Guiding Businesses Through COVID-19
ONOW Myanmar Joined Youth Business International's Rapid Response Recovery Programme, Funded by Google.org, To Support Struggling Small Businesses During The COVID-19 Crisis
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What was happening?
The global economy suffered from an unprecedented shock as a result of COVID-19. With typically tight margins, micro, small and medium businesses were most vulnerable to economic downturn. The pandemic had a particularly serious impact on business owners and entrepreneurs from underserved communities, including young people (aged 18-35 years), women, and refugees and other migrants. Many struggled to get through the crisis and needed support immediately.
How ONOW Responded
ONOW Myanmar was been selected as a delivery partner of Youth Business International (YBI) in Myanmar. ONOW worked with YBI to develop and deliver an urgent package of support to struggling local businesses. The program, led by YBI and funded by Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, supported underserved micro, small and medium businesses to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
Individual Coaching
Businesses will receive individualized advice and guidance to navigate the continuing COVID-19 economic crisis.
Digital Platform for Support and Community
A digital platform allows users to asses their current business situation, conduct scenario analysis and connect with other businesses owners for mutual support.
Feature Content
ONOW has a wealth of financial and business support content to provide via convenient channels to small business owners.
ONOW’s program prioritized underserved businesses from across Myanmar, including female business owners and migrant-owned businesses. By leveraging ONOW’s chatbot technology and eight years of experience in coaching MSMEs the program supported 9,000 with individualized coaching and virtual peer support groups, and an additional 58,000 MSMEs with extensive online content. ONOW released an automated digital coaching platform, which was designed to guide business owners through recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis, and continues to operate today. During this project, Google employees also volunteered time to share knowledge and expertise, helping business owners upskill and adapt in response to the crisis.
9,000
SMEs Coached One-on-One
58,000
SMEs Supported with Digital Content
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“Since the COVID-19 pandemic breakout, I was forced to stop running my business, but I want to resume my business as soon as possible. I will need coaching support and a better understanding of the digital economy from ONOW."
- Business owner supported by ONOW
Organizations Involved
Matt Wallace
Managing Director of ONOW
“As an organization we have long been committed to serving underserved business owners, and we have adapted our approach to ensure these businesses can survive the COVID-19 pandemic. We are excited to be part of YBI’s rapid response recovery program funded by Google.org.”
ONOW enables female migrants in Myanmar to become empowered entrepreneurs who are financially capable.
ONOW increases the income and confidence of female migrant entrepreneurs through tech-enabled business incubation. Business owners are connected to a bank account and startup loan, guided through digital transactions and business idea creation, and coached through market research, validation, launch and success.
Visit www.onow.org or email info@onow.org to learn more.
YBI is a global network of expert organisations in over 50 countries supporting underserved young people to turn their ideas into successful businesses, creating jobs and strengthening communities.
Our vision is a world where youth entrepreneurship is recognised for driving sustainable economic development and all young people who want to set up a business can fulfill their potential.
We connect our members to share expertise and collaborate on solutions to common challenges. Visit www.youthbusiness.org.
"The world is changing dramatically from day to day and I feel deeply for business owners everywhere, especially those running smaller businesses and are from underserved communities, who are often least able to bear the economic shocks of this crisis. In the face of these challenges, I have been incredibly inspired by the quick response of our network to support business owners around the world. YBI, with Google.org’s new funding commitment, will help us sustain and extend this support throughout 2020, ensuring more than 200,000 businesses can get the advice they need right now to navigate this crisis."
Anita Tiessen
CEO of Youth Business International
Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, supports nonprofits that address humanitarian issues and apply scalable, data-driven innovation to solving the world's biggest challenges. We accelerate their progress by connecting them with a unique blend of support that includes funding, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers. We engage with these believers-turned-doers who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a world that works for everyone—and we believe technology and innovation can move the needle in four key areas: education, economic opportunity, inclusion and crisis response.
Rowan Barnett
Head of Google.org, EMEA & APAC
"The coronavirus outbreak is taking a devastating toll on lives and communities, and small businesses are facing unprecedented challenges as they struggle to stay afloat. With this grant to Youth Business International, alongside a series of Google initiatives and products, we hope to help some of the most vulnerable small businesses find a way through the crisis."
How to Get Involved?
ONOW continues to partner with Enterprise Support Organizations, non-profits, financial institutions and government to feature support services for MSMEs. ONOW draws from experienced business owners and industry experts to provide digital content focused on business risk assessments, business model pivots, financial management, and problem solving. ONOW is also available to support your enterprises directly, through digital and phone-based coaching.
Bring your people to these free services.
Connect others to our coaching service. They can get support and coaching for free during the crisis. facebook.com/ONOWSontOo
Let us know about your content or services.
Have access to feature content, or provide services that may help support business owners in this time? Connect us. We may feature you.
Partner With Us to Help Create Content and Provide Services
We will be making webinar videos and are looking for experts to interview. Would you or your organization be interested in co-creating.