For most entrepreneurs, COVID-19 has been a catalyst for challenges, changes, and the new birth of small businesses. According to JustBusiness’ new survey of small business owners, many entrepreneurs are changing their business plans due to the pandemic and about 20% have actually decided to start a new business due to the pandemic’s circumstances.
The survey highlights how business owners are funding their new businesses, the reasons why they’re founding the businesses to begin with, and which industries are seeing the most new business creations. Surprisingly, the three most common industries are Food and Accomodation, Retail Trade, and the Arts. Seemingly, food service and retail, arguably some of the hardest hit industries, are seeing the most new business growth as entrepreneurs see new opportunities opening.
These industries also indicate that most of these new businesses won’t be purely online, as you might expect. When asked where the business will be located, online or in-person, “38.5% said the business would have a physical location, 32.1% said they’d operate both in-store and online, and just 29.3% said their venture would be entirely virtual.”
Another interesting fact from the survey is that many surveyed entrepreneurs are optimistic about the pandemic not lasting too much longer. “41.4% of respondents think it will be a year or more until the U.S. economy begins to rebound in full. Another 34.5% think it will be at least six months. Just 16.2% say it will take only three to six months, and 7.9% say only one to three months for the economy to bounce back.”
JustBusiness created the Pandemic Founders graphic below to illustrate the survey results and provide a comprehensive look at the state of entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
