Currently, over 2 billion people in the world are under some sort of lockdown because of the ongoing global pandemic. This has been a very rough time for businesses as they suffer losses, and markets for non-essential services continue to remain shut.
Startups in India that provide non-essential services are facing a rough time, but this lockdown has not crushed their hopes completely as they continue to innovate and hustle through this dark time. Small and major companies have both allowed their employees to work remotely in these grim situations to help contain the spread of coronavirus. In such unprecedented times, startups are innovating to keep their businesses going and providing services to people.
Startups allow work from home to ensure social distancing.
Companies in India and across the world are allowing their employees to work from home amid the lockdown because of the global pandemic. Companies by enabling employees to work remotely have helped contain the spread of COVID 19. Organizations across the world are in agreement that minimizing the spread of coronavirus is vital to ensure employee safety and well being. There have been several successful startup stories where a company has switched to provide essential services to help people in the time of a global pandemic. Since the lockdown, there has been an increase in the work from home jobs.
Foodtech startups take extra measures to provide essential services.
Foodtech startups such as Swiggy and Zomato have been hit hard the most because of the lockdown, and the pandemic as the hygiene fear in the general public takes hold. Swiggy sent an email to all its customers detailing how they are taking different measures to deal with the situation. The other major food-tech startup, Zomato, also announced similar guidelines, which include contactless delivery and other measures to maintain proper hygiene during the coronavirus outbreak. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said that they would support their delivery partners with financial assistance, on top of medical insurance, in case they are diagnosed with COVID-19.
Edtech startups offer free online classes amid the lockdown.
The global pandemic has caused many countries to shut schools and colleges and even cancel annual exams. The schools and colleges are closed to contain the coronavirus, but it is depriving students of education. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said that the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled and, if prolonged, could threaten the right to education. Education startups like BYJU’s, Vedantu, Unacademy, Toppr, Educational Initiatives, UpGrad, and Lido Learning, are offering free online courses to ensure students do not suffer.
Amid the lockdown, it necessary that children keep up with their studies, and these edtech startups have provided their platforms for free to help the cause.
Hospitality and travel industry suffer most due to lockdown.
Hospitality and travel industry has been hit hard the most as the government announced a strict travel ban domestically and internationally. Earlier, OYO announced that they are providing accommodations to health care workers and stranded tourists from different countries. The revenues for the hospitality and travel industry have dropped amid the lockdown, and there are still uncertainties around when the industry resumes services. Startups like Vista Rooms are helping the government by providing facilities and maintaining proper hygiene standards to contain the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
Startups innovate to continue to work amid the lockdown.
These are unprecedented times, and every one’s focus is right now is on the health of people globally as the virus takes a toll on the entire world. The healthcare workers are putting themselves at risk every minute to fight the pandemic and bring normalcy to the world again. But different startups in different fields are also doing their best to help the society in any possible way they can and help fight the pandemic. Even though startups are suffering losses, they are selflessly working for the greater good and helping the world fight this pandemic.
It still hard to predict when the wold would get back to normal, and businesses would resume. It is speculated that the aftermath of this pandemic would be quite devastating on the global economy as the unemployment rate in several countries has started to go up in an unprecedented way.
