Last year rocked everyone’s world and challenged every belief system we had and 2021 will bring more of the same uncertainty. In fact, I believe 2021 will be worse on a macro level for our economies, jobs, and livelihoods.

We are also seeing new variants of the virus that threaten to keep much of Africa on lockdown for some time to come.

What does this mean for start-ups? Whenever there is a challenging macro-economic event – caused by terrorism or a financial crisis for example – things get tougher for start-ups at a surface level. There is less funding available, customers may be reticent to spend money or switch products, and people are more risk-averse.

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However, adversity always presents an opportunity and ‘creative destructivism’ is a real thing. Entire industries are being disrupted. This disruption is the fertile soil of which great entrepreneurs are grown.

At Stellenbosch University LaunchLab, we define a startup as a ‘temporary organization searching for a scalable and repeatable business model’. This definition means startups are perfectly positioned to capitalize on this state of flux. In a pandemic the old business models are broken, which massively disrupts corporates such as airlines, hotels, chain restaurants, and service industries. Corporates are not lean, nimble, or agile enough to search for their new business model – plus they have soaring fixed costs and liabilities to be serviced.

Well-built startups do not face these same fixed cost burdens. They remain temporarily small and lean so they can search – as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible – for the model that fits the new normal. They are designed to thrive in ambiguous environments. They transform uncertainty into market insights that surprise and delight their customers. The key is to understand the dislocation and then search for innovative business models that meet new world order needs.

At Stellenbosch University (SU) LaunchLab, we view this disruption as the perfect opportunity for startups. Let’s first explore where the opportunities lie and then we can investigate how we as entrepreneurs can benefit and move the world forward.

Read more...https://media.getfundedafrica.com/2021/02/25/2021s-silver-lining-for-startups/