Question

1. How will small businesses, which are now closed, under shelter-in-place orders continue to exist?

2. How will small businesses continue to make payroll and pay for benefits, if they are closed?

3. Will banks make bridge loans to small businesses, given their failure rate?

Answer 1

A1. The main priority of any country right now is to contain the pandemic and to ensure that fewer people are exposed to the virus. In this scenario, the shutting down of the businesses- small as well as big, is hard but a necessary step. However, small businesses will continue to exist. If the efforts of local enforcement agencies, medical practitioners and the society are combined to overcome the great challenge it is facing, the situation will return back to normal within a few weeks or perhaps a few months. The best example of this is Wuhan, China. Being the epicenter of the virus, the country was successful in exterminating it.

Therefore, there is hope that the world and the economy and business activities will get back to normal once the authorities are able to control the spread. Till then, small companies need to lie low, manage their funds efficiently and follow the local guidelines.

Meanwhile, to ensure their continuity, small businesses can try to do the following:-

• perform their business activities online. If the company doesn't have a website, it can hire any web developer, most of whom are sitting at home with no work. The company can find great rates at this point to make their presence online.
• If the business is selling products, it can implement a contactless delivery which many big companies are implementing. The driver here uses extreme hygiene measures and delivers the products without any contact with the consumer. This limits any spread of the virus and also helps the company in conducting its business albiet a bit differently.

The above steps can help the company in managing this tough time and ensure that its operational activities don't suffer much due to the pandemic.