As we are dealing with the Covid-19 virus worldwide, we all have a responsibility to take the measures that will prevent further spread of the virus. This is both on a personal level – through meticulous quarantine and on an organizational level – with pitching in to assist the fight however possible.
What society needs in this crisis
In order to be able to go back to our lives as normally as possible, as a society we need to make an attempt to work as normally as possible during the crisis. This includes finding ways to continue our education despite not visiting schools and universities.
Due to the way the coronavirus operates, it is not safe for people who are at a higher risk of serious complications and life-threatening outcome to be out of their homes. However, they still need access to basic human necessities such as food, medication and medical care, considering many of them have other health issues that need tending to.
All that being said, I would like to share the positive examples I see from close friends, business partners and people I know. Most of them come from the local club of successful and socially engaged entrepreneurs I’m part of, called Power of BG.
Darin Madzharov – founder of Ucha.se
For those of you who do not know Ucha.se is the biggest online learning system in Bulgaria for schoolers. It contains online lessons as well as testing modules for students from grade one all the way through high-school graduation.
At the beginning of the crisis, Darin gave access to the platform for free to assist all of the students who are quarantined studying from home. This caused a huge spike in usage by all students and teachers from Bulgaria. His servers crashed, his costs must have gone super high. Nevertheless, he committed to keeping access free by the end of March.
Damyan Damyanov – founder of UniComs
This is the biggest medical company for blood pressure measuring devices and pregnancy tests, as well as other healthcare products.
Instead of speculating with prices, Damyan sent thousands of free items to doctors to help them continue their work through the COVID-19 health crisis. Some of the products include immune stimulators that he produces. He also started an initiative for repairing blood pressure measuring devices of elderly people by retrieving the device from their home and return back fully functional and for free.
Tobias Pforr – founder of tThx
Tobias is thinking about how to ease the life of people living in areas heavily affected by the Covid-19 virus. His platform has gathered thousands of samples of blood pressure and other health recordings. The data his diagnostics system collects can be used to understand who is at a higher risk and how to provide help to those endangered groups.
Julien Lenne – founder of Stork Express.
The purpose of the platform is to put in touch people who need transportation of goods with the ones who can execute. In these times it is really hard for elderly people to go out and shop for necessities – not to mention that right now the risks of performing this simple task can put their health, and even lives at risk.
So Julien provides the platform for free in order to help people get what is needed directly to their homes.
There is humanity in Business
These examples show us the humane side of business and how empowering it is to run a one that can help others. At a time where the lives of people are at risk, a people-oriented business can assist by providing better conditions for those who need it. Be it students who need to advance their education while it is not safe to go to school. Or elderly members of society who need to be safely provided with basic necessities such as food and medicinal products.
Getting through a widespread crisis such as the one we are battling right now can be discouraging. But there are businesses and business owners that make it a priority to assist humanity to rise above the challenges we are met with.
