You would think that something as disruptive as a global pandemic would put a hold on entrepreneurial aspirations. But, just like other times in history, this crisis has led to opportunities for people to set up businesses and thrive. What’s so amazing about the current situation is how many entrepreneurs it created never intended to go into business for themselves. It just happened out of necessity. 

The number of new business applications rose steadily over the period from 2004 to 2020. But in March, the numbers bolted to previously unseen levels, with more than 300,000 people applying to set up businesses. Why there was such a spike is still something that economists are trying to figure out. Traditionally, you’d expect economic downturns to lead to less entrepreneurship. But the surge might have been the result of people losing their jobs and simply looking for ways to push forward with their lives by themselves. Resourceful people saw the challenge presented by the pandemic and decided to find a way to leverage it and use it to their advantage. There are other reasons, though. The pandemic disrupted traditional business models and changed consumer behavior. Entrepreneurs rushed in to plug the gaps in the market and make a profit. With more people working from home, there were entirely new industries and business models opening up, just waiting for the right person to exploit them. 

COVID may actually be making the economy more entrepreneurial by forcing people to think out of the box. Do we really need to do everything in person, or can digital technologies save us the time and effort? Furthermore, evidence suggests that with the easing of restrictions, more people are hopping on the entrepreneurial bandwagon. Places that opened up early have seen the greatest surge in applications for businesses, with those opening up later lagging behind. The range of economic opportunities are tremendous. Some relate directly to the pandemic itself. For instance, thanks to ultra cold storage needs, the Pfizer jab requires a special COVID 19 vaccine refrigerator. Companies previously involved in cold storage are, therefore, finding that they have new opportunities to develop high performance products which simply didn’t exist on the same scale in the past. Then there are the social opportunities. Platforms that allow businesses to provide services online are booming. Masterclass course platforms, for instance, are seeing a surge in business similar to what solutions like BigCommerce and Shopify saw five years ago. 

Interestingly, most commentators who’ve studied what’s happening don’t think it’s a flash in the pan. Instead, they see a fundamental acceleration in many trends that were already underway, suggesting that the pandemic may have “locked them in.” For example, online medics will likely continue to offer telemedicine when the pandemic ends. People will also want to work remotely in the future. And that too is going to change how society functions. City-center businesses may need to switch to deliver-based models to survive.