Looking outside my window on a spring morning, I saw a playfulness in nature, in the skies, woodland and soil. I saw some vestiges of winter, yet also the promise of warm summer days ahead. Everything looks beautiful, but feels nothing like it. My attempts to emmerse myself in the beauty of what I saw is marred with worry and uncertainty. The world is at war! And I am in one of the worst hit countries, Germany.
The Year 2020 will go down in history as one that put the world to the hardest test. Although it is not the first time the world is dealing with a global pandemic, the coronavirus has revealed the deep cracks in humanity, social , economic and political structures of mother earth. The highly contagious disease has put populations under lockdowns, frozen economic developments and has left hospitals overwhelmed , with death tolls increasing each day. Our only weapon against this enemy is social distancing, regular hand washing and sanitizing.
At any given year, more people succumb to hunger than the coronavirus. But this year, that number might increase. While a large part of the world’s population can afford to stay at home to self-quarantine for weeks, many just cling on the hope of surviving without food. Their ability to put food on the table is solely dependent on them leaving their houses to earn their daily wages. But governments are telling them to stay at home without necessarily provinding them with what they need. Children are sleeping hungry with parents who have no clue how they are going to feed them.
Although many will survive the crisis, the fate of livelihoods is threatened by inexistence. Many businesses may not survive.
For Africans living in foreign countries, the fate of how the post-corona times will look like is a puzzle. In Germany , for example, many African entrepreneurs are already feeling the effects of the pandemic.
In a video i did about the current situation, Eric Adou, CEO and founder of Afro Factory UG Essen, a manegement consultancy company, shares a great strategy of how companies can help each other out during such crises.
Kenya Germany Career and Entrepreneurship Network, an information, networking and mentoring platform initiated by Kenyan professionals based in Germany regarding career, academic and business opportunities between Africa and Germany, has amazing survival tips for companies and foreign students.
Find out how companies such as My Ethic Cooking and Catering , Jambo African Dishes, and La Villageoise have modified their business models to cope with the current situation.
Author
Philly Yambo Makora
Email :contact@yambomakora.com
Featured image:
https://pixabay.com/de/photos/blume-leben-riss-w%C3%BCste-d%C3%BCrre-887443/
