There’s one word that represents the way people and businesses are emerging from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, not totally unscathed but with determination to carry on, to adapt and go again.
That word is ‘Community’, and now, more than ever, we need communities to build on what has been one of the hugely positive developments to emerge from this crisis.
Not Just a Safety-Net
Back at the beginning of the lockdown, there was a great deal of concern about local people in financial hardship, and for those who were isolated and unable to access food and basic necessities.
We asked our communities to set differences aside and come together as a force for good, and we did. Entire operations, logistically complex distribution channels, independently sourced and financed supply chains, networks of syndicated taskforces have sprung up, all over the country. These enterprises are organised and run by people who have little or no experience, have never worked together before – and who aren’t getting paid!
It’s not only been a safety-net for many people, it’s also saved lives.
This spirit of working together, pooling our knowledge, skills and resources for the greater good is what we now need to do for the business community, only let’s not regard them as businesses, let’s focus on what business is really all about; the people who run them.
Anyone who’s ever started a business (no matter how successfully) will tell you tales that will make you shudder. They’ll mention cripplingly long hours, suffocating feelings of self-doubt and imposter syndrome, Russian Roulette cash flow scenarios, and the daily gamble of making and taking the consequences for every decision.
Is it any wonder that the vast majority of new business ventures don’t make it past the first year? Of those that do, the 5th birthday may as well be an entire lifetime away.
The global pandemic has effectively put many, many businesses owners right back to month one.
Scary Thought
Here in Hull, we’re used to being self-sufficient. A highly entrepreneurial area, Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire has always had a thriving community of small business pioneers, partly because we’re an independently spirited lot, but partly down to historical necessity to make our own employment opportunities.
A few years ago, we started to gather local business people together who were interested in building their businesses by connecting, sharing and supporting one another. We didn’t talk much about selling or being competitors or how successful we were in business; we just got to know each other.
The group had its detractors, people who said it was another ‘here today, gone tomorrow networking group’. They got it wrong then, and they’ll get it wrong again if they don’t move their thinking on. What started as a small group of people cultivating the culture of mutual business support, has grown and grown! It’s an entity that’s single-mindedly focussed on collectively supporting businesses of all genres who trade in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Community Means Business (in Hull)
Business Support Hull is a now online, newly created to support the people behind the businesses that have the collective economic responsibility for thousands of employees and local people. It’s just one part of the community response. The message to Hull business is load and clear; all the support you’ll ever need to help you is right here – our community is up for the fight, and it is personal.
