How the lockdown spawned new small enterprises and innovative ventures!

How the lockdown spawned new small enterprises and innovative ventures!

-Jasween Kaur (Class of 2023, IBS Hyderabad)

Remember how our lives were turned upside down two years ago when the Coronavirus struck? It was a time of despair, but it also brought along optimism: hope for small enterprises, hope for creative minds, hope for those who have always desired to do something on their own, and, most crucially, hope for India’s young entrepreneurs. During FY21, a total of 1,55,377 new firms were established in India, amid the pandemic this was a new record set for new business registrations by Indian entrepreneurs, and this number, unfortunately, doesn’t include the small businesses which started at home and were not registered.

By pivoting, innovating, and transferring their operations online, Indian Micro – enterprises and small businesses have raised their game. New ideas were bought in, creative start-ups were introduced, and people became their own bosses.

Let’s look at some examples

Many new businesses started, many left a mark, few of them became our favorites, so many stories even inspired us. I remember coming across this article about a 94-year-old lady, Harbhajan Kaur who started pursuing her dreams of being independent during the pandemic. Her daughter pushed her to sell homemade besan ki barfi and that’s how she followed her dreams, it is true maybe that there is no age to follow your dreams. This story shows us determination and it’s a way of saying that start-ups aren’t just businesses anymore it’s a way to fulfill our passion and long-lasting desires.

The best part of the pandemic entrepreneurs is that there are people as old as Harbhajan Kaur and as young as Alvira Tripathi who is a 13-year-old girl from Haryana who developed a general knowledge board game called ‘Know On The Go’. The game is based on general knowledge and consists of a spinning wheel and 15 topic cards. While the pandemic was very hard on students on one side, it also brought out a creative and innovative side in so many students.

When we hear the phrase “start-up,” pictures of millennials in Silicon Valley or Bengaluru attempting to develop billion-dollar “unicorns” come to mind. Let us now include a 94-year-old woman who believes it is never too late to start a business and a young girl who did not give up on her concept because she was too young.

Understanding the need of the hour – DIGITISATION

Even though the pandemic was tough on all of us it fueled the growth of entrepreneurship and the start-up frenzy. Not only this, but the pandemic also forced the existing businesses to think more innovatively and change according to the situations around them. During the start of the pandemic in March 2020, businesses started facing losses because nobody knew how to cope with the new trends, in addition to the significant losses sustained by enterprises, many entrepreneurs have discovered new opportunities. Shutdowns in the hardest-hit industries have left a place for other businesses that can now offer clients new products at lower prices. Those companies that did not have an internet store had to reassess their strategy. Pandemic forced everyone to become digital with their business and respond quickly by introducing a new product, such as a virtual fitting room. During the pandemic, digitization was vital for maintaining the continuance of essential services, as well as reaching out to customers and conducting business. The has sped up the pace of digitization over the world for many years. In various parts of the world, the average share of partially or fully digital products and/or services has doubled or tripled. While there are numerous benefits to Small Businesses adopting digitization, the top two benefits have been ‘cost reduction’ and ‘increased competitiveness.’

India becomes Aatma Nirbhar

During the pandemic, the Indian government’s support package for the MSME sector was focused on Atma-Nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). It offered incentives and programs to encourage the localization of certain industries, such as electronics and toy production. As new businesses started it promoted localization. Localization may aid in the development of more reliable supply chains, the expansion of local employment, and the reduction of the carbon footprint associated with goods transportation.

Conclusion

The pandemic has caused extraordinary economic hardship, particularly for individuals in the hotel and retail industries. Despite the start-up surge in 2020, not all of them will be long-term fixtures. Some of these lockdown enterprises were only ever intended to be transitory, either as a stopgap between employment or as a side activity while on furlough. Being a pandemic entrepreneur, helped people keep their cool and emerge stronger. Starting a business has allowed us to reclaim some control over life which was much needed in that time of despair, as well as provide a sense of hope.

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