Entrepreneurship in the Age of Covid-19 ??

As the world deals with this pandemic, my primary concern is the health of my family, friends, colleagues and the people in general. I am especially worried about the elderly in our communities.

Since entire countries around the world are under lockdown orders and people have started to avoid human contact, businesses are now scrambling to adapt to this new reality. Of course, I am also concerned about the future of my start-up The Pluralist Watches as well as the future of the business world.

Especially the retail industry has very tough months ahead (toilet paper and hand sanitizer sellers aside of course). This also includes online retailers. Online shopping behaviour of customers has naturally shifted. At the moment, people are spending their money to purchase essential items. This means non-essential items (fashion, travel, luxury and apparel) sellers are certainly seeing a decline in sales. Brands are now having to adapt and become flexible to meet the changing needs of their customers.

This new reality has provided The Pluralist with a new set of challenges.

Three of our top challenges are:

1. Fluctuation in demand.

Virtually every retail outlet, except grocery stores and pharmacies have seen a fall in demand. Currently, at The Pluralist we are experiencing the same. Although March and April have traditionally been quieter period for us, it has never been this quiet.

2. Supply chain challenges.

At The Pluralist we work very closely with our suppliers overseas. Fortunately, we maintain a large in-country stock of all our products. So, we are able to service all our orders from Australia and short-term supply is generally not a problem.

But as the situation evolves, we expect to see significant variations in the magnitude and timing of supply chain disruptions across geographies and sub-sectors. At The Pluralist we are currently talking to our key suppliers to assess their risks, identify any indirect exposures and create contingency plans. We would advise all start-ups to do the same with their suppliers.

3. Our Customers.

Our customers are our primary concern. We are constantly thinking about the impact this pandemic is having on our customers. The wellbeing, lives and livelihoods of our customers is extremely important to us. At this time, we are focusing on creating a community at The Pluralist. We are doing this by connecting with all our customers (a.k.a Pluralists) spread across the world.

We have created a Community group on Facebook. Our aim is to not only meet our growing community of amazing customers but also to learn from each other as we all try our best to cope with this pandemic. In the Community group we are hosting Zoom meetings to share our best hand-washing videos, food recipes, and our respective languages. We welcome all to join our growing community ‘We The Pluralists’.

In the current environment, we believe this is the right time to build on customer relationships and build trust in our brand and products.

Moving forward

The long term social, economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 virus are still unknown. With unprecedented challenges and situations, entrepreneurs and start-ups are facing every day, their concerns for survival and getting through these tough times are only increasing. I am trying my best to face this fact and thinking of ways of adapting.

However, these rather unfortunate times have helped the global communities to come together in whatever capacity possible. As a Catalysr alumnus I am also excited to witness how my fellow entrepreneurs and innovators solve serious problems facing the world over the coming months.

If you are a Founder or have an idea, I invite you to join our community of innovators, hackers, engineers, hustlers, scientists, thinkers, marketers, business moguls and do’ers at Catalysr. Together we can come out stronger on the other side of this pandemic.

Stay safe and healthy out there!