Entrepreneurship after COVID-19

By Aymen Salman

During pandemic, entrepreneurs have had to face a new reality. Whether a vaccine or a cure will be found for this virus, we are hearing many voices about what the global economy will look like after COVID-19. Bearing this in mind, The Station held a broadcast within the framework of YANHAD’s programme that The Station is implementing with Expertise France. In this live broadcast, our guests were Mr. Dhafir Hasan, Business Innovation and Behavioral Change - Consultant & Trainer; and Mr. Adnan Addioui, a businessman, thinker, and founder of Moroccan CISE. The moderator of this broadcast was Mr. Ammar Al-Khatib, The Executive Director at The Station.

Starting with the definition of “Entrepreneurship”, Hasan explained the many ways one can be creative in business and how you can add new components and services. He also highlighted that entrepreneurship in itself is risky and that’s what marks the key difference between SMEs and entrepreneurial projects. He then went on to explain how COVID-19 has impacted Startups in Iraq. We have come to the conclusion that startups should use this time to readjust their business accordingly and identify solutions on how to overcome the sudden losses.

The world will be different after Corona; we’ve already seen a transition to online activities. Hasan advised all businesses to consider online sales, advertisement and marketing. Some businesses did not stop operating over the last few months and have made good profit, such as web-developers, tech-businesses and online education. One of the main challenges Iraqi entrepreneurs face is the mentality of investors in Iraq and their unwillingness to invest in startups. Hasan explained that whether this will change in the near future will mostly depend on how many successful stories come out once the pandemic comes to an end. If startups can come out of the crisis with minimal loss, this ..will serve as a motivator for investors

Addioui shed some light on some of the changes taking place at a governmental level. Public Governmental institutions are now emphasizing the importance of distance learning, online payments and online activities in general. This highlights the urgent need to diversify sources of income. In the meantime, he advised that entrepreneurs think about how to launch new services, to see what issues their community currently faces in light of COVID-19 and work on solving them through their projects. This is a great time . .to consider market research

.This time is a great opportunity to do market research