Entrepreneurship despite the global pandemic.

Abstract

Confinement, overcrowding, isolation, stillness, job loss, depression, crisis, fear, among others, are words that took universal prominence with the global pandemic of Covid-19, however, our human nature, in its incredible capacity for survival, it manages to achieve objectives despite obstacles, and this has been shown by the historical evidence of progress after each crisis.

In the issues of generating new business ideas, they can be enlightened in a moment of deep reflection, to solve a specific problem or emerge from a rigorous study of the market and business potential. But in the case of Colombian companies like Escappy Travel and la Huerta Hotel, their innovative ideas emerged in light of the global pandemic for survival purposes, which later turned out to be a driver of business.

In the case of the company Escappy Travel, from the tourism sector, faced with the panorama of Covid-19, together with the work team, they sought an alternative to continue generating income, for which they devised two service strategies. The first, online plans so that, without leaving home, those interested can visit the streets of different national and international destinations, ranging from Montes de María, San José del Guaviare, to New York, Dubai and Greece. The second, through virtual reality, through which people take virtual reality glasses home to live immersive experiences, there are 200 different alternatives, ranging from swimming with sharks, being in the middle of the jungle or jump from a parachute (Arbeláez, 2020).

La Huerta Hotel, also changed its form of business, for which it made use of technologies and establishing strategic alliances with the farmers of "Asodafor", the idea "Huerta en Casa" was born. Through the study of their clients, they organized the delivery of boxes with organic food, for which they generated links with people interested in local, healthy products with a positive impact on the environment. Now they plan an online store and expand their product offering (Arbeláez, 2020).

These are just two cases out of many, according to consolidated data, Confecamaras reported that between January and June 2021, 166,000 companies were registered, a figure that implies an increase of 26.2% in the creation of companies, compared to the same period of 2020. It is good news, 53.3% of new companies are employers, a hope compared to the unemployment of 15.6% reported by the National Administrative Department of Statistics DANE (Semana, 2021).

It is important to understand that the desire for survival becomes the driver of the economy and thereby strengthens the resilience of a society, since there are several sectors that have been sustained or have grown during this time. Some of the sectors that stand out in the pandemic are Online education, health and wellness, SAAS and remote work tools, e-Commerce, Online games, e-Sports and streaming platforms, pharmacy and laboratories and coworking spaces (Soldevila, 2021).

Throughout history, humanity has managed to survive crises, sometimes on the occasion of them, ideas have been born whose businesses have lasted successfully over time. Soldevila (2021) states that

although the pandemic has allowed the creation of new businesses, it is important to take into account four points so that these businesses are viable in the long term.

The first point, knowing how to see if a problem is being addressed by looking at the long term, since some businesses could be born only to meet temporary demands due to social changes only at the time of the pandemic, but perhaps some of those changes will continue over time. . The second point is to identify the business, that is, to have a great knowledge of who your customers are and how your product or service fits into their reality (Soldevila, 2021).

The third point is to change and adapt strategies if necessary, it means studying the context, looking, analyzing and making decisions in a proactive and reflective way. And, the fourth point, consists of not losing sight of the business model, because as the restrictions due to the pandemic end, the context changes and with it, the need to be clear about the company's objective (Soldevila, 2021).

It means, then, that terms such as entrepreneurship, adaptation, ingenuity, online business, proactivity, change, innovation, new markets are words that, at least, in the business world have a sense of capacity to undertake despite the global pandemic.