Research into the COVID-19 crisis, which began in December 2019, suggests that although there was widespread loss and disruption, the international crisis also planted the seeds for grassroots innovation and resilience. A study in the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing of one hundred initiatives that emerged in Belgium during the pandemic finds that when established institutions struggled to respond quickly, individuals and organisations were able to step up to create new economic and social value.
The research focuses on initiatives defined broadly to include both newly created ventures and existing organisations that adapted their activities. These ranged from informal mutual aid efforts to repurposed businesses and newly launched services. Some were started by people with no prior experience of entrepreneurship. Other initiatives were started by established entrepreneurs responding to the sudden changes in demand and regulation. What they shared was a capacity to adjust rapidly under pressure.
The pandemic created conditions of extreme uncertainty. Lockdowns and business closures, imposed to limit the spread of the virus, caused sharp falls in income, consumption, and investment. Many people perceived formal support systems as too slow or rigid to meet urgent needs. This gap became the space in which these initiatives emerged, often spontaneously and with limited resources.
The study looks at this kind of resilience and rather than treating it simply as endurance in the face of a crisis, defines it as a dynamic process of recovery, adjustment, and innovation. Resilience was, during the pandemic and in its aftermath, both the route through which initiatives developed and the results they produced. The researchers argue that action was not driven solely by compassion or urgency, but by the ability to reframe the crisis as an opportunity to meet unmet needs.
The study suggests that locally driven, resilience-based initiatives can complement government and aid responses, particularly in the early stages of a crisis. As such, for policymakers, the challenge is how to recognise and sustain such efforts without undermining their flexibility. We will face pandemic and other shocks in the future, our ability to adapt and innovate in these conditions will be key to an effective disaster response.
Wuillaume, A., Ferritto, A. and Janssen, F. (2025) ‘A note on resilience in the face of adversity when small droplets trigger big changes’, Int. J. Entrepreneurial Venturing, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp.249–273.
