entrepreneurs, known for their creativity and tenacity, respond to an economy that has changed almost overnight?
I suppose most Master theses are marked and then put on a shelf to collect dust. They become a fond (or traumatic) memory for the author, never to be relived again. In my case my thesis topic has only become more relevant with the passing of time. When I recently realized this, it encouraged me to jump into the archives, and dig up ye olde thesis.
I wondered whether there could be any nuggets of information that could be relevant to us entrepreneurs today, as we are in the midst of a global pandemic. This is what I found:
The ebola crisis evoked feelings of fear, distrust and confusion. Sound familiar? The virus temporarily forced citizens to live together in a different way. For instance, the way people conducted burials changed, and this change was still apparent some years after the crisis had subsided.
Covid-19 is making us live together in different ways as well: Christmas and Easter over Zoom, responding to emails on the couch in your underwear and doing your Eid shopping online. It is making us see that there are other ways to live, and that in fact maybe being at the office 9-5, five days out of the week is not necessary or even the most effective way to work!
Takeaway: Cultures and habits are malleable. This means we can reassess our habits and as customers we can meet business owners halfway by adjusting our habits to support their newfound limitations. Bring your own baskets, cutlery, picnic blanket & order online.
Limited interactions may be relatively easily overcome in high tech societies with ample internet coverage and the vast majority of consumers on smartphones. But in economies where people lack these digital tools, restrictions on interactions have long-lasting effects. Especially because informal networks are based on trust. When consumers become afraid of one other in fear of being infected, this affects the relationship and the network.
Takeaway: Keep an open mind. Restrictions that may be possible where you live may not be enforceable in societies where people depend on their daily hustle to bring home dinner. Empathy helps support the social bonds that become strained through distance and distrust.
The human response to the virus changed the economy. A virus may encourage people to buy hand sanitizer, but the fear of the virus and response that fear evokes leads people to hoard toilet paper.
The most successful entrepreneurs within my Liberian research excelled during the crisis because they changed the products that they offered, items such as food that were suitable for stockpiling. I remember one informant mentioning: “people were just as afraid to die of hunger as of Ebola”
Businesses may not directly contribute to crisis response, but can fill a void created by the crisis itself, and this can mean long term success for these businesses.
Takeaway: The market is fluid, and small businesses have the advantage of not being overly entrenched. This is an opportunity to reassess what they can offer customers.
In emergency situations the powers that be often introduce temporary new rules: a state of emergency, no more travel, shops closed, night clocks, etc. These rules limit the ways in which businesses can adapt and cater to customers. At the same time governments create new business opportunities as they need to procure supplies in their emergency response (PPE’s, vaccines, transportation, etc.). It is fundamental to understand how power comes in to play here. Well connected and established businesses have the network and influence to become suppliers, others don’t.
Takeaway: Bring entrepreneurs closer to decision makers, we can all engage our networks to support the small business owners we know to get in touch with the decision makers relevant to them.
Do you agree with my findings? How has the current pandemic impacted how you run your business? Email me at eline@emergi.nl or reach out to us on our social media handles at the bottom of our website to let us know!
Head of Communication & Fundraising
Eline spearheads crowdfunding, messaging strategies and media content for Emergi. As an anthropologist passionate about the development - private sector nexus, she specializes in merging entrepreneurial theory with real situations on the ground.
