Chronicles of Entrepreneurship in the Pandemic - Part 2

In my Part 1 of the Chronicles of Entrepreneurship in the Pandemic, I focused on the hardships that are encountered by Entrepreneurs during this devastating pandemic.

Today, I want refocus my attention on the detriment affecting the Tourism Industry and its trickle effect on the Entertainment business and Performing & Creative Artist.

The Tourism industry is one of the main contributors in any economy. It will be noted that the Entertainment industry business includes Bars, Restaurants, Clubs, Cultural & Music Festivals etc and are directly connected to Tourism in most cases. The restrictions imposed will have a huge negative impact on both as we continue to witness because if social distancing is a concern then there is no way these establishment will be permitted to operate at full capacity as long as this pandemic is still in our shores.

A portion of the Entertainment businesses in particular Bars and Restaurants in a number of countries continue to resume operations whilst Performing & Creative Artists are left in limbo as it is presumed that allowing them to function will cause an impediment on the social distancing regulations in place as they require large crowds to showcase their talent. 

The two industries - Tourism and Entertainment rely heavily on each other as both business and leisure travellers increase their spending and amusement when “both” are available. In most cases, travellers would spend their time at a restaurant, local bar or a club while on vacation enjoying a beverage of their choice particularly alcoholic beverages while an Artist is performing and entertaining patrons. If one cannot enjoy their favourite beverage and Artist at these Entertainment spots which are not fully operational, then there is a missing link which would render the vacation non-enjoyable to some extent. Of course bearing in mind that this is not anybody’s fault at this juncture.

The ripple effects in this instance will prove very detrimental in the next few months whilst a cure is being sourced. An increase in loss of talent will be inevitable and eventually increasing the unemployment rate not only in Botswana but the rest of the world. Performing Artists will not be able to generate revenue because the only establishment they are able to earn a decent living from remains closed.

There is a need by the Performing & Creative Artists in the Entertainment industry to engage and discuss the need for creation of possible interventions that could save it with the aim of sustainability of revenue modelling in the interim until a cure is found and restrictions are lifted. The Private Sector is willing and available to support the Entertainment industry at this time but desires out of the box ideas that would realise growth of their brands at the same time Artists would be able to generate income from such collaborations. In the past few weeks First National Bank Botswana became one the few entities to develop strategies centred around engaging, supporting and involving the Performing & Creative Arts Sector. The Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture joined the band wagon with lucrative initiatives to support this sector. I believe that more can still be done by the Private Sector & Government to support this industry as it has been highly disadvantaged when compared to other industries that are able to operate at some capacity.

In the past few days Botswana announced that selling of alcoholic beverage will only be sold 4 out of 7 days in week. In simple analysis, this essentially means that the establishment that operated at 100% capacity prior to the pandemic are now only allowed to operate at 50% capacity. A debate on fixed cost is now ignited due to the fact that for example, the Landlord is unwilling to cut rental by half, the employee does not understand why their salary should be cut by half, utility corporations will not discount your bills by half, and so on. As a Small business or establishment this means your costs are increasing and then you reach a point where a decision needs to be made on whether to proceed with business or not because cost to income ratio has now reached undesirable levels.

And again I still maintain that we need to prepare ourselves for a bigger challenge of depression and incapacitated mental health due to the losses incurred in business, loss of talent and unemployment.