We are in the throes of a crisis – the Coronavirus pandemic.  Businesses are closed, people are locked-down or in quarantine, shelves are empty, hospitals are overcrowded and over capacity, schools closed, and so on and so on.  Our social and economic fabric is stretching and in the hardest hit areas small tears in that fabric are appearing.  Governments, NGOs, and policy makers scramble to ease the impact and, in some cases, reallocate resources to the most affected areas.  No one is immune from this challenge to humanity.

    There is confidence that we will weather the storm, with time.  But even now, how we work, how we interact, how we educate our children, and how we take care of those most severely infected – all of this is changing.  “Stay in place” families are adapting to a closeness most have never before experienced.  And technology is connecting us in more ways than ever before.

            We will come through this crisis, as we have so many before.  Like those earlier challenges, life will be different.  Not all businesses will survive, larger firms as well as MSMEs.  But MSMEs will adapt and innovate, as they are doing even now. 

            And when we emerge on the other side of this pandemic, it will not be business as usual.  New norms will emerge.  Our perspective along a number of dimensions will have changed from family life to employment and work to education and to health care.  MSMEs will adapt and emerge to meet these new demands more flexibly and rapidly than larger firms.  Those practicing humane entrepreneurship will be in the forefront because they are integral to the essence of their communities economically and socially.

       Despite the many challenges posed by the crisis and the competitive marketplaces, MSMEs CAN LEAD US TO THE OTHER SIDE.

Written By Dr. Jeffrey Alves, ICSB Editor of JICSB, ICSB and USASBE Past President