Finding the Hidden Gifts of this Season

CLI Co-Founder Emmanuel Baraka reflects on how to use entrepreneurship to react to the Covid crisis.

Since December, but more alarmingly since March, the Covid crisis has been a shock on all aspects of life and the economy, first in the demand and then in the supply of certain goods and services but also in production.

On the global scale, it is said that, “The economic crisis caused by this pandemic is unique, if one had to try to compare it to anything, it would be a natural disaster. An earthquake, a hurricane, a tsunami… but on a planetary scale.” In April 2020, the IMF forecasted a 3% drop in global GDP.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 48,954 terminations of employment contracts are envisaged within the framework of 326 Employment safeguard plans initiated from March 1 until early August 2020. This is three times more than over the same period in 2019.

The Covid-19 crisis has paralyzed entire sections of the economy: Transportation as well as the aeronautical and automotive sectors are among the most affected, as well as tourism. Some already fragile businesses, particularly in the textile and clothing sector, are also severely affected.

On the local level, in DRC especially in Goma-North-Kivu, where we have not had many victims of Covid in terms of positive cases compared to European and American countries, the economic effect has been indescribable.

Many people are not used to storing extra food stock because they don’t have a way to conserve it. Because all food comes from Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania, there is a challenge in getting goods across the border.

We can imagine the stalemate the city has been going through in general, but the worst thing is the fear that pervades the hearts of many people right now. And worst of all is the fear of production, the fear of investing, the fear of survival. Many people have abandoned the path of production because of this fear, and they live only for the consumption of goods and services.

In many companies in Goma, many people have lost their jobs. Overall, our city has seen almost 40% unemployment and others have lost almost half of their salaries, especially those working in private companies. The local currency has lost its value: In March, 1500 Congolese Francs bought $1 USD. Now, the exchange rate is 2000 Congolese Francs per dollar. Further, the schools have been closed since March and there have been no other alternatives for millions of children to learn.

The question is whether anything positive can come out of this crisis.

Our message to young people is to always focus on the entrepreneurial principle: “Problem = Solution = Project / Enterprise.” Right now the tide seems to be going in the direction of consumption, and the problem is lack or insufficient production. The way for this generation to swim in the opposite direction is to embrace production.

This season gives us an opportunity to have the courage to work. This courage is not due to the assurance of survival but rather to the belief that it would be better to die for a noble cause than to live for trivialities. It would be better to die working on goals than to live an amorphous and helpless life in the face of a global challenge.

We don’t need someone to give us a job, there are already jobs. Millions of children don’t access education now, but we can teach them from home. There is not enough food, but we can cultivate and use our time home to make our gardens. 

We should therefore swim against the tide in order to remain convinced that this situation imposed on us by the Covid pandemic does not determine the end we want and that despite everything, we will win with our courage and our determination to make a difference.