The Covid-19 Pandemic has had a significant influence on the world, including Social businesses that focus on creating a positive social impact. Such concerns, which aim to address various societal issues including poverty, inequality, environmental issues, have had to adapt to the exceptional challenges presented by the pandemic.
The most challenging issue for Social Businesses during the pandemic was loss of revenue. Social distancing measures and lockdowns compelled many Social Enterprises to close their doors temporarily or limit their operations. This made it difficult for the Social Businesses to continue supporting their community or work for their cause.
Apart from that, Social Enterprises encountered other critical challenges such as –
Loss of Revenue:
In-person interactions through social gatherings and events on which many Social Enterprises rely, couldn’t be conducted to maintain social distancing. It led to significant loss of revenue.
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Disrupted Funding:
The economic downturn caused from the pandemic made it more difficult than usual for social businesses to obtain funding.
Disrupted Supply Chain:
As the Covid-19 Pandemic disrupted global supply chain, social enterprises with limited resources and materials social businesses faced difficulty at this aspect as well.
Difficulty in Reaching Customers:
As people stayed at home during the pandemic Social Businesses found it difficult to reach out more customers and promote their products and services.
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Due to these limitations, it got almost impossible for many Social Enterprises to maintain their social mission and continue good work during the pandemic. However, Social Businesses have adapted and overcame the challenges and were able to continue their work through alternative ways.
A few of them are as follows –
Online Stores:
In order to continue with their business, many social enterprises have turned to online selling. This way the Social Businesses reached wider networks of consumers and kept generating revenue while the stores remained shut.
Virtual Services:
Some Social Businesses have shifted to virtual services. Such services include Online Courses, counselling sessions etc. This way they continued their good work for communities in absence of in-person interactions.
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Collaboration:
Many Social Enterprises have established partnerships among themselves to work collectively and support one another in the time of acute crisis. By working together they have found new and better ways to serve communities and establish undisturbed flow of resources.
Innovation:
Along with the mentioned ways Social Enterprises could innovate new and unique ways to keep us their business and good work during the time of Covid-19 Pandemic. They have developed new business strategies to combat further crisis and new services and products keeping in mind the experiences of lockdowns.
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Overall, the Covid-19 Pandemic had been a difficult time for Social Enterprises, but it has also highlighted their resilience and ability to adapt. These concerns were able to continue creating positive impact for the communities they work for and their innovative and collaborative approaches will keep inspiring businesses of today and to be established in future.
Conclusion
To conclude, Covid-19 Pandemic had been a challenging period for Social Enterprises. However, with outstanding adaptability and resilience these organisations have overcome the adversities. They have leveraged technology and established partnerships to continue working for their mission. They have also been able to innovate and pivot the business models to survive the economic impact of the pandemic. The lessons learned by social enterprises during this time can be applied to any business model and serve as a valuable example for others to follow.
Images: Unsplash
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